Democratic Party

Democratic Party
Leader	Matthew Jones
Chairman	Mandy Gaspar
Founded	1 July 1959 (1959-07-01)
Preceded by	Liberal Party      Reform Party
Headquarters	Liberty Hall 24 Howley St Kingsbury, CENT
Ideology	Liberalism
Political position	Centre
Colours	Yellow
House of Assembly	68 / 128
Senate	26 / 68
Politics of New Ingrea Political parties Elections

The Democratic Party is a major political party in New Ingrea. Ideologically, the Democrats are a liberal party (with both classical and social strands), that was formed with the merger of the Liberal Party and the Reform Party in July 1959. The current leader of the Democratic Party is the Rt. Hon. Matthew Jones MHA, and current Prime Minister of New Ingrea.

The Democrats have maintained a number of strong and competing factions with the strongest is the classical liberal element that makes the Democrats a party in the mould of the Liberal Party under William Gladstone in the nineteenth century. The party enjoys strong support in the electorate and since it was established has generally polled about 40% of the vote. The heartland of the party is in the urban constituencies (particularly Kingsbury and Port Frederick), and the some rural areas such of the counties of Deverauxshire and Westerland.

Policy

This article is part of the series:
Liberalism in New Ingrea
People
Jonathan Braddock Antonia Davidson · Matthew Jones
Organisations
Democratic Party Liberal Party · Reform Party

Overview

The Democrats subscribe to three main policy principles, which it calls the "three pillars of good government". The pillars are laid out in the parties constitutional preamble and consist of:

• Economic efficiency,
• Social responsibility and
• Individual liberty

Economics

The Democratic Party agenda includes economic policies that focus on encouraging free enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Foreign affairs

The party also supports multilateral approaches to international relations, through the Assembly of Nations and other bodies.

Society

It supports equal funding for science and the arts, and takes a generally laissez-faire approaches to social issues, believing there is no place for the government in social policy. The party therefore does not support constitutional and treaty protections for human rights in domestic law.

Party structure

The Democrats are structured quite like the other major parties. Members of the party belong to a branch, which sends delegates to county and constituency executives, and the National Executive, which is the primary administrative body of the party. In addition, the party holds an annual conference to vote on policy matters and elect the party chairman.

The party is built around the branch, which is a local grouping of members who form a leadership committee, and contribute to the policy formulation debates within the party. The branches also appoint delegates to the county and constituency executives. For prospective politicians, election to the branch executive is a vital step on the way to higher office. Most branches are based in local districts or boroughs and therefore have a direct role in the selection of candidates for election to the local authorities.

Each branch sends members to an executive which is a charged with the pre-selection of candidates for the House of Assembly. Outside of the pre-selection process, the Constituency Executive seldom convenes, meaning that it is not part of the normal operational hierarchy of the party.

The party has fourteen such committees that manage the branches and appoint members to the National Executive.

Consisting of seventeen members, the National Executive is the most important body in the party. Each county sends one delegate, who are joined by the chairman, leader of the parliamentary party and the national secretary.

Electoral performance

This chart shows the electoral performance of the Democratic Party in general elections since 1959.

Election	Number of votes	Share of votes	Seats	Outcome of election
1961				Democratic majority
1963				Democratic majority
1966				Democratic majority
1969		44.91%	47 / 116	Democratic majority
1972		40.50%	61 / 116	Democratic majority
1975		29.20%	37 / 116	National majority
1978		31.10%	40 / 116	National minority
1981		31.65%	60 / 116	Democratic majority
1984	534,135	32.11%	50 / 128	National/Christian Democrat coalition
1988	538,616	32.6%	64 / 128	Democratic/Labour Workers coalition majority
1992		33.5%	46 / 128	National majority
1996		38.36%	46 / 128	National majority
2000		40.11%	71 / 128	Democratic majority
2004		32.07%	33 / 128	National majority
2008		35.10%	37 / 128	National majority
2012	779,699	42.60%	73 / 128	Democratic majority
2016	731,502	40.85%	68 / 128	Democratic majority

Party leaders

#	Name	In Office	Duration	Comments
1	Jonathan Braddock (16 January 1919 – 19 March 2006)	1 July 1959 - 6 March 1975	18 years, 8 months, 5 days	Prime Minister 1961-75
2	Jason Olsen (born 7 October 1932)	6 March 1975 - 7 September 1978	3 years, 6 months, 1 day	Prime Minister 1975
3	Antonia Davidson (born 27 May 1948)	7 September 1978 - 17 March 1992	13 years, 6 months, 10 days	Prime Minister 1980-84, 1986-92
4	Una Clements (born 11 March 1953)	17 March 1992 - 10 March 1996	3 years, 11 months, 22 days
5	Bill Howlett (born 6 September 1951)	10 March 1996 - 12 March 2004	8 years, 2 days	Prime Minister 2000-04
6	Matthew Jones (born 4 June 1961)	12 March 2004 - Present	Incumbent	Prime Minister 2012-present