Christian Democrats

Beginning in 2177 as a list of anti-monarchist candidates, the party formed in 2180 as the Christian Democrats under the leadership of Dr. Algernon Phargle and went on to be the most enduring party in the Grand Duchy of Keymon. For much of the 23rd century, the Christian Democrats were the singular party of government, and remain an important party in most coalitions.

Ideology
The Christian Democrats aim to strengthen the people and economy of the Grand Duchy of Keymon. The party seeks to foster public morality, promoted a responsible government that protects the rights of the people, and encourage a path of strict neutrality for our nation.

The Rise to Power
In 2181, the fascist National Front government instituted slavery and religious tyranny over Keymon. The resulting protests galvanized the Christian Democrats, transforming them from an anti-monarchist think-tank into a nation-wide movement. In 2187, the first Christian Democrats were elected to the Assembly in large numbers, giving the party the second-largest showing. Algernon Phargle formed the Keymon Liberal Alliance, a coalition of parties that gave him enough strength to become Director General. In 2189, the National Front collapsed and the KLA won an overwhelming victory. The Christian Democrats had become the largest party in Keymon.

Amadee Savoy, the liberal architect of the alliance with Keymon's socialists, was chosen to be the new party leader after this victory. He disbanded the KLA and formed a coalition government with the People's Communist Party. Despite losing some ground in 2195, Savoy managed to rule Keymon with a minority government until 2206, when the new coalition of the Christian Democrats and the Just as Silly party won a thumping two-thirds majority. Savoy stepped down in 2208 and was replaced by Lord Antonio Keymon, who led the party to an even greater victory in 2212. The coalition continued to control two-thirds of the seats, while the Christian Democrats themselves held exactly sixty seats in the one-hundred and twenty member Assembly.

Civil War and the End of Christian Democrat Dominance
In 2213, a communist insurgency emerged under the leadership of the Red Star Movement. The insurgency seized many villages and towns in Keymon's volcanic mountains. Rufio Carmichael, once a conservative demogogue, became the party leader and worked to prevent communist revolution. His reforms saw many legislators defect and the Christian Democrats were defeated by the Figs in 2220. With the party at its nadir, Rufio Carmichael offered his resignation, but with no faction capable of forming a coalition government, he continued on as director general for two more years. During this time, a tentative ceasefire emerged.

Vivanne Dynamis was chosen as party leader in 2222, but the Assembly was deadlocked and did not approve her as Director General until 2225, when the Christian Democrats negotiated a power-sharing cabinet with the AMRSM/DPP insurgency. This made Dynamis Keymon's first female leader. Dynamis returned the Christian Democrats to power, turned the party back to the right, and oversaw the end of the insurgency in Keymon. In 2231, the insurgency was defeated and collapsed, but a weary Keymon populace turned to the liberal Just as Silly party in favor of the Christian Democrats. After 44 years, the Christian Democrats no longer held the Director Generalship.

After spending six years as a junior coalition partner, Angel Daniels guided the Christian Democrats back to electoral victory in 2237. Her chief accomplishment was reforming the government, slashing funds to education, health care, social services and defense. Daniels successfully balanced the budget and left no program unfunded, but the party suffered great losses in 2247 and she resigned. Dynamis returned for a two year stint as temporary director general, and willingly stepped aside in 2249 when a new generation of Christian Democrat leaders were swept into power under the leadership of Jaques Phargle.

Phargle's rule was troubled by political conflict with Likatonia and an insurgency at home. Although the second communist insurgency was defeated, Phargle was replaced in 2260 by Jonah Mallory, the powerful Minister of Security. Ruling through the powers given to him by the state of emergency left over from the war, Mallory governed Keymon in an autocratic fashion until his removal by the Assembly in 2267. In the wake of these events, the Christian Democrats were wiped out at the polls.

After the Civil War
For a decade, the Christian Democrats served as an opposition party and pondered their dramatic and seemingly-permanent fall. Alice Watterson assumed party leadership and pushed her party to join the Zen Collective coalition government led by Susanna Kukai, and the party recovered under her quiet leadership. In 2283, her efforts were rewarded with a first-place finish and the first reversal in her party's decline in forty years. Her administration ended in 2287 when she overconfidently backed elections, and the Christian Democrats spent the next fourteen years out of government. During this time, the party became fully socialist under the leadership of Rob Nairn, the first Christian Democrat leader to not become Director General.

After many elections with inconclusive results, a coalition put Otto Keymon, a compromise candidate, into power in 2301. Keymon turned his party back to a more centrist platform, and won elections in his own right in 2303.

Nairnism
Nairnism was the philosophy espoused by Rob Nairn, a socialist who took control of the Christian Democrats in the last decade of the 23rd century. He transformed the laissez-faire party into one supporting socialist through his "New Keymon" initiative. Although Nairn was able to win a leftist majority in the Assembly, a noteable first for any Christian Democrat leader who turned towards more economic regulation, he was unable to convince his party to form an alliance with the Marxists. Much of the "New Keymon" legislation failed due to infighting, and Nairn was replaced as party leader, making him the first Christian Democrat leader to not become Director General. The Christian Democrats have since returned to more libertarian policies, but the Axis Mundi Zen Collective has adopted a policy very similar to Nairnism.