Political parties in Hjemland

This article lists political parties in Hjemland.

History

Prior to 2019, there were no formal political parties in Hjemland. From its earliest days, however, there were two very loose political groups dubbed Scans and Tans:

• Scans — favoured and a Germanic (or "Scandinavian") style elective monarchy coupled with direct democracy and governed by "naturally developed" common or customary law;
• Tans — (named for the traditional buff colours of the British Whig Party) advocated a more constitutional form of government based on liberal, representative democracy.

These groups are not considered formal political parties, being fluid with no fixed or defined membership. Throughout its first years, Hjemland was largely governed along Scan lines with little in the way of a codified constitution; the bulk of its constitution was formed by individual laws and established custom. However, as membership grew, the Tans argued that the impracticalities of direct democracy hindered development: Folkmoot sessions rarely reached a quorum, bringing governance to a complete halt.

Faced with this deadlock, politics began shifting towards the so-called "Tan-lines" of increasingly codified constitutional arrangements. However, the paralysis remained so long as the old customary practices remained. Calls for a single, codified constitution peaked with the passage of the Basic Law on 31 August 2019, formally breaking Hjemland away from common/customary law and making it a constitutional monarchy.

By this time, in mid-2019, the two factions had evolved into the Liberal Party ("Tans") and the Conservative Party ("Scans"). In September 2019, the Liberal Party, supported by two independents, formed Hjemland's first overtly political government. Prior to this, all governments had been by consensus (also called consociationalism). The first general election took place in March 2020 and saw the Liberal Party emerge as the largest party and form a minority government.

The Social Democratic Alliance and the Green Party were both formed by sitting elected Members of Parliament breaking from the Liberal Party. In the case of the SDA, this split also brought down Hjemland's first overtly political government.

Parliamentary parties

Party		Date of foundation	Political position	Ideology	Leader	Seats in Parliament	Vote share % (Mar. 2020 election)
	Liberal Party	7 September 2019	Centre	Classic liberalism, Social liberalism	David Smith	5 / 13	39.1%
	Conservative Party	13 October 2019	Centre-right	Liberal conservatism, Conservative liberalism	Martyn Johnston	4 / 13	30.4%
	Social Democratic Alliance	27 February 2020	Left-wing	Social democracy, Democratic socialism	Daniel Richardson	2 / 13	17.4%
	Green Party	22 April 2020	Centre-left	Green politics, Environmentalism	Sarah Dunn	1 / 13

Parties without elected representation

To date, all parties have been founded by serving Members of Parliament. Therefore, there are so far no political parties without elected representation in Hjemland.

Party descriptions

Party		Description
	Liberal Party	Hjemland's oldest political party is a somewhat even mix of classic liberals and social liberals. The party is strongly constitutionalist, supporting a codified constitution, but is also broadly supportive of Hjemland's elective monarchy.
	Conservative Party	A centre-right party that is somewhere between liberal conservative and conservative liberal, and is the most economically liberal of the parties. It is strongly traditionalist towards customs and practices naturally developed within Hjemland and as such is strongly monarchist and prefers customary law over a written constitution.
	Social Democratic Alliance	A left-wing party with equally prominent social democratic and democratic socialist factions; hence the "Alliance" name element. Strongly republican, it advocates the abolition of Hjemland's monarchy.
	Green Party	Founded on Earth Day 2020, a green political party that favours environmentalism and sustainability. Neutral on the monarchy but supportive of a referendum on the subject.