Social Democratic Party (Mercia)

Social Democratic Party
Leader	Earl Anthony Clark
Chair	Count Adam Belcher
Founded	22 March 2016
Membership	3
Ideology	Social Democracy Social Liberalism
Political position	Left-wing
Colors	Purple

The Social Democratic Party is a Mercian political party founded by Count Adam Belcher and Anthony Clark in March 2016. It runs on a platform of social democracy and liberalism, and won two seats in its first election, the May 2016 General Election, allowing the SDP to enter a coalition government. Count Belcher became Deputy First Minister, and Clark became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

History

Founded sometime in March 2016, the SDP is a joint effort between Count Belcher and Clark. In the run up to the May 2016 Election Debate, a manifesto was finalised, outlining some basic economic and social policies.

In the May 2016 General Election, the party won two seats in Wibertsherne and Kernollond, and went on to form a six seat majority government with the People's Democratic Party, and Green-Socialist Independent Baron von Uberquie (later part of the Green-Socialist Party). Following negotiations, Belcher became Deputy First Minister, and Clark became Minister of Foreign Affairs. The SDP held positions in three Cabinet subcommittees.

In early July 2016, Ned Gunderson briefly joined the SDP, bringing its membership up to 3, but he defected shortly afterwards to the PDP. On 27 July 2016, the escalating scandal between the leadership of the GUM and the State of Sandus forced Clark to leave the MicroWiki community, resigning from all his Mercian offices in the process, including his party membership. With only a single member remaining, the SDP was legally forced to disband. In dissolving the party, Belcher stated that he would become an independent MP, and that he would be prepared to continue to support the coalition government.

The SDP reformed for the March 2018 general election. Clark became leader, and Belcher became party chair. Brandon Wu later joined as a third member.

Policies

The SDP pledged in their March 2018 manifesto to—

• establish a new Mercian constitution;
• reform Mercian legislation, by repealing and rewriting numerous Acts, and compiling other legislation into a code;
• continue to advocate separation of church and state;
• commit to increased governmental transparency;
• launch a citizenship campaign;
• automatically recognise any micronation;
• never to enter into an intermicronational organisation without a consultative referendum beforehand;
• defend media rights, such as freedom of speech and journalistic privileges, and support a variety of news outlets;
• create a Mercian judiciary and Ministry for Justice;
• create a Mercian intelligence service.

List of party leaders

Leader	Took Office	Left Office
Adam Belcher	22 March 2016	27 July 2016
Anthony Clark	24 February 2018

Electoral results

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-
May 2016	Unknown	18.18%	2	▲ 2