Progress Party (Dorvik)

The Progress Party (Fortschritts Partei), often known simply as Progress or the Progressives is a political party in Dorvik founded in May 4046. It runs on mostly a big-tent platform, advocating a more liberal and progressive set of policies than the ruling far-right Dorvish Social Nationalist Party. It was formed by a large group of local politicians and citizens in the nation to create bridge between the far-right and far-left politics dominating the nation in the form on the DSNP and the SED.

Party founder Eberhard Ackner who is also the first party leader and presidential candidate rose to fame quickly, with his staunch opposition to the extreme establishment garnering him much praise. The party rose to first place in opinion polls relatively soon and after robust campaigning, won both its first presidential and general election. The party slipped in popularity minorly for the next election in 4053 but was enough to reduce them from first to third place. However they managed to remain in government, this time as a junior partner in the wartime National Coalition with historic rivals the DSNP. However the party won its first majority, albeit slim in the following election.

Formation and Early Years
During the mid 4040s, Dorvik was experiencing a surge in dissatisfaction in the established order. Working class voters in particular responded positively to the Progress Party's message early on with Eberhard Ackner at the time of the party's founding frequently topping polls as the nations most popular political leader. Despite the People's Movement also gaining strong traction, the Progressives remained the overall favourite among working class voters. By the time of the 4049 elections, the Progress Party established a clear lead in the polls and as such won the presidential election with party leader Eberhard Ackner standing for the position and became the largest party in the State Council with 169 of a possible 500 seats. Following the party's victory, they proposed a coalition with the People's Movement to block the DSNP out of government, making them the largest opposition party. One of the party's focal points is opposition to National Service, with one of its election pledges being to trigger a referendum on the matter. As such with the party being elected in the 4049 elections, in February 4050 the party delivered its promise. However the electorate overwhelmingly rejected the measure with only 23.86% voting with the Progress Party to remove it. The Progress Party managed more reforms, however with the onset of war and the growth of the People's Movement, the 4053 election resulted in the Progress Party dropping from first to third place despite a mere net loss of 17 seats. The DSNP regained its position as the largest party. In order to create a stable government to lead the nation, the DSNP and the Progress Party reluctantly formed a coalition, with the People's Movement refusing to work in this National Coalition. It is thought the Progress Party agreed to work with the DSNP on the grounds their politicians were widely regarded as the best to deal with military situations and it would be more democratic for them to lead the government due to them coming first in the election. During this parliament, most effort was put into the war as opposed to any domestic change. In this period the People's Movement also became increasingly inactive, eventually withdrawing from politics as a whole.

Olivia Schickedanz
Whilst party leader and President Eberhard Ackner remained popular, parliamentary leader and ex-State Chancellor Ägidius Van Houten's popularity within the party was decisively slipping. He was also being seen as increasingly right-wing and incompetent. Olivia Schickedanz, a more liberal member of the party despite never holding any major posts successfully challenged Van Houten to a leadership election, a year after the party had lost the general election. Schickedanz became instantly more popular than her predecessor, and became especially popular following the dissolution of the People's Movement and became the main left-wing political figurehead in the nation. Despite never being fully supportive of the National Coalition, she decided it would be for the good of the country to stick with it until at least the next election.

By the time the election was due in 4057, tensions were gradually dimming. Despite the shadow cabinet remaining identical to as it was during Van Houten's time, with Schickedanz leading it the party looked much fresher than the comparatively worn out DSNP. The party won a slim majority in the election and it was decided to end the national coalition in favour of a full Progressive cabinet. The DSNP blasted the move as foolish due to the ongoing war, but Schickedanz maintained that her party was perfectly equipped to deal with the situation themselves and resolved to end the war as soon as possible.

This term sparked much controversy, whilst critically acclaimed by liberals in the country, conservatives and nationalists blasted Ackner and Schickedanzs leadership of the nation. One such controversy was when President Ackner famously mixed up Aloria and Dundorf in a speech offering to end the war, offering peace to Aloria whilst it was Dundorf that the conflict was ongoing with. However the notion of offering peace under any circumstances, of which the terms for ending the war was rejected anyway, was highly controversial and practically a first for Dorvik. Perhaps the next most controversial part of this term however was in 4060 when the party decided to ignore the National Service Referendum result from ten years prior, and remove it regardless. This is mostly thought due to the fact the public's view on the service has soured within the past decade. However the nation was still somewhat split, with conservatives voicing their outrage at the decision. The military also announced their intention to ignore the new law, a move which President Ackner blasted as "illegal".

These controversies cultivated in the assassination of Schickedanz in March 4060. Whilst attending a rally with President Ackner and the newly unveiled party leader Kurt Bacher. Bacher was making his first speech in public as the new party leader when gunman Heinrich Hölder shot Schickedans directly in the heart. Security fired back at Hölder before he could kill anyone else. He had voiced criticism at the recent government policies including their handling of the Dundorf war and the removal of mandatory National Service, and has had links with some minor fascist and nationalist organisations.

Kurt Bacher
Following Schickedanz's assassination, Foreign Affairs minister Niels Pfaff became the next party leader and State Chancellor almost immediately; the party voted in favour of him unopposed. Pfaff organized a new cabinet and undertook the first major re-shuffle in the party's history, ushering in a younger, fresher team. Pfaff is seen as even more liberal than Schickendanz was, proposing a multitude of new progressive policies very soon after he entered office. Kurt Bacher is also seen as distinctively more liberal than predecessor Eberhard Ackner. Bacher was an early supporter of the Progress Party, he voted in favour of revoking mandatory National Service in the 4050 Referendum, heavily campaigning with the Progress Party on the matter. Being drafted in the military upon leaving school, Bacher opted to join the military as opposed to the Civilian Service due to the military paying more than the Civilian Service and coming from a poor background, he and his family were desperate for any money they could get, often being so poor they could barely make ends meet. However he found his experience in the military highly traumatic, one event which stayed with him for the rest of his life was when he and his platoon were ambushed and he saw his best friend killed. As soon as he left the military he required counseling for the next four years. Eventually he entered politics, joining the Progress Party and pushing for improved social security and revocation of mandatory National Service. Despite being youthful compared with many of his colleagues, he soon climbed up the ranks in his party due to his inspirational and impassioned speeches along with his background. When Eberhard Ackner announced in 4060 he would step down as party leader and not run for the next Presidential Election, Bacher was quickly touted as the frontrunner for the position. Many who initially thought of running decided not to and instead endorsed Bacher, by the time the internal leadership election took place he only had one rival whom failed to gain much momentum.

Following Kurt Bacher officially winning the leadership election, he, current leader and President Eberhard Ackner and State Chancellor Olivia Schickedanz attended a party rally for Bacher to make his first public speech after officially being announced as the next leader and Presidential hopeful. However that night was when Schickedanz was assassinated. This had a direct effect on Bacher (along with Ackner and many within the party). Bacher and Pfaff agreed on a crackdown on terrorism and campaigned for the next election partly stating they would do so.

In 4060, the DSNP formally disbanded following a string of controversies relating to Schickedanz's death. Despite initially no link to the party being made in her death, it was later found out senior DSNP politicians funded the killer, Heinrich Hölder with weaponry and information on the security details in order go give him the best chance of success. Despite the official leadership of the party condemning these moves, it was decided in a court that the party should be disbanded, plus many figures in the party agreed it would be the moral thing. With many party figures ageing anyway, many retired from politics. Due to this, an election was called a year earlier than scheduled. Three parties gained seats which did not before. Among these was the National Fascist People's Party, seen as the successor of the DSNP but employing more radically populist policies in the form of stronger nationalist tendencies, a more militaristic approach but more left-leaning economic policies. The NFPP attracted the largest number of votes and seats in the election, earning a majority reducing the Progress Party to the official opposition. This is mostly thought to be as their populist approach resonated well with former Progressive voters whilst their nationalist rhetoric and jump in the polls attracted the majority of former DSNP voters. The Steel Helmet, League of Front Soldiers became the third largest party. Ideologically this party bore the most resemblance to the DSNP and attracted the furthest right that formerly belonged to it, however it failed to gain as much traction as the NFPP due to their calmer, more establishment friendly campaigning. In addition to these parties, the Free Conservative Party also contested in this election and came last, mostly drawing away moderate and fiscally right leaning Progressive voters. However Kurt Bacher managed to win the Presidency, although this is mostly thought to have happened as the NFPP didn't field a Presidential candidate and instead focused on parliamentary elections. Soon after this, Niels Pfaff who was widely seen as an emergency replacement for Schickedanz anyway resigned as party leader, after less than a year in the position. His successor was elected soon after in the form of Steffen Rosengarten. Rosengarten had a good working relationship with Kurt Bacher despite being from the more libertarian wing of the party. Soon the Steel Helmet, League of Front Soldiers and the Free Conservative Party dissolved leaving only the Progress Party and the NFPP, although just prior to the next election a Communist Party founded, not winning any seats. The NFPP's four year term was seen as largely ineffective with very little change actually happening; they only proposed one bill in this time, not even passing due to constitutional amendments not supported by the Progressives. meanwhile the only bills that did pass were mostly the work of the Progress Party. This coupled with the NFPP's increasingly aggressive paramilitary and the perceived strong, able leadership of Kurt Bacher as president resulted in a significantly stronger showing for the Progress Party in the 4064 election, with their best showing at the time and jumping to first place, securing a majority. Steffen Rosengarten became the State Chancellor. This term saw paramilitaries being illegalized however the NFPP's paramilitary refusing to disband, although officially the party denounced the paramilitary despite the paramilitary continuing to operate in its name. It intervened in some international affairs in countries such as Dundorf and Aloria, working with other National Socialist movements. Kurt Bacher, already known as a pacifist condemned this and worked hard to try and neutralize the threat.

By the time the 4068 came around, the Communist party significantly grew and the NFPP's militant supporters were mostly neutralized. With all polls indicating no party would be able to reach an agreement, President Bacher entered talks with the Communists founder Johannes Malva, agreeing on a truce to block the NFPP from government. They agreed that in the likely result of a hung parliament, the two parties would enter a formal coalition. On top of this, the Communists decided not to field a candidate for the Presidential election, instead endorsing Kurt Bacher for a third term. As part of the agreement, the two parties agreed not to campaign as hard against eachother, especially in regions where one party was significantly stronger than the other. The two parties also had enough time before the election to decide key policies. In the end Bacher decided to call the election in July as opposed to waiting until its set time in November due to all bills in parliament being passed. In the election campaign, the NFPP mostly campaigned against the dangers of a Progress-Communist government and fears about their inability to address defense situations, to which many within both parties rebuked easily, pointing instead to the NFPP's radicalized supporters, however this had a mixed effect seeing the party does not officially condone the actions of their militant voters. The NFPP also attacked the fact that despite polls indicating they would become the largest party, the Progress and Communist parties would get away with forming a coalition, which they blasted as undemocratic. Again the two parties pointed to the NFPP's track record and especially attacked their unpassed bill "Path to a Greater Dorvik" which included the proposal of changing the election cycle from every four to every six years. As expected, the election resulted in the NFPP becoming the largest party, despite loosing seats. The Progress Party came second, with the Communists coming third. Kurt Bacher also won re-election in the Presidential election due to the backing of the Communists

Progress/Communist Coalition
The beginning of the Coalition's term ran smoothly although differences between the two parties began to surface. The Communists, as widely expected brought forward economically socialist policies, many of which moved to eradicate private industry and implement a communist system. Although this was opposed by the Progress Party, due to the NFPP's backing these bills, referred to as "The Koloman Plan" passed with ease. This lead to unrest with economic liberals and moderates, whose presence within the party began to grow, eventually for the first time becoming the dominant faction within the party. Steffen Rosengarten who beforehand was classed within the moderate wing of the party soon to become associated with the more economically liberal, mostly due to the influence of many party members. Kurt Bacher, who before was associated with the more left-leaning side of the party also became more associated with economically liberal and moderate policies, although throughout his third term rebuked this, claiming instead to be "a true progressive, not a regressive socialist".

Speculation began to arise as to whether a Progress/Communist coalition would continue into a second term if left with a similar election result to the 4068 election, but key party figures assured they would rather pursue that option than be locked out of government or let the NFPP into government, and tried to highlight achievements of the coalition other than the Koloman Plan, such as social and justice reforms. Despite the party officially wanting to continue the coalition if left with a Hung Parliament, many within the party have blasted the Koloman Plan, including future party leader Gary Ziegler, part of the libertarian flank of the party.

In December 4071, seven months before the next elections were scheduled, incumbent party leader and President Kurt Bacher announced he would not seek re-election for a fourth term, stating his work "was done and a new voice to address the issues Dorvik is needed". It has been speculated Bacher would retire as President well before the announcement was made, with speculation being made as to who would take the mantle. Carolin Fahrenheit, Minister of Environment and Tourism was heavily touted as the frontrunner for quite some time and was also the first to announce her candidacy for the leadership election.

In an opinion poll with 5,000 members of the general public, Kurt Bacher was voted the best Dorvish President of the 41st Century, although nearly tying with his predecessor Eberhard Ackner, with the last DSNP President Thorismund von Petrov coming third.

Gary Ziegler & Marvin Stein
Eventually after Carolin Fahrenheit, Niklaus Klein and Benedikt Ehrenreich announced their candidacies for the leadership election, Gary Ziegler who was heavily expected to pursue leadership confirmed he would stand in the election on Boxing Day. The last candidate to announce they were standing was Marvin Stein to add a more traditionally progressive voice into the debate. It wasn't long until Ziegler was heavily challenging Fahrenheit as the frontrunner, with him capitalizing from the growing economic liberalism within the party and his staunch opposition to the Koloman plan. He soon catapulted into first place in opinion polls, eventually earning a comfortable lead over Fahrenheit. This lead to him eventually gaining more endorsements from MSCs than Fahrenheit, finalizing his position as the main frontrunner. However both of them had substantially more support than any of their rivals. Eventually after a strong campaign capitalizing on opposition to the Koloman Plan, Gary Ziegler won the first round with 37.91% of the votes, over his nearest competition Carolin Fahrenheit's 26.45%. After a one on one debate with Fahrenheit, he managed to win the leadership election with 52.90% of the vote as opposed to Fahrenheit's 47.10%. Following the completion of the leadership election, a few days later in March 4072 Ziegler attended a party rally with Kurt Bacher and Steffen Rosengarten, with Bacher officially handing over party leadership to Ziegler and endorsing him for the next Presidential election, as had every official in the Progress Party. In his maiden speech as the official leader of the Progress Party, Gary Ziegler thanked the party's members for voting for him and laid out his ambitions and plans he would implement of he and his party win the next election, and also looked forward to "hopefully working with Mr Rosengarten, who so far has proven to be a great State Chancellor". Despite being very popular with grassroot voters, Ziegler lead the party into a decisive defeat in the elections that year, coming third in both the State and Presidential elections. This was attributed to the rise in militant left-wing politics which the party was seen as opposed to it, with the Koloman Plan at the time of implementation being popular among the electorate. This lead to Marvin Stein challenging Zeigler for leadership of the party, and succeeding due to many in the party feeling there was a need to move the party further to the left. This made Ziegler the shortest serving leader of the party to date, at under a year, although Stein served for little longer. It was around this time the NFPP dissolved due to party in-fighting following their failure to reach any coalition agreement or able to form a minority government, with the Communists temporarily giving the Progress Party a minority government. A snap election was called in 4073, with the both the Progress Party and Communists making substantial gains due to the dissolution of the NFPP. Despite improved performance under Stein, he had little time to disassociate the party from the more fiscally liberal policies of Gary Ziegler. Following the snap election, Stein decided it was right for him to resign.

Hugo Glehn
Following the resignation of Marvin Stein, a leadership election was called immediately. Hugo Glehn was seen as the front runner immediately and by many was seen as the only serious candidate. Glehn had more in common with the liberal wing of the party than the Progressive wing, which was seen as the natural direction for the party. Populist Niklaus Klein who competed in the first 4072 leadership election competed again, with a minorly improved performance since appealing further to the right of the party, whilst Julius Neumark stood on behalf of the progressive Steinite side of the party. Glehn won a landslide with 79.86% of the ballot in the first round. Meanwhile in the parliamentary side of the party, Carolin Fahrenheit who competed in the 4072 leadership election won the parliamentary leadership of the party, succeeding Steffen Rosengarten who held the role for 13 years. Fahrenheit was seen as the most suitable candidate due to her belonging in the more moderate side of the party, having a better crossover appeal than Glehn to disenfranchised Communists.

This term was fought once again mostly over the Koloman Plan, which was decreasing in popularity. However despite the party capitalizing off this, the State Election resulted in the Communists remaining the largest party, albeit only four seats ahead of the Progress Party. The second round of the Presidential Election was even closer, with the difference between Malva and Glehn being only just over one percent. Due to the arrival of the AfD, the Communists lost their majority, running a minority government. There was speculation as to whether Glehn would resign as party leader following the election result, but due to strong support within the party he decided to stay on, however Fahrenheit was replaced as parliamentary party leader by Wilhelm Raabe from the libertarian wing of the party. There was also speculation directly after the election whether the Progress Party would join a coalition, either in the form of a grand-coalition with the Communists or with a fiscally conservative one with the AfD, however the party decided instead to allow the Communists to lead a minority government, with Glehn and the party instead focusing on repealing the Koloman plan. Due to the party's success with this, many analysts said they thought the Progress Party was actually the true ruling party in all but name.

National Service
Opposition to National Service is a key part of the party. One of its main promises in its first election was to deliver a Referendum on the matter, which following its victory in the 4049 elections and coalition with the People's Movement, it triggered a referendum in February 4050 which resulted in an overwhelming majority of votes to keep National Service, much to the bemusement of the party. The referendum was not legally binding but instead advisory, however the Progress Party vowed to force its coalition partners the People's Movement vote in favour of banning National Service if the referendum resulted in a victory for its removal. Following winning a majority government in 4057, many wondered whether the Progress Party would try to remove National Service again, either via another referendum or merely removing it outright. It was however also speculated that the party would instead lower the age of compulsory education in order to let young people finish their National Service much sooner. In 4060, with the publics opinion towards National Service souring over the past decade since the Referendum, the party decided to revoke it. This drew much backlash from conservatives and the military in Dorvik.

Economics
The party generally supports a liberal leaning mixed economy, opposing excessive regulation with the party advocating next to no regulation for very small businesses whilst substantial regulation for larger, multi-national corporations. The party also supports moderating taxes to lower numbers, especially for the working class and lower-income population. Analysts have noted the Progress Party to take a somewhat populist approach to the economy.

Military
The party takes a mixed, moderate approach to military issues. They advocate more restrictions on landmines and weapons of mass destruction instead advocating a higher use in more conventional weapons. Founder Eberhard Ackner stated "a bomb doesn't discriminate, it can't tell whether it's being used on friend or foe, a terrorists or an innocent child. A soldier with a gun can, we need to be more humane with our military approach in Dorvik". However overall the party is split on the matter of the military, with some advocating a more pacifistic approach whilst others are more deeply imperialistic.

Civil Rights
The party is mostly progressive in regards to social policy, strongly contrasting with the Social Nationalist Party. The vast majority of members staunchly oppose most social-conservatism and senior party figures have frequently bashed the perceived restrictive social policies under the DSNP government.

Healthcare
Creation of a National Health Service is a founding principle within the party. The Progress Party mostly supports regulating remaining private health establishments with a nationalized health service being available readily for everyone in the nation. Whilst the hospitals would be constructed, cities towns and villages without a nationalized health service would have their private health service temporarily cater to all the needs the eventual NHS would. In addition to this, the government would offer mild incentive for private establishments to nationalize. Nationalization within remaining private services would also be another option for private firms. However this view is not unanimous within the party, with Libertarian factions opposing staunchly. The party also advocates liberalization regarding abortion and euthanasia. In addition, the party wants to subsidize contraception in order to bring the number of un-wanted births down to a minimum.

Law Enforcement
The party supports the death penalty strongly, determining that some people are simply too dangerous to society. However the party also takes some more compassionate stances on law enforcement, believing all drug offenses should be de-criminalized.

Education
The party supports lowering the age of compulsory education from 18 to 16, believing that young people should be allowed to make decisions about their life with less government interference. Following their defeat in the National Service Referendum and their attainment of a full majority government in 4057, it was widely speculated that if the party elected to keep National Service due to the majority of the nation supporting it, then lowering the education age would be a priority so young people could finish their National Service sooner. In 4060 the government decided to revoke mandatory National Service but is still likely the age of compulsory education will be lowered.

Foreign Policy
As opposed to the DSNP's harder stance on foreign policy, the Progress Party takes a softer, less aggressive stance. In regards to entering the war, the party was generally split and thus had no official stance on the matter. However upon their attainment of a majority government, the Progress Party vowed to end ongoing wars the nation was involved with as soon as it could.

Welfare
The Progress Party is generally supportive of the Welfare State, it has however voted for measures to limit some aspects of it in the past.

Religion
The party is staunchly secular, believing that church and state should remain completely separate from each other.

Science & Technology
The party overall has no large policies regarding science and technology. It is however strongly supportive of space exploration.

Ecology
The party also has no distinct policies regarding ecology.

Leadership
See Also: List of Presidents of the Dorvish Republic.

Bellow is a comprehensive list of leaders of the Progress Party.

Bellow is a comprehensive list of Parliamentary leaders of the Progress Party.

Electoral History
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