Imperium Party

The Imperium Party is a political party in the Commonwealth of Rutania. Founded in the year 2576 by Oliver Zoratatt. The IP hold strong authoritarian views and are more centre-left. The current leader is Percival van Rustenburg.

Party Structure
The Imperium Party is a membership organisation consisting of people who support the party's ideology of authoritarianism. Any Rutanian citizen can be a member of the party given of course that they pay an annual fee each year (50 RUTS). Members of the party are called IPMs (Imperium Party Member).

The party is chaired by the head of party, whom is called the 'Imperium Party Leader', with assistance by the IPA (Imperium Party Assembly); a group of senior members of the party.

The IP leader is responsible for appointing members to represent the party in the National Congress as well as representing the party in question talk and debates.

The IP leader can be head of the party for many years as their is no fixed term or election. However the IPA can appoint a new leader if they feel that the current leader is doing a unsatisfactory job. If the leader choses to resign he must announce his resignation to the party and announce a new leader. This can only be done before a general election in the National Congress. This ensures that the new leader will lead the party after the election rather than being the head of party during term.

Another group inside the party is the Imperium Party Shadow Cabinet, comprising of members that form an alternative cabinet. Their job is to assist the party leader to pass criticism on the current government.

Foundation
The party was founded by Oliver Zoratatt in 2576, he was party leader until 2591. The party established its headquarters in the city of Martinia in the province of Delvar.

Zoratatt established the basic ideology of the party, that being in favour of centralization, tough on crime and deporting illegal immigrants as well as reinforcing Rutania's borders.

2 months after its foundation a General Election was held, even though the party was fairly new it didn't yet established any organization. The party recieved 80,870 votes.

Zoratatt v Samson
In February, 2586 President Samson of the Liberal Conservative Party was accused by the Imperium leader Oliver Zoratatt of 'inviting prostitutes in his mansion'. This accusation was sparked when Zoratatt proposed to Parliament to remove Prostitution as a recognized occupation but was later being declined by the Liberals. As a result of this the Imperium Party was forced to be censured by parties of the National Congress. The Imperium Party lost many supporters and suffered in Congress, loosing seats and votes. However Zoratatt has highlighted that the President hasn't answered 'his question' yet. After some years Oliver Zoratatt resigned as leader and took the role as a shadow advisor. In 2591 Santiago Garcia replaced Oliver Zoratatt as party leader.

Garcia Reign
Garcia stated that he had a tough job to win back supporters in his opening press conference. The party lost 34 seats over the next 2 General Elections. However Garcia has made steady progress in improving the number of seats in the National Congress.

In August 2611, Edward Taylor and Adele Atkinson became the first IPM (Imperium Party Member) to represent the party in the Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Rutania. This was during the resignation of 7 Conservative Party minsters. However Taylor and Atkinson were removed from post 3 years later when the Rutanian Democratic Forum reverted back to their original cabinet comprised with the Conservative.

Garcia's leadership helped the party into a very successful election in May 2612, gaining 34 more seats from other parties alongside the New Liberal Party who gained 83 seats. Additionally, leading the polls in the province of Delvar with 12,178,854 votes compared to the Conservative's 7,697,977 votes.

It was announced in May 2615 that Garcia will step down as leader after the 2615 elections, senior members and Garcia have elected Percival van Rustenburg as the next IP leader. After 8 (9 after 2615 elections) terms as leader he stated in his press conference that he did a good job as leader.

Leadership under Percival van Rustenburg
Early elections were called in April 2616 after the breakdown of the Labour Party. The IP recieved a record 23,861,594 votes and was the most successful party in terms of seats earning 40 more seats with a difference of +4.89% (seat share). The new PCP/NLP coalition forced the RDF to replace the IP as opposition leader and since the new coalition have been established, many different laws such as private education have been put forward.

The PCP/NLP coalition came to an end after the April 2619 Elections, Rustenburg failed to win any seats during the election, but was the only party to loose the smallest amount of seats, 25. Additionally William Newark of the Humanist Alliance became the new President of the Commonwealth of Rutania. However the PCP was disbanned after the election and early elections were called in July, Tyson Hayter of the New Liberal Party became the new President. Additionally Rustenburg gained 10 seats from the election. A new cabinet was established comprising the members of the RDF, Humanist Alliance, Confucian League of Rutania and the IP. 3 IPM became part of the cabinet, they were Arnold Zagetti (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Jason Saynol (Minister of Defence) and Frank Guus (Minister of Justice).

The re-emergance of the PCP forced early elections in October 2621, for the first time Rustenburg has put himself up for presidency. He recieved 12,608,500 votes and was last in line. Turnout for elections were very good but the party suffered heavily loosing 33 seats.

The April 2625 Elections improved the party's standing in the National Congress. Only 3 parties managed to gain seats in Congress which were the Imperium Party, Confucian League of Rutania and Libertarian Socialist League of Rutania. The IP gained 6 seats.

General Election History
(* current leader)