Grand National Party (Dranland)

General Information
The GNP is a libertarian party in the Kingdom of Dranland. Its ideology is a combination of libertarianism and conservatism. It is currently led by Jack Caddock.

Ideology
While most GNP members self-describe as libertarians, the party also has a socially conservative wing, appromixately making up 10-15% of its members. Overall, the GNP can be described as socially moderate and economically conservative.


 * Economy: The GNP strongly espouses capitalism and laissez-faire economics and opposes all kind of governmental interference in the market. The party believes that all industries should be privately owned in order to boost competition and economic growth while.


 * Taxes: The GNP aims to introduce a flat tax system with a tax rate of 15% for all classes of income. The party is also in favor of low corporate taxes in order to promote job creation and growth.


 * Civil Rights: The GNP sees individualism as society's highest value and therefore espouses strong civil rights for everyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender. The party supports free speech, democracy, same-sex marriage and unrestricted gun ownership.


 * Ecology: The GNP opposes environmentalist policies such as pollution restrictions or the ban of forest clearance, as this would affect the nation's economic prosperity. While the party supports minor regulations such as a license system for forest protection or tax incentives for environmentally friendly fuels, its position on ecology is generally very skeptic.


 * Military: Unlike most libertarians, the GNP supports strong military forces able to intervene if a threat occurs. The party also supports using chemical and nuclear weapon in warfare if the situation requires such measures.


 * Infrastructure: GNP politicians are in favor of completely privatizing public infrastructure, because they believe that the private sector can offer these services more efficient. This applies to public transport as well as energy supply.


 * Foreign Affairs and Trade: The GNP is firmly internationalist, seeing globalization as a positive process and aiming to establish diplomatic and economic relationships with every nation around the world. For this aim, the party also supports the abolishment of customs to promote free trade.


 * Security: While the GNP believes that the state should be in charge of public security, the party aims to involve the private sector by subcontracting private security firms for maintaing law and order.

Voter Base
Typically, the GNP is backed by middle and upper class citizens, with men and women being represented in equal numbers. The party performs especially well in urban, prosperous areas due to its pro-business policies, but also has some strongholds in the country. The GNP enjoys mediocre support within the traditionally monarchist Dranian majority, but is widely backed by the Welsh and Kyo minorities, which is also due to the fact that it has several politicians of these ethnicities in its rows, such as Marit Jensson, who is Welsh, and Lee Jong-Kyu, a member of the Kyo minority.

Traditional strongholds of the party are the regions Ulbrach and Loren.

History
The Grand National Party was founded in 3243 by Larissa LeCoultre, a businesswoman from Iglesia Mayor, due to her dissatisfaction with the current political and economuc situation. On the first party convention in March 3243, LeCoultre talked about her reasons for founding the GNP as follows:



"In our nation, we have two major parties who believe that the state should play an active part in the economy and interfere in the market. We do not believe that. We believe that the unfettered power of the free, unregulated market is the most effective force to create growth, wealth and prosperity. The same applies to society: We want the government to stay out of our private lifes and to stop telling us what to do. Individual freedom is the most important value of a liberal society, and this country needs a strong voice to defend and expand this principle: This is the GNP."

The GNP soon found support among entrepreneurs and upper-class citizens, but also parts of the middle and working class aiming to reduce the role of the government. On a local level, the GNP is already established in some cities, because several independent representatives have joined the party. The Grand National Party will run in the next parliamentary elections, and party officials have stated that they were hopeful to win some seats in the Reichstag.

The elections of 3246 resulted in a GNP landslide victory: The party won 41.63% of the popular vote and 102 Seats in the Reichstag. Chairwoman Larissa LeCoultre thanked the electorate for its support and promised to introduce a capitalist market economy, more social freedoms and the abolition of all leftovers of the fascist rule. With its new power, the GNP also aims to replace Dranland's dictator Adolf Frederick Drexler (NSP) with a democratically elected president. In her victory speech, she said:

"This result is nothing less than a revolution. The people have raised their voice against the government controlling their private life and economic freedom. The message given to us by the citizens is clear: It is time to focus on individual freedom and self-resposibilty rather than promoting an all-controlling nanny state. As the next head of government, I promise to conduct all the necessary reforms to reach these aims."

During the following legislative tenure, where the GNP governed together with the Plaid Genedlaethol Rhyddfrydol with Larissa LeCoultre as Prime Minister, the economy was radically liberalized, socially liberal policies were introduced and the military was strengthened. Furthermore, the cabinet privatized all industry and infrastructure. The censorship of the media was repealed, and all content regulations were scrapped. Eventually, all media was privatized as well.



In the elections of 3250, the GNP won 42.61% and slightly improved its previous result. In the following tenure, Prime MinisterLeCoultre continued her agenda, launched further liberalizations, privatizations and tax cuts. Together with the other parties, the GNP-led government eventually overthrew the NSP regime and re-established the monarchy.

In 3253, Larissa LeCoultre resigned as Chairwoman, her successor is Jack Caddock.

In the 3254 elections, the GNP, led by its new leader Jack Caddock, won an absolute majority in landslide victory, winning 56.57% of the popular vote. Some analysts say it wasn't primarily Caddock's merits, but rather a victory of Prime Minister LeCoultre, who's popularity was very high. Others say the GNP sweeped the elections because monarchist voters rewarded the party's intitative to restore the monarchy.

The new government, made up by GNP ministers only, introduced measures such as the abolishment of the minimum wage and the abandonment of border controls.

The elections of 3258 brought a clear majority for the GNP, meaning that the cabinet could remain in office.

Leaders

 * Larissa LeCoultre 3143-3153 - Prime Minister from 3146-3154
 * Jack Caddock 3153 - Present