Social Democratic Party of Baltusia

The Baltusian Democratic Party, or the Democrats, are a liberal, pro-democracy party in the Republica Baltusia.

The Democrats are one of the oldest active parties in Baltusia.

The Baltusian Democratic Party currently has 96 seats in the 300 seat Senate. The party holds seven cabinet portfolios.

Provincially, the party holds the Gevaro governorship.

There have been 13 Democratic Praetors. Nine were elected and four were appointed.

History
The Baltusian Democratic Party was originally founded in 2180 as the Liberalism Party. Although it didn’t contest in a federal election until 2184, the party’s historical founder was Neleh Charlton, niece of Praetor Taya Charlton. Charlton, a graduate student at the University of Baltusia in Athosia experimented with this new party. When her uncle found out about the newly registered party, she was forced to leave it. Liberal Libertarian Senator, Mattias Josiah Clemens had heard about the new party and after having just been defeated in a leadership contest again the incumbent Praetor, Clemens left the party and became the first official leader of the party.

After Clemens resigned, his son Jaxon took the reigns of the party. During his 14 year leadership period, he led four impeachment trials against the embattled Praetor. When Taya Charlton resigned, Jaxon Clemens considered it a huge victory for the nation.

For twenty years, the party was in a slump, however, in 2220, Toffy Hanford became leader. He led the party to new directions and became one of the most successful leaders in Baltusian history.

From 2242 through 2290, the party again collapsed. Ursula Baker became leader and then became the first Liberal Praetor. She was elected by 0.46% over the Liberal Libertarian incumbent Atreide M'Bokma. The party’s fortunes changed once again when Baker opted out of a second term and was assassinated. It wouldn’t be until another 84 years that a Liberal was elected Praetor.



Sofia Taylor later became leader and came close to becoming Praetor; however, she was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2333, Ros Kurita changed the party’s name from the Liberalism Party to the modern Liberal Party. After Kurita changed the party’s name, she defeated Praetor Juanita Pierini in her first bid for the Senate.

In 2374, Olympia Collins was elected Praetor. She defeated the Baltusian Pantian Alliance candidate by 18.26% on the second round. However, just seven months later, Collins was ousted in a motion of no-confidence.

For 49 years, the Liberal Party was the most powerful party in Baltusia. During those years, the nation elected Marie-Ségolène Bayrou as Praetor a record breaking six times. Her victories were as close as 0.58% to 18.83%.

Following Bayrou’s resignation in 2445, the Liberal Party became increasingly unpopular. Over the course of 22 years, the party went through seven different leaders. Barry Goldvogel was elected Praetor in 2471 in one of the nation’s biggest landslides.

Goldvogel’s government fell in 2475 and his successor, Jerilyn Boasso-Kneale, was widely seen as a failure. Her replacement was Xenophilius GrandPré.

When Xeno GrandPré resigned in 2481, his wife Crystaline took the reigns of the leadership. Her first act was to rename the party and remold the party's image. The party was then known as the Purple Democratic Alliance.

GrandPré was removed as leader in 2486 after a long battle with the caucus. The new leader, Troia Gladwyn, changed the party’s name back to the Liberal Party of Baltusia.

Gladwyn resigned after her son’s murder. Hanna Gry Ashbaugh became leader in 2493 at the age of five. She became the nation’s youngest leader. Marie-Ségolène Dominique Bayrou was elected leader at the age of 13, however, she ascended to the Praetorship at the age of three.

In 2499, Tendaji Kofi Olympio replaced Hanna Gry Ashbaugh as leader of the Liberal Party. His leadership is considered to have been one of the most successful in Baltusian history because of his connection with his constituents.

In 2504, the Liberal Coalition was shattered. Menzies Judge than became the first Liberal Praetor since 2471.



When Judge resigned in 2507, Walt Isenhower replaced him for 3 years. Isenhower resigned in 2510 after health problems. Oliver Frederick was elected leader of the party in 2510 at a leadership election.

In 2521, Party Leader Harold Ashbourne changed the name of the party to the Baltusian Democratic Party.

In 2524, Oliver Frederick was elected Praetor. Four years later, Duke Gore Clemens became Praetor following Frederick's early resignation. In 2532, Hillary Frederick, wife of the Praetor and one term Senator became leader.

In the January 2551 elections, Alistair Argyll was the suprise winner in the race for Praetor. He helped the party gain a historic 20 senate seats.

On June 10, 2551, The Republica Baltusia Daily reported that Argyll had previously patronized a high-priced prostitution service called Praetors Club and met for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl now known to be an Athosian singer going by the name Meryl Johna Dupré.

In the wake of the revelations, Argyll announced on June 21 that he would resign his post as Praetor effective at noon of June 22, amid threats of his impeachment by federal lawmakers. Kim Knight replaced him as Praetor.

In 2575, Richard Aylesworth was elected Praetor. After his defeat four years later, Claire Baker was elected Praetor in one of the greatest landslides.

Membership
As of 2585, there are 9,599,171 registered members of the Baltusian Democratic Party. This total makes up roughly 6.63% of the registered voters in Baltusia.

Over the party's 405 years of existence, it has contested 104 elections, winning 4,164 seats and receiving 998,313,782 votes from a possible 7,015,209,645 (14.23%).