Choice (Luthori)

''For the Dolgarian party of the same name, see Choice. For the Kalistan party of the same name, see Choice (Kalistan). For the Hutorian party of the same name, see Choice (Hutori).''

Choice is a political party that operates in the Holy Luthori Empire, founded in December 3832. It was inspired by the defunct Dolgarian party of the same name and is a republican party, advocating the abolition of the monarchy. The party's leader Ensor Taylor is the same Ensor Taylor that lead the Dolgarian Choice party, as Taylor was origionally born in Luthori before moving to Dolgaria in his teens. The party was later briefly taken over by Kai Farage before being fired after poor election results, and was subsequently taken over by the much more popular Margaret Sturgeon. In 3866 Sturgeon retired and was replaced by Charles Davison. In June 3875 after a string of declinign election results and difficulty within the Holy Imperial Diet, Choice decided to dissolve due to no longer feeling necessary. Many members joined the Conservative Liberals and the reformed Liberal Alliance. In November 3899, the party refounded due to the next generation of Luthorian politicians believing an urgent need for a new Choice party. In the 3905 General Election, the party won the largest amount of seats and became the biggest party in the Holy Imperial Diet for the first time. Despite this, the party was unable to form a coalition, with its proposed cabinet lacking support by one seat, much to the dismay of its party members. The party dropped to second place in the 3909 election, but only lost 8 seats.

History
Choice was founded in December 3832 by Ensor Taylor. Taylor previously ran the Dolgarian incarnation of the party. After moving to Dolgaria in his teens and running the Dolgarian party, Taylor soon after retiring from party leader moved back to Luthori. However he was against the unfair treatment of his people by the monarchy and soon decided to form a new incarnation of Choice, this time in his home nation. Soon after the foundation of this new Choice party, another party took inspiration from this and named their party Arch after the Dolgarian party of the same name. Choice's first election was in 3837 where they came fourth, they later called for an early election in 3840 where they came second and came second again in the 3845 elections. After the 3840 elections, Choice briefly formed a coalition with Arch and the Luthori Imperial Party, before a year later the latter party pulled out of the coalition and thus Choice was soon kicked out of the cabinet. Since this, Choice has been in and out of various coalitions depending on the outcome of the election, notably forming and "emergency" coalition with the Liberal Alliance, the Hosian Socialist party and the Progress Party due to the fact no other stable coalition could be formed. They also formed part of a coalition with the Hosian Socialist party and the Radical Communist Labour Party after the HSP won that election. In 3861, Choice gained their best result to date with 85 seats, despite coming second in the election they formed a coalition and became the largest party in the coalition, with party leader Margaret Sturgeon becoming the Imperial Seal-Bearer, becoming the second Choice Imperial Seal-Bearer (the first being Ensor Taylor) and so far, the longest serving one. Charles Davison became Imperial Seal-Bearer after Margaret Sturgeon retired from the role following a general election.

In the 3870s, politics in Luthori was becoming strained, with many deadlocks on bills and coalitions harder to form. Following a series of modest and disappointing election results, Choice dissolved in 3875. However the party re-founded in 3899 following a string of Hosian Socialist Party victories and the lack of centralist and left-wing voice in the Holy Imperial Diet. Choice came third in terms of votes and joint second in terms of seats with the Liberal Alliance in the 3901 elections under Joe Purefoy. Prior to the 3905 election, the Hosian Socialist Party dissolved, resulting in a victory for Choice, the first time the party had come first and it's largest share of seats. However the party was unable to form a coalition, being one seat short of its proposal due to the Luthori Liberal Party pulling out at the last minute. The result bemused much of the electorate due to the hopes of a fully center-left government being squashed with a return to another right-wing based government with the Alliance Against Left leading.

Controversies
In 3870, the Conservative Liberals proposed a bill would end gender bias on the line of succession to the Luthori throne, however Choice voted against on the grounds of "the monarchy is mostly in place for the sake of tradition, thus despite our republican views, if we're going to be stuck with a monarchy, we might as well keep the traditions that go with it". Despite sparking outrage among supporting parties surprised with this and even some Choice supporters, the party stuck to their decision on the grounds that "the monarchy is unrepresentative of the modern world, thus it is feeble to try and get it to do so, as it just fails". Despite allegations of sexism within the party, Choice maintained that they are in full support of female heads of state and heads of government, just that the monarchy would be pointless to do so.

In the 3900s, the party proposed a bill which would fully abolish the monarchy which was met with hostility from many parties, especially those on the right-wing spectrum of Luthori politics. The Alliance Against Left soon proposed arresting party leader Joe Purefoy due to an ancient bill which outlawed proposing the abolition of the monarchy. However Choice along with other parties pointed out many flaws in the act including the banning of socialist governments which had been founded numerous times since the bill was in place, and the moral flaws in the bill. As a result, it was taken to a vote as to arrest Purefoy or not, with only the AAL and the Liberal Alliance voting in its favor with all other parties voting against or abstaining.

Policies
Choice is well known for their stance against the monarchy in Luthori and calls for a republic, which were partially achieved when parties in the nation chose to have an "elective monarchy" and the first head of state election was held in 3845 at the same time as the general election of that year. Despite the other parties putting forward royal candidates for the elections who are members of the monarchy or the aristocracy that have endorsed a particular party, Choice fielded their party leader Ensor Taylor for the head of state election, partly due to the fact no royals would endorse the party anyway due to their republican stance and that Choice refused to field a royal candidate. Taylor came first in round one and second in round two, thus nearly becoming the head of state in Luthori. Due to this, Luthori can be considered a republic, some have called it a "royal republic" even, instead of an elective monarchy. Despite this, Choice wants further reforms, making the head of state also the head of government and naming them president as opposed to monarch, currently the head of state is only symbolic.

The party advocates less involvement with the rest of the world, taking an isolationist stance. They want to cease giving foreign aid entirely unless it's for absolute international disasters as they believe it's a waste of money that could be better spent. They also want much tighter boarder control and to have less offensive military involvement but retain a sensible defence. However since the party's re-founding under Joe Purefoy, these isolationist stances have been less prominent.

Choice is well known for wanting complete separation of church and state, opposing the religious stance of other parties and even wanting to remove the "Holy" part of the name from the Holy Luthori Empire. Choice heavily opposes religious schools and calls for their removal from the country, with party leader Ensor Taylor stating "children should not be subjected to religion or forced to follow them, schools should not have anything to do with religion, they are there to teach the students how to academically succeed and gain qualifications, to give them the knowledge they need for the workplace, not to bully them into believing in something they may not believe in, it should be up to the children as to whether they believe or not". Choice also advocates that religious organizations should be treated like companies and taxed, but does not believe donations should be.

Since the party was re-founded, there have been minor differences in policies, with a further shift to the left, especially economically and the party identifies as at least socialist leaning. Joe Purefoy was also a LGBT rights activist at an early age along with other senior figures in the new party, with this leading to a shift to even further progressive policies. Purefoy has even openly stated he disagreed with some of the more conservative policies of the past party, such as opposing the infamous reforms to the monarchy which no longer meant only men could be the first in line unless there were no male heirs.

Electoral History
Parliamentary Elections

Head of State Elections