National equality party

The National Equality Party is a political party in the Commonwealth of Rutania. The party was founded in 2696 by James Knop, who believed in strengthing the government and moving toward total equality among all citizens. The party currently has 13 seats in the Federal Parliament of Rutania.

Ideology
The NEP has received criticism that it's policies have been designed to take away individual rights, when in fact the NEP is only trying to promote further equality.

Policies
The NEP believes the stronger the central government, the stronger the country is as a whole. The NEP is for de-devolution. The NEP is for the rights of people, but some rights have become obsolete, and potentially harmful and need to be modified. The NEP will do all it can to help it's fellow countries, but it needs to make sure it's own citizens are taken care of first. The NEP feels the government should be involved in as much as possible to ensure a safe, prosperous nation. The NEP is pro-nationalization and somewhat against privatization and capitalism.
 * 1) Centralization
 * 1) Civil Rights
 * 1) Ecology
 * 2) Foreign Relations
 * 1) Government Responsibilities
 * 1) Market
 * 1) Military
 * 2) Morality
 * 3) Religion

Party Structure
The NEP consists of three branches, the party head, the legislative body, and the member body.

The head of the party is elected once every 3 years. Every member of the party can vote in the election. The Head of the party's duty is to represent and promote the party's ideals. They usually are also the party's candidate for president.

The legislative branch consists of 20 elected members. They are elected every 3 years also, during the middle year of the Head's term. Their duty is to vote on major party decisions. They are also the only one's allowed to make a change to the party's platform. They can also vote to remove the current Head from power. However, their decisions can be overruled by a two-thirds majority vote by the member body.

Foundation
A political science major, James Knop held many, local offices. His view of government at the local level left him a bit angry at the kind of power they were allowed to have and how it created so much difference in government in the different areas. He found many others who shared his view and together formed the National Equality Party. He was determined to get legislation passed that would grow the power of the central government and reduce the privatization of his beloved country.

2696 - June 2704
The NEP was not elected any seats in it's first 4 years as a party, gaining only minority votes. They proposed multiple bills that were defeated by a majority Orange Party due to conflicting views over the people's rights and devolution. Their bills were however, supported by the second ranking Imperium Party. The NEP knew that their chances of being elected to the presidenicy were very very slim, and so began backing the candidate from the IP. After much debate, their Infrastructure Nationalization Bill was reduced to just the fire Department Nationalization bill in 2703. It was passed and soon followed many years of cooperation with the Majority party, the OP.

July 2704 - Current
After the 2704 elections, the NEP found themselves with 9 legislation seats. They were the smallest party with seats, but nevertheless, were determined to get their bills passed. The next election found the government with a new legislature of 699 seats and the NEP with a total of 13. The balance of power had also shifted as the IP became the majority party.

The Terrorist Attack in Delvar
After the December 2707 terrorist attack in Delvar which left 92 dead and over 100 wounded, the NEP called for an emergancy press conference by the President and an emergency parliament meeting with the Prime Minister. The unfortunate incident lead to the passing of a bill restricting gun ownership, something the NEP had fighting for for years. It was a bitter sweet victory.