Liberal Party of Rutania

The Liberal Party of Rutania, or the Liberals, are a liberal, pro-democracy party in the Commonwealth of Rutania. The Liberals have roots in other political parties, most notably the Free Democrats, a once powerful political force in the Baltusia.

Founded as an alternate to the major political parties in Rutania, the Liberals quickly became a major political force.

History
Following the 3252 elections, many Rutanian's felt that their voices were not being heard. As a result, a group of Ardinian citizens went to Parliament to petition the President and the Prime Minister and ask that ordinary citizens have the opportunity to speak during Question Period. After President Anthony Dawkins rejected this idea, the group formed the Democratic Alliance, a group promoted to letting the average Rutanian speak on issues of public policy. The group soon registered as a political party but had no official leadership.

The Alliance contested the 3256 elections without success. The party failed to nominate a candidate for President and won only 0.05% of the votes in the parliamentary elections. However, the party vowed to fight on after President Dawkins opted not to seek reelection and saw his son fail to replace him. The government did not last and elections were called a year later. The Alliance was ill prepared to fight the election and won only 0.06% of the vote.

Soon after the elections Carl Prinzhorn, a Constitution Party of Rutania MP, was expelled from the party. Prinzhorn decided to join the Democratic Alliance and was acclaimed as the first leader of the party. Prinzhorn was able to get six members of Parliament to join him as members of the party but all were forced to resign their parliamentary seats because they crossed the floor. Prinzhorn asked the tiny membership of the party to change the name of the party, and 94% of the membership voted with Prinzhorn on the issue. Consequently, the Liberal Party of Rutania was officially registered with Elections Rutania.

Prinzhorn quickly wrote a constitution for the party. He appointed two Deputy Leaders, one male and one female. He also added that the Party Leader would be elected by the parliamentary caucus and that the term of said leader would only expire due to retirement, death, or a leadership challenge. Prinzhorn wrote that a leadership election could be held at any time if the election had the support of 10% of the caucus.

In 3263, Prinzhorn was narrowly elected President of Rutania. A year later, Guillaume d'Estaing was elected leader of the Liberal Party. Prinzhorn was reelected President in 3267 but the rivalry between he and d'Estaing spilled out into the open.



In 3269, Prinzhorn called on Prime Minister Marius Villadsen to challenge d'Estaing for the leadership and d'Estaing asked Wendy Miyagi to run against Prinzhorn for the presidential nomination. d'Estaing was reelected leader by nearly 20% while Prinzhorn was overwhelmingly defeated in his bid to receive the party's nomination.

Wendy Miyagi was elected President of Rutania in 3271 but was defeated four years later. In 3278, after 14 years as leader, Guillaume d'Estaing stepped down. d'Estaing's deputy, Norm Carbines was elected unopposed to replace him.

Carbines proved to be a capable leader who reformed the structure of the leadership. As leader, he combined the two deputy leadership positions into one. His leadership quickly fell into question after he was unable to form a government despite winning the most seats in Parliament. He was also criticized for his failure to help elect Felipe Casagrande to the presidency.

In 3282, after failing once again to form a government, Carbines was ousted by Paul Kilgariff. Months later, Kilgariff saw the party make huge gains in the parliamentary elections. Two months after the elections, Kilgariff was able to win enough support in Parliament to become Prime Minister. Unfortunately, Felipe Casagrande was unable to win the presidency. He lost by a mere 1.54% in the second round of voting.

Over a third of the parliamentary caucus was defeated in the 3287 elections. Despite this defeat, Dilara Nyström was overwhelmingly elected President. Nyström won a majority of the vote in the first round. As a result of the party's poor election results, Kilgariff resigned as leader and Prime Minister. Deputy Leader Jack Darvill was elected to replace him.

As leader, Darvill was able to keep the Liberals in the cabinet but was ultimately responsible for the party's worst defeat since it first won seats in Parliament in 3260. Following Darvill's resignation, Defence Minister Jacqui Moir was elected to the leadership. Her early months were difficult and she was challenged for her position not even a year into her leadership. Her leadership soon gained steam and by the time of the 3195 elections, Moir was incredibly popular.

In 3195, Astrid Ojansuu was defeated by just over 1% in her bid to become Rutania's President. Moir saw the Liberals gain 24 seats in Parliament. Soon after the elections, Moir was able to form a government and become Prime Minister.



Her government quickly became unpopular with the people and in the 3199 elections, Moir saw the party suffer it's largest defeat. Over half of the Liberal MPs lost their seats in Parliament and Ojansuu came in sixth of seven candidates in her bid for the presidency. She won just over 9%. However, despite the massive deat, Moir didn't resign. Instead, she instituted a series of reforms that would help revitalize the party.

Months after the 3199 elections, Parliament was dissolved and elections were called. Ojansuu rose to 12% in the polls but her defeat effectively ended her career. In 3304, Lars Hartling ran for the presidency on the Liberal banner and won 17% of the vote. The Liberals also nearly doubled their seats in Parliament.

In 3306, Jacqui Moir announced that she would be standing down from Parliament in order to seek the Liberal Party nomination for the presidency. Moir ultimately stepped down in 3308 after she narrowly secured the party's nomation for the presidency. Unfortunately, she performed poorly and was unable to win even 11%.

Peter Rein was elected to replace Moir as the leader of the party but his time as leader was marred by ineffective policies and an inadequate leadership team. Rein's only major success came in the form of Tracy Cantu, an elderly MP, who launched a bid for the presidency and doubled the vote for the Liberals.

Shortly after Rein stepped down Jens Story, the controversial MP and former Justice Minister, became leader. Story's leadership came to an abrupt end after early elections resulted in major gains for the Liberals. While the party initially toasted his success, it also meant that the government would have to work with Story. The opposition parties soon formed a government without Story.



Replacing Story, Mic Hirschfelder called for a major revamp of the party and its structure. He, however, had little time to reform the party and stepped down three years into his term. Karl Maltzahn replaced Hirschfelder on an interim basis.

When Maltzahn unexpectedly announced that he would not contest the leadership, Malcolm Gipson entered the race. Gipson, a backbench MP, was easily elected. In his first election as leader, Gipson saw the party make small gains. Shortly after, the government collapsed and Gipson led the Liberals to a huge victory. Natalie Aiken became the youngest President of Rutania (at the age of 34) and Gipson became Prime Minister.

Gipson remained in office until his defeat in 3331. Natalie Aiken also lost her bid to win a third term as President. Following the 3331 elections, the Liberals were in the political wilderness. They were ousted from the government and were leaderless. In the party's first real leadership election since 3311, Albert Tonks defeated nine MPs to win the leadership.

Tonks was deeply unpopular with his caucus but shocked the political world by holding off Liberal losses in 3335 and taking the Prime Minister's office shortly thereafter.

Party Leadership
Note:  Darren Coufal resigned as Deputy Leader on January 17, 3260. Wendy Miyagi resigned as Deputy Leader on July 14, 3269 after she was selected by the party to run for the Presidency.