Choice (Luthori)

For the Dolgarian party of the same name, see Choice.

Choice is a political party that operates in the Holy Luthori Empire, founded in December 3832. It was inspired by the defunct Dolgarian party of the same name and is a republican party, advocating the abolition of the monarchy. The party's leader Ensor Taylor is the same Ensor Taylor that lead the Dolgarian Choice party, as Taylor was origionally born in Luthori before moving to Dolgaria in his teens. The party was later briefly taken over by Kai Farage before being fired after poor election results, and was subsequently taken over by the much more popular Margaret Sturgeon. In 3866 Sturgeon retired and was replaced by Charles Davison.

History
Choice was founded in December 3832 by Ensor Taylor. Taylor previously ran the Dolgarian incarnation of the party. After moving to Dolgaria in his teens and running the Dolgarian party, Taylor soon after retiring from party leader moved back to Luthori. However he was against the unfair treatment of his people by the monarchy and soon decided to form a new incarnation of Choice, this time in his home nation. Soon after the foundation of this new Choice party, another party took inspiration from this and named their party Arch after the Dolgarian party of the same name. Choice's first election was in 3837 where they came fourth, they later called for an early election in 3840 where they came second and came second again in the 3845 elections. After the 3840 elections, Choice briefly formed a coalition with Arch and the Luthori Imperial Party, before a year later the latter party pulled out of the coalition and thus Choice was soon kicked out of the cabinet. Since this, Choice has been in and out of various coalitions depending on the outcome of the election, notably forming and "emergency" coalition with the Liberal Alliance, the Hosian Socialist party and the Progress Party due to the fact no other stable coalition could be formed. They also formed part of a coalition with the Hosian Socialist party and the Radical Communist Labour Party after the HSP won that election. In 3861, Choice gained their best result to date with 85 seats, despite coming second in the election they formed a coalition and became the largest party in the coalition, with current party leader Margaret Sturgeon becoming the Imperial Seal-Bearer, becoming the second Choice Imperial Seal-Bearer (the first being Ensor Taylor) and so far, the longest serving one.

Policies
Choice is well known for their stance against the monarchy in Luthori and calls for a republic, which were partially achieved when parties in the nation chose to have an "elective monarchy" and the first head of state election was held in 3845 at the same time as the general election of that year. Despite the other parties putting forward royal candidates for the elections who are members of the monarchy or the aristocracy that have endorsed a particular party, Choice fielded their party leader Ensor Taylor for the head of state election, partly due to the fact no royals would endorse the party anyway due to their republican stance and that Choice refused to field a royal candidate. Taylor came first in round one and second in round two, thus nearly becoming the head of state in Luthori. Due to this, Luthori can be considered a republic, some have called it a "royal republic" even, instead of an elective monarchy. Despite this, Choice wants further reforms, making the head of state also the head of government and naming them president as opposed to monarch, currently the head of state is only symbolic.

The party advocates less involvement with the rest of the world, taking an isolationist stance. They want to cease giving foreign aid entirely as they believe it's a waste of money that could be better spent. They also want much tighter boarder control and to have better defense provided by the military but want less offensive involvement.

Choice is well known for wanting complete separation of church and state, opposing the religious stance of other parties and even wanting to remove the "Holy" part of the name from the Holy Luthori Empire. Choice heavily opposes religious schools and calls for their removal from the country, with party leader Ensor Taylor stating "children should not be subjected to religion or forced to follow them, schools should not have anything to do with religion, they are there to teach the students how to academically succeed and gain qualifications, to give them the knowledge they need for the workplace, not to bully them into believing in something they may not believe in, it should be up to the children as to whether they believe or not". Choice also advocates that religious organizations should be treated like companies and taxed, but does not believe donations should be.

Electoral History
Parliamentary Elections

Head of State Elections