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	DEMOCRACY PARTY

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The Democracy Party was a short-lived but highly influential party founded with the aim of abolishing the Empire. It was established by a group of dissident Imperial Party councillors who disagreed with their party's decision to opt for reforming the Empire rather than dismantling it. The Democracy Party led the coalition which succeeded in disolving the Empire, but shortly afterwards collapsed itself. The modern Balance Party and Progressive Party both have their roots in this group.

Colour and Emblem

The official colour of the Democracy Party was white. Its emblem was the outline of a hexagon, which has traditionally been a symbol of democracy in Lendosa. The origin of the symbol is Citizens' Plaza, a large octagonal space in Gloria Libertatis (the Imperial capital) where political rallies and announcements have taken place for over five hundred years.

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The party's official name in Lendian was "lo Partido Democrazia", although simply "Democrazia" was also common.

Quote

"The voice of the people must and will be heard. Any government decision which does not take popular sentiment into account is, by definition, illegitimate, invalid, and immoral. The people do not elect politicians to lead them, they elect politicians to serve them."

History of the Party

Following the unstable reign of Emperor Carigo, the much more sedate reign of Emperor Xavier (crowned in 289 AP) was of great relief to many people. Some, such as First Councillor Gioro Colmo, believed that the restrictions placed on Xavier's power were sufficient that democracy would never again be threatened as it had in Carigo's time. There were others, however, who believed that the continued existence of the monarchy was a danger in and of itself, and sought to have it abolished. The Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the Equality Party were notable in their campaigns for republicanism, but as long as the dominant Imperial Party remained committed to reform rather than abolition, there was little chance of radical change.

In 293 AP, republican demonstrations were held in many major cities, occasionally clashing violently with monarchists. In this period of growing unrest, a number of prominent Imperial Party politicians became convinced that maintaining the monarchy was no longer viable, and that failure to heed the public will would only cause the situation to escalate. The leader of this group was Prospero da Sava, a highly respected member of the Imperial Council (forerunner to today's Senate). There were a number of heated debates between da Sava and party leader Gioro Colmo, but Colmo refused to counternance any deviation from party policy. In many ways, Colmo's hostility to the idea stemmed more from his unwillingness to "give in to populism and public pressure" than an opposition to da Sava's message, a fact that angered da Sava and his supporters.

Throughout the history of the Imperial Party, one of its key principles was that it governed "on the basis of reason and logic, not populism and ideology". da Sava, however, gradually came to reject this view outright, telling Colmo that claiming to be "against populism" was simply a way of justifying anti-democratic policies. da Sava argued that public opinion should always be placed foremost, and that if (as the Imperial Party sometimes claimed) ordinary citizens were ill-informed, the solution was to educate them, not exclude them. da Sava's attack on the Imperial Party orthodoxy created considerable debate within the party, with strong attacks made by both sides.

The more traditionalist wing of the party (who da Sava described as "the elitist faction") could not be dislodged, however, and by early 295 AP, da Sava had decided that it was not possible to change the party's mind. Along with twenty-seven of his supporters, he quit the Imperial Party, announcing that he would establish a group dedicated solely to promoting greater participation in government. This new group was named the Democracy Party. Shortly after the Democracy Party was established, the smaller Equality Party accepted an invitation to merge into it, giving it a total of thirty-three councillors.

With da Sava's defection, the Imperial Party had lost its majority in the Council. The bloc in favour of abolishing the monarchy, now consisting of the Democracy Party, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the Ecotopian Party, had a comfortable majority, with only the Nationalist Party and Isolationist Party joining the Imperials in opposing the move. The Democracy Party, however, announced that it would not immediately vote in favour of such a measure - according to da Sava, it was necessary for the party to first test its mandate in the upcoming election. This decision provoked considerable anger from the Democracy Party's new allies, but da Sava was adamant that if his party was to be worthy of its name, it would have to take its policies to the public before attempting to enact them.

The general public reacted well to the Democracy Party's choice, and da Sava was widely lauded for his "honour and principle". The Democracy Party soared in the polls, eclipsing all other opposition groups and rivalling the Imperial Party itself. In the election itself, the various opposition groups set aside any hostility they held for each other, believing that unless they cooperated, their newly-won majority in the Council would evaporate.

The election itself saw massive gains for the Democracy Party. All its sitting councillors were re-elected, and sixteen more gained seats. This brought the Democracy Party's total to forty-nine - somewhat less than the Imperial Party, but enough to retain a republican majority in the Council. Shortly after the election, the Democracy Party and its allies began the process of dismantling the Empire and creating a new state.

It was at this point that divisions began to appear in the Democracy Party. The more moderate of the party's founders had simply envisaged abolishing the monarchy but otherwise making no changes. However, most of the remaining founders, including Prospero da Sava, hoped use the change to create a much more inclusive type of democracy. da Sava, addressing a party conference, strongly opposed the idea that the new republic should "simply be the Empire without the Emperor", and believed that the principles behind the existing Imperial Council, while democratic, were insufficient. In addition to this "democratising" faction, there was also a small but growing group of radicals who went even further than da Sava was willing to go, hoping to establish a form of direct democracy.

Believing that the Democracy Party would eventually collapse if its internal disputes were allowed to carry on, da Sava proposed a compromise. All three factions of the party agreed that the nature of the new republic would be put to a referendum, to be held concurrently with the referendum which would determine whether the Empire was to be abolished at all. The referendum was to have four options. The first would create a republic much like the "Empire without the Emperor" that da Sava had opposed. The second, supported by da Sava, would create a federal republic in which major policy decisions by the government needed to be ratified at the next tri-annual referendum. The third would create a federal republic based on so-called "referendary democracy", a radical system where all significant policy decisions would immediately be put to a public vote through telephone and internet voting. The fourth would create a hybrid system, allowing each region of the country to choose between electing a traditional representative and exercising power directly through referendary democracy.

There was considerable dispute about the voting system to be used in the referendum, with some favouring a preferential system and others favouring an approval system. In the end, it was decided that the vote would simply be traditional majoritarian one, where each citizen selected one option and the option with the most votes won. This compromise turned out to have a very significant effect on the result. Prior to the referendum, it was believed that full referendary democracy was too radical to be a serious contender, and most commentators believed that the choice would be between the first and second options. Support for referendary democracy was greater than had been anticipated, however, and on the day of the referendum, referendary democracy gained the upper hand by the narrowest of margins - referendary democracy had won less than a third of the vote, but opposition to it had been split between three other options. (The final tally was 31% for referendary democracy, 30% for traditional democracy, 24% for da Sava's plan, and 15% for the hybrid.)

da Sava was unhappy with the outcome, and believed that a better voting system in the referendum would have prevented it. Nevertheless, he agreed to go along with the result, saying that all referendums - however flawed - must be respected. The Democracy Party began to make plans for the transition. The new state, to be known as the Free Confederacy of Lendian Republics, was officially established shortly afterwards. The old Imperial Council was renamed the Council of Confederate Citizens, becoming (at least in theory) little more than an "advisory body" to the general public.

The Democracy Party remained the second largest party in the Council of Confederate Citizens. Its alliances, however, were coming under serious strain - both the Communist Party and the Socialist Party had opposed the referendary democracy plan, believing that while its goals were "admirable", it was unworkable. The Imperial Party, still the largest single party, strongly condemned the change, saying that it would lead to chaos.

To an extent, the Imperial Party would be proven correct - the Free Confederacy of Lendian Republics would soon collapse into its constituent republics, with the former territories of the Empire all seeking their independence. The Democracy Party, however, did not last long enough to see this. Less than a month after Prospero da Sava had been installed as Chairperson of the new Council of Confederate Citizens, he was assassinated at a public rally by a fanatical monarchist. The Democracy Party soon began to splinter, with a number of different factions emerging. The largest, led by a former intelligence officer named Aranezo Galazo, became the modern Balance Party - it formed around the more moderate democrats in the party. Most of the radical democrats, led by a councillor named Severina Lanta, attempted to form a group called the Freedom Party, but this suffered many internal schisms of its own, and was never registered. A smaller group, somewhere in between the larger factions, formed the modern Progressive Party.

List of Leaders

• Prospero da Sava (295 - 297)