National Liberal Party of Mercia
National Liberal Party of Mercia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | HL Richard I |
| Secretary | Duke Edward Nathaniel de Caville |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Membership | 9 |
| Ideology | Christian Democracy Social Conservatism Civic Nationalism Distributism Sphere Sovereignty |
| Political position | Third Position |
| Seats in Mercian Parliament | 5 / 9 Government of Mercia
|
House of Parliament of Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Council of the Triarchal Crowns of the Disciples (Mercia) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
First Minister | Palatine-Viceroy von Uberquie, Green-Socialist Party |
Deputy First Minister | Hugh McFarlane, United Future Party |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 11 |
 | |
House of Parliament political groups | Government of Mercia |
Political groups | The Loyal Opposition
Speaker
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The National Liberal Party is the oldest and single largest party in the history of Mercia. It was a party that espoused the virtues of nationalism and liberalism, and was originally centre-right in terms of ideology and membership, although the party moved in a more socially conservative direction during its time as the Loyal Opposition in the House in 2016. It has a long and rich history within Mercian politics, usually serving the people as the elected government. In the March 2020 Mercian revival, several of the National Liberal members left the party for Advance!, while others remained inactive in Mercian politics altogether. However, the revived National Liberal Party, under His Lordship Richard I, included both new citizens and former Mercian leaders, with a socially conservative, economically distributist philosophy, in a radical departure from the party's historically libertarian record with the Mercian economy.
History
2015
May 2015 General Election
The May 2015 Mercian General Election was the first successful democratic election in the history of the country — or its predecessor Clyro.
The campaign kicked off with a Mercian Party Leaders' Debate on May 1. It was hosted by His Lordship Richard I. The debate was between the National Liberal Party's leader, Baron Fionnbarra Ó Cathail, and Humanist People's Alliance's Baron von Uberquie. Count James Frisch, leader of the Würtige Unionist Party, could not attend the debate due to technical issues.
The debate showed the top issue in the election was religion; particularly, the Mercian Christian Church's relation to the democratic stability. Also discussed was the possible abolition of the meritocratic nobility.
The election campaign lasted through May. The National Liberal Party released posters for each Mercian voting range, while the Würtige Unionists released posters aimed at the entire nation. The Humanist People's Alliance founded the Mercian Humanist Magazine, an online news source used throughout the month to explain Humanist policy and attack the policies of the other parties.
On May 21, the first edition of the Mercian Humanist Magazine released an article entitled The Truth About the National Liberal Party. It accused the National Liberal Party of being undemocratic and illiberal, arguing that the party was akin to the Tories (i.e. the right-wing United Kingdom's Conservative & Unionist Party).
On behalf of the National Liberal Party's leadership, Richard I responded with a commentary countering many of the claims made by the Magazine. He restated that the National Liberal party was purely an economic liberal party, and that socially it was civic nationalist and socially conservative. The commentary also reiterated the National Liberal values of balanced preservation of tradition and democracy.
The voting period lasted from May 25 to May 31, and 67% of the population voted. The election used the single transferable vote system. Of the 11 contested seats,
The National Liberals received six seats: three in Loringia, two in Kernollond and one in Wibertsherne. The Würtige Unionists won single seats in Loringia and Wibertsherne, and the Humanists received two in Wibertsherne. One seat in Kernollond went to Baron Chahal, an independent Liberal Democrat candidate. In Wibertsherne, both a National Liberal candidate and an Independent National Socialist candidate were eliminated for receiving insufficient votes.
With a slim majority, the National Liberal Party formed a government, and Baron Ó Cathail became the first democratically elected First Minister in Mercian history. He delivered the first maiden speech. The Humanist People's Alliance (with a higher vote share than the Würtige Unionists) became the official Loyal Opposition, and set up a shadow cabinet.
November 2015 General Election
The voting period for the November 2015 General Election lasted from November 11 to November 18. There was 60% turnout, down from the May election.
The National Liberals increased their majority to seven seats: three in Loringia, three in Kernollond and one in Wibertsherne. Again, the Würtige Unionists won single seats in Loringia and Wibertsherne, and the Humanists received two in Wibertsherne.
With an increased majority, Baron Ó Cathail stayed as First Minister. The Humanist People's Alliance remained in opposition.
2016
May 2016 General Election
The May 2016 General Election was Mercia's third democratic election. There was again a Leaders' Debate, hosted by HL Richard I. The debate was attended by Baron Fionnbarra Ó Cathail of the NLP, Baron Alejandro Whyatt of the People's Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party's Earl Anthony Clark and Count Belcher, and the independent Green Socialist Baron von Uberquie. Efforts to increase activity were discussed, as were questions of the Church and possibility of a financial system.
The voting period lasted from April 24 to May 1, and 62% of the population voted. There were two problems with the ballots. A first error, where candidates were listed in the wrong voting ranges, was fixed quickly.
The second problem occured when a candidate switched voting ranges. The change had not been updated in the NLP's manifesto, and so the ballot was wrong for both Wibertsherne and Loringia. The issue remained for four days, during which time the Wibertsherne Reactionary Force was founded. The group threatened to secede from Mercia, but were quickly condemned by Baron Ó Cathail, and Barons Wu and McFarlane in a joint statement. Finally, on May 7 (seven days after the election should have ended), a second ballot was issued.
The National Liberals were the largest party, but lost their majority. They won two seats in Loringia, two in Kernollond and one in Wibertsherne. The People's Democratic Party won two seats in Loringia and one in Wibertsherne, the Social Democrats won a single seat in Kernollond, and Baron von Uberquie won his seat in Wibertsherne.
In Kernollond, both a Social Democratic candidate and an Independent National Liberal candidate were eliminated for receiving insufficient votes.
For the first time in the Mercian history, the National Liberal Party did not have a majority. Baron Ó Cathail stepped down as First Minister (he gave multiple reasons in his announcement).
At the first Parliament session, neither Earl Clark nor Baron Wu attended. Therefore, Earl Eden of the NLP won a vote of confidence and formed a government.This sparked outrage. Many furious articles were published in the following days.
At the next Parliament session, the opposition parties called for a vote of no confidence. Such a vote required a two week nomination and voting period, but this rule was removed by a decree of the Lord Temporal. Following the vote of no confidence, Baron Whyatt became First Minister in a 5-4 vote.
August 2016 by-election
Three seats suddenly opened for election when Baron Billbrough became inactive, Baron Ó Cathail retired from Mercian politics, and Earl Clark left the community. The By-election was held between the 29th March and the 5th April 2016.
In the by-election, Marquis Alex Wagner took a seat in Kernollond unopposed. In Wibertsherne, Count Frisch ran as an independent National Liberal against Baron William Harland-Hackenschmidt of the the PDP. In Loringia, there were three candidates: the Green-Socialist Baroness Sophia Albina, Baron Ned Gunderson of the PDP, and Bishop James Thomas Draxe of the NLP.
A debate with the three Loringian candidates (with Baron Whyatt standing in for Baron Gunderson) was held a few days before the election.
In Loringia, Baron Gunderson won 66% of the vote, with turnout of 56%. In Wibertsherne, Baron Harland-Hackenschmidt won 60% of the vote, with turnout of 71%. Consequently, the PDP gained a plurality of five seats. They continued their coalition with the Green-Socialist Party.
August 2016 National Liberal Congress
The August 2016 National Liberal Congress, the annual meeting of the National Liberal Party, was notable in that it signified the end of the Baron Ó Cathail era of Mercian politics, where a moderately conservative National Liberal Party ran on a broadly centre-right platform. In this new era under Earl Horatio Eden, the National Liberal Party became an economically libertarian party, with a recognisable Christian Conservative face. To this end, the 2016 Congress featured not only the valedictory address of outgoing National Liberal Party leader, Baron Fionbarra Ó Cathail, and a speech by the newly elected leader Earl Eden, but also speeches by His Lordship Richard I and Bishop Draxe of Artifax, representing the motivated and politicised voice of the Mercian Christian Church.
2018
March 2018 Emergency Election
In January 2018, Duke Edward Nathaniel Manfred de Caville was appointed First Minister by the Lords. His called an emergency election for February.
The election was held between the 10th and 17 March, under the party list system. Initially seven seats were available, but this was increased to nine to ensure better representation of the nation. The election was contested between the de Caville's National Liberal Party, the recently reformed Social Democratic Party led by Earl Clark, and the Socialist Revolutionary Party led by Ava Neasa.
The election results were released late as technical errors prevented the Lord Spiritual from accessing the results. The National Liberal Party won 61.5% of the vote and formed a government with 6 seats.
2020
National Revival
Mercia was inactive until March 2020, when Executor-Viceroy Horatio Eden was appointed First Minister by the Lord Temporal. Two brand new political parties were quickly formed: the right-wing Advance! and the left-wing Green Party. The National Liberal Party has also re-established itself. In the March 2020 Mercian revival, several of the members of the National Liberal left the party for Advance!, while others remained inactive in Mercian politics altogether. However, the revived National Liberal Party, under His Lordship Richard I, included both new citizens and former Mercian leaders, with a socially conservative, economically distributist philosophy, in a radical departure from the party's historically libertarian record with the Mercian economy.
April 2020 General Election
Policies
Founders' Rights
The National Liberal Party keenly espouses the concept of founders' rights, whereby the creators of a micronation should be the ones with the ultimate say on drastic changes to the political system of said micronation. To this end, the National Liberals are fiercely protective of the positions of the Diarchs and the Nobility, and keenly defend the Mercian Christian Church.
Economics
With the advent of the Micronational Economic Group and the creation of the MicroCoin currency, the National Liberals have laid the groundwork for allowing privatised business interests to take the lead in the Mercian economy instead of state interests, something relatively unprecedented in the Micronational community. To this end the party promulgated bills creating the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Mercia, as well as rules for creating registered companies under Mercian law.
In addition to this, the National Liberal Party passed laws for Trade Union representation, ensuring that workers under both state and private businesses have the right to unionise and lobby to protect their interests.
Regional Devolution
Given the diverse nature of the two Administrative Regions of Mercia, the Region of Clyro and the Noble Republic of Lurk, and the cultural diversity even at a local level, the National Liberal Party stands for the devolution of powers to provincial authorities in Clyro and Lurk.
Foreign Policy
Although the National Liberal Party has not yet properly intervened in the affairs of other micronations in the capacity of the Mercian government, the party has had, since its inception, the believes of realist and interventionist foreign politics in the micronational community. However, this is contrasted with its dealings with macronations, where popular opinion is that macronational affairs should be left well alone so as not to blur the lines of legality between Mercia and its' parent macronations.
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