Liberal Progressive Party (Kirlawa)

The Liberal Progressive Party are a major political party in Kirlawa. At current, they are the biggest - and only - opposition party in the Kirlawan House of Representatives, controlling 220 out of 474 seats in the legislature. They have become notorious in the past decade in Kirlawan politics as the only visible alternative to the CandyKids, although this is set to soon change.

History
The Liberal Progressive Party were formed at the Ichis Declaration in Uwakah on July 18th 2236, when a meeting of the initial 18 members - including current leader Joseph Edwards, Internal Affairs Spokesman Karen Johnson and Environment Spokesman Sara Sanders - took place. The founding group was composed of Uwakah politicians from the Kirlawa Green Party, the leaders of the small provincial Alliance for Social Liberalism and several independent liberal politicians.

The party won 27,662 votes at the elections in December of that year, and with a number of policy iniatives looked to do well in the 2239 elections. They failed to win a seat, picking up 45,762 votes. The party membership began to drop and had fallen to just 5,000 in autumn 2240 from 14,000 the previous year. However, the popularity of the party began to rise again and with 166,013 votes the party took one seat in Dirlana in the 2242 elections.

The party proved themselves vocal in the House, and particularly towards the end of their term - there were several major LPP acts introduced to the House (although all failed). The party benefited from the publicity on these acts and swept to 208 seats in the 2245 elections and 43.8% of the vote, winning seats in all regions except Dirguzia and taking a majority of seats in Uwakah and Dirlana - both former Green strongholds.

A number of acts were introduced, and some did pass, during the next term of Parliament. However, with the re-emergence of the Kirlawa Green Party in 2247, elections were called. Thanks to a lack of votes for the fresh-faced KGP, the LPP managed to gain a total of 12 seats on 46% of the vote, putting them at 220 to the government's 254.

Since then, the party has continued to be vocal. After negotiations with the Kirlawan Green Party near the start of the election, Jaimie Harris will introduce Green bills to the house. Also, Ian Banks will introduce Kirlawa Democratic Labour bills. It is expected that the party will form the next government, in a coalition with the KGP and KDL.

Political views
The party have a generally left-leaning and social liberal policy slant. They have been categorized as a 'permissive' party on civil rights, and are strongly environmentalist (one of the reasons they have been able to co-operate with the KGP). The party are fairly big government, wanting a number of national state-owned services, and have defined themselves as market regulatory. There is a mixed stance on the military, with support for nuclear weapons but opposition to chemical weapons. There has been a strong campaign for freedom of religious clothing again and again, with this giving the possibly unfair impression the party are religious.