The Republicans (Romance Republic)
The Republicans Les Republicans | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Martin Albert Talló |
| Founded | 20 January 2018 (as PNR) 15 June 2019 (as LR) |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| Colors | Blue |
| Parliament | 2 / 20
|
The Republicans (Romance: Les Republicans, LR) is a centre-right, conservative political party in the Romance Republic.
Known as the Romance National Party (Partito Nacional Románico, PNR) from its foundation until June 2019, the party was one of the two major contemporary political parties in the Romance Republic along with the centre-left Party of Social Democrats (PSD).
The party is, to date, considered the most electorally successful political party in the Romance Republic's history, being the largest party in Parliament from September 2018 until June 2019, forming two governments – and, subsequently, two of its leaders serving as Prime Minister – and one of the party's candidates have been elected President.
The party suffered a split in membership in mid-2019 when most of its deputies in Parliament transferred their allegiance to the newly founded People's Party. In the run-up to the June 2019 election, in the face of poor polling numbers, the interim leader Martin Albert Talló put forward an amendment to change the party name to The Republicans to "rebrand" the party, which was approved and came into effect the following day, 15 June 2019. The party suffered a significant drop in support at the subsequent general election.
History
Formation
Since the declaration of independence and the foundation of the Romance Republic, the political groups of the parliamentary right sought to join forces around the values of forging a unified, national identity. The weakness of the right was long considered its inability to unite behind a single focus and leadership.
Shortly after the 2017 election, the broad Together for Freedom electoral alliance fractured. The leftists joined with splinter groups from other electoral alliances in the parliament and formed the Party of Social Democrats. In response, the rightist factions formed the Romance National Party on 20 January 2018.
Roberto Bon (2018)
An early member of the Romance National Party, Roberto Bon e Laverde quickly became the foremost personality of the so-called 'liberal' faction of the party. This faction was focussed more on building a national identity and forging links with other micronations, and less focussed on monetization. Initially, Bon did not intend to contest the party leadership but was persuaded to do so after the so-called 'Christian democratic' faction announced it would support him if he ran. In return, Bon promised his 'liberal' faction would support Horta's bid for Secretary-General. The 'conservative' faction, meanwhile, was coalescing around Martin Albert Talló for party president and Nil Chamblanc Lamarca for secretary-general. The acting chairman of the General Committee announced contests for the presidency and secretariat-general would take place on 30 January with the winners taking their offices the following day. Bon was elected leader with 55% of the vote.
By the time the rightists in Parliament had established the Romance National Party, they found themselves outmanoeuvred by the Party of Social Democrats, then led by Xavier Ferreira Gomes. As the Together for Freedom alliance finally and formally broke down, the PSD found itself with the numbers needed to form a government. Bon, therefore, took his party into opposition.
Bon proved effective in holding the government to account, especially over its "automatic recognition" policy towards other micronations. He famously accused Ferreira of "cheapening" the Romance Republic by offering recognition to any nation, however old, however stable; an accusation that angered Ferreira. Despite this strong opening, members of the PNR's 'conservative' faction felt that Bon's leadership and ability to keep Ferreira on the back foot was beginning to wane. As the Party of Social Democrats minority government started to weaken, Bon, keen to keep all quarters of his party onside, began agitating for a snap election; calls which Ferreira resisted. Despite the 'conservative' faction criticism, Bon enjoyed high approval ratings in and out of his party.
On 7 March 2018, Bon called a vote of confidence in Ferreira's government. Despite initial hopes that the opposition, led by Bon, had the numbers, Ferreira clung on. Despite the initial disappointment, Bon and the PNR found it was nevertheless able to frustrate the legislative process, denying Ferreira's government the votes to pass legislation.
Noemí Horta (2018 – 2019)
Splits and name change
Following a split of its membership, in the run up to the election in June 2019, then interim leader Martin Albert put forward a motion to the party's general committee to change its name to Les Republicans ("The Republicans"). Name change aside, Albert proposed maintaining the party and its structures unaltered and, as such, in his words, the party was "not to be considered a separate or successor entity to the Romance National Party but rather a continuation of it". This was a definition the wider political landscape of the country has adopted.
Critics of the name change – especially on the left of politics – called it "disrespectful" to rename the party "The Republicans", because every citizen of the Romance Republic is a "[Romance] Republican". Albert brushed off the criticism saying that it was no more disrespectful than the names of the Party of Social Democrats or the People's Party, adding, "Not all social democrats are PSD supporters; not all the people are People's Party supporters."
The party membership approved the name change in a special convention on 14 June 2019, with the new name entering into effect the following day.
Leadership
The party is headed by the Party President who is elected whenever there is a vacancy. The president sets the general direction of the party, deciding policy decisions and stances. The day-to-day administration of the party and its members is undertaken by the three-member General Committee which is chaired by the Secretary-General. The secretary-general is, again, elected whenever there is a vacancy. Vacancies can be caused for either position by a resignation or a vote of no confidence by the General Committee.
Party President
The party president is the overall head of the party, deciding the general direction of the party and its policy stances. The party president is elected whenever there is a vacancy. A vacancy can be caused by resignation or a successful vote of no confidence. To date, there have been three party presidents, two of whom have served as both Prime Minister, and later President, of the Romance Republic.
| No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roberto Bon e Laverde | 31 January 2018 – 26 November 2018 |
| Vacant, 26 November 2018 – 30 November 2018 | ||
| 2 | Noemí Horta i Pau | 30 November 2018 – 7 May 2019 |
| Vacant, 7 May 2019 – 12 May 2019 | ||
| 3 | Martin Albert Talló | since 14 June 2019 (Acting: 12 May 2019 – 14 June 2019) |
Secretary-General
The Secretary-General is charged with the day-to-day administration of the party and its membership. As above, the Secretary-General is elected in a special convention whenever there is a vacancy. The Secretary-General organises elections to official positions within the party.
| No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noemí Horta i Pau | 31 January 2018 – 30 November 2018 |
| Vacant, 30 November 2018 – 8 December 2018 | ||
| 2 | Martin Albert Talló | 8 December 2018 – 12 May 2019 |
| 3 | Nil Chamblanc Lamarca | since 14 June 2019 (Acting: 12 May 2019 – 14 June 2019) |
General Committee
The General Committee is formed by all the membership sat in conference. It is responsible for electing the Party President and Secretary-General. It can also remove the holders of those offices through a vote of no confidence which can be called at the request of one third of the party's membership, or compel the party to adopt a policy stance. Votes of the General Committee require by a simple majority to pass.
Ideology
The Republicans (and earlier Romance National Party) is a centre-right party created to represent various the family of right-leaning citizens of the Romance Republic, uniting the traditions of Christian democracy, conservatism and liberalism – three factions that continued to vie for power within the party until its realignment. As such, it often adopts policy stances that emphasise a common, national identity (the "national" part of the previous name having nothing to do with ethno-nationalism).
The party takes more nationalist positions at times, often to attempt to forge and maintain the new, unified national identity. In this vein, it takes tougher stances on membership and it continuously strongly supports the integration and assimilation of new members into developing Romance society.
The party consistently supports attempts to monetize and generate an economy for the micronation.
Electoral performance
| Election | Leader | Vote | Seats | Position | Status in Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | ± | No. | ± | ||||
| Apr. 2018 | Roberto Bon e Laverde | 30.3% | new | 6 / 20
|
new | 2nd | Opposition |
| Sep. 2018 | 33.3% | ▲ 3.0 | 8 / 20
|
▲ 2 | ▲ 1st | Government | |
| Feb. 2019 | Noemí Horta i Pau | 35.3% | ▲ 2.0 | 8 / 20
|
|
1st
|
Government |
| Jun. 2019 | Martin Albert Talló | 10.8% | ▼ 24.5 | 2 / 20
|
▼ 6 | ▼ 4th | Confidence and supply |
| Jan. 2020 | 5.1% | ▼ 10.7 | 1 / 20
|
▼ 1 | ▼ 5th | Opposition | |
| Jun. 2020 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |||