National Democratic Party

The National Democratic Party, formerly the Yemetian Freedom Party, is one of the two main political parties in Yemet, along with the National Yemetian Party. It is the current governing party, in a coalition with the National Libertarian Party, having won the 2021 General Election and has been the primary governing party in Yemet since 2013. The party sits on the centre-right of the political spectrum. It encompasses various ideological factions including New Democrats, Gerevites and Fusean continentalists.

The party traces its roots to the underground political movement of Yemet in the late 1980s. It was established as the Yemetian Freedom Organisation in 1997 by Frederik Gerev and Samuel Wadeson, being future president and vice president respectively. The organisation was not an official entity due to the ban on opposition groups by the ruling socialist regime and operated as a loose coalition of like minded people. It proved to be an instrumental part in the abolishment of one-party rule and campaigned strongly for the first free and fair elections during the later years of the socialist regime.

In 2013 the first free and fair election took place with the collapse of the socialist government. The organisation became officially registered as the Yemetian Freedom Party and won a landslide victory and taking a supermajority in the new National Commission. The party would change its name to the National Democratic Party in late 2016 and won the following two general elections. In 2021 a general election would be held due to the major reforms of the National Commission, which would more than double the size of the Workers' House, the NDP failed to win a majority in the Workers' House and subsequently formed a coalition with the National Libertarian Party.

The party generally supports liberal economic policies favouring free markets, including deregulation, privatisation and marketisation. Due to the history of Yemet the party is against communism and has strived to reverse the collectivisation and planned economics imposed by the old regime. Despite this the party still supports the existence of universal healthcare and a national health service. The party has adopted a moderate social conservative policy but continues the ban on organised religion which was in place in Yemet prior to the adoption of communism. The party supports the Slevennic Political Union and was instrumental in its foundation with much of the membership taking a pro-Slevennic stance. In defence policy, it supports an independent nuclear weapons programme and is committed to League of the Willing membership.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

History--[ edit ]

Origins [ edit ]

The roots of the National Democratic Party can be traced to the underground political movement that took place within the Socialist Republic of Yemet. This movement began to pick up momentum during the mid-1980s during a major economic downturn in the country. One of the people at the time that privately opposed the current government was future president Frederik Gerev who saw the current socialist policies as the cause of Yemet's economic woes. Alongside his childhood friend Samuel Wadeson, Gerev would begin organising opposition rallies on university campuses. In 1988 Gerev would narrowly evade arrest for his dissident activity and spent several years after operating in more subdued manner.

By 1996 the socialist government was seeing one of its most unstable periods and questions around continued grip on power were being asked. Seeing this as an opportunity Gerev re-emerged within dissident circles and founded the Yemetian Freedom Organisation in 1997. The following year in 1998 the socialist government began passing market reform laws in the parliament and started a transition towards a hybrid economy.

Pre-2013: Campaign for democracy [ edit ]

Despite the government's market reforms, by the turn of the millennium the economy was still struggling and in decline. Without the economic backing necessary to control the country open opposition to the regime began to appear. Whilst much of it was violently suppressed its messaging and opposition to the government was spreading throughout the population. In 2004 Christopher Reznev would be appointed by the Central Committee to be the next premier of Yemet. Reznev was a moderate reformer that sought to liberalise Yemet whilst maintaining the power of the Socialist Party. The early premiership of Reznev saw the continued implementation of the new hybrid economic model which proved fruitless with the economy continuing to struggle due to corruption within the state owned industry. By 2007 the Socialist Party was beginning to splinter over how to recover its grip on the nation. Rather than allow socialist hardliners to take control of the party Reznev passed through a series of reforms that began to open up the media and existence of opposition groups. The Yemetian Freedom Organisation utilised these reforms to emerge as the main opposition group to the current regime.

With opposition to the socialist government only increasing with the passage of the media reforms Reznev saw that the Socialist Party's collapse was inevitable. The Yemetian Freedom Organisation openly called for new free and open elections in 2010 with Frederik Gerev tipped as a favourite to win a potential election for head of state. In 2011 the government passed a law allowing other parties to run for local government positions and the Yemetian Freedom Organisation began to refer itself as the Yemetian Freedom Party shortly after. In the 2012 Local Elections the Socialist Party faced a wipeout on most of the country's councils and saw huge gains for the Yemetian Freedom Party. Reznev knew that his party could no longer continue to govern with this very public opposition from the majority of the population. In March 2013, Premier Reznev announced his intention to step down as premier and to dissolve the current structure of the nation. This led the way to the first free multi-party elections in Yemet for nearly 100 years. The Yemetian Freedom Party won a landslide victory in the newly founded National Commission and on 6 June 2013 Frederik Gerev was sworn in as President of the Democratic Republic of Yemet.

2013-2019: First and second terms [ edit ]

Upon taking office President Gerev promised to privatise the economy and strengthen the democratic institutions of the new republic. In 2015 the National Commission passed a law increasing the Commission's term from four to five years, which would take effect after the next election. During this era the Yemetian economy began to grow and the average wages in the country began to grow as a result of the government's market reforms. In 2016 the party rebranded as the National Democratic Party ahead of the 2017 General Election with Frederik Gerev saying "The promise of my party's name has been fulfilled."

The newly rebranded party would win a second term in 2017 albeit with a diminished majority as the party lost 82 seats owing to the increase of new political parties created in the years following 2013. The second term saw the economy grow and the National Democratic government explore its foreign policy.

2019-2020: War time [ edit ]

In early December 2019 relations between Yemet and the Five Kingdoms broke down resulting in border skirmishes in the region of Listovia in northern Yemet. The conflict expanded into a full scale war between the two nations. Yemet was politically backed by several Slevennic states however the Yemetian military was still in a period of transition from its socialist era equipment and training. Despite some small scale victories for the Yemetian military including a daring invasion of the British home islands the war went badly for the Yemetians. In the resulting treaty the government lost the ethnic region of Listovia to the British and were humiliated. In response to the war President Gerev held a snap election in 2020 seeking a mandate to rebuild the prestige of the nation. Despite the government's failure during wartime the party was re-elected as they lacked a unified opposition and were still seen as the party of Yemetian democracy.

2020-present: Post war politics [ edit ]

With a new mandate to lead the country in its post war situation President Gerev implemented a mass modernisation program for the Yemetian Armed Forces. A new package of electoral reforms were also passed by the National Commission in mid 2020. Due to the scale of these reforms another early election would be held in October 2021. This General Election saw the National Democratic Party lose a majority for the first time in its electoral history. After a short series of negotiations a coalition agreement with the National Libertarian Party, who were the third largest party after the election, was signed. The resulting coalition provided Gerev with the majority needed to govern.

Over the course of the next year tensions between Yemet and the Five Kingdoms over the status of Listovia began flare up. In September 2021 elections were held in Listovia that were not recognised by the British administration. Pro-independence parties took all seats, mainly due to pro-British parties boycotting the elections. Following the elections Alexander Borisov, leader of the Listovian People's Front, was elected by the Listovian People's Assembly as Chairman of the Assembly. Borisov shortly afterwards declared Listovia as an independent Republic. The Yemetian Government were quick to recognise this declaration and announced their support for Borisov.

Despite the Government's expressed support for Listovian independence, President Gerev spent several months attempting to negotiate with the British and Listovian parties seeking to prevent another war in the region. This delay of substantial support for the Listovians would ultimately result in the downfall of President Gerev's administration as rebels in the National Democratic Party organised a vote of no confidence in the government on 23 September 2022. The Workers' House would pass this motion whilst the Federal Council would reject it. Despite this victory for the president, the party no longer saw his leadership as viable and so advised him to resign. On 25 September 2022, President Gerev announced his intention to resign as soon as a new party leader had been elected. On 5 October 2022, Nikita Neschev, Gerev's Foreign Minister, was elected as the new leader of the National Democratic Party and assumed the role of the presidency the same day.

Neschev promised to aid the Listovian separatists and began to send financial aid to the Listovian People's Front. Relations between Yemet and the Five Kingdoms continued to decline under the Neschev presidency and culminated in President Neschev announcing a military operation into Listovia on 6 July 2023. The Yemetian military were quick to secure several towns in the south of the region, including Tredava the location of the Listovian People's Assembly, and began to encircle one of the British armies in the region. With the upper hand the Yemetian forces began to dig in and reinforce their Listovian holdings whilst the Yemetian and British government's arranged a ceasefire. For several months the conflict stood on a knife's edge of becoming an all out war between the two nations however in December 2023 the parties involved in the conflict signed a new treaty establishing a new independent Republic of Listovia.

On 2 November 2023, the Treaty of Architsk was signed between six Slevennic states establishing the Slevennic Political Union which seeks to unify foreign, economic and defensive policy between the states. With the announcement of elections to the Slevennic Parliament sometime in 2024 the National Democratic Party joined the Slevennic Conservative Party, a member of the Slevennic Conservatives and Traditionalists Group.

Party factions--[ edit ]

New Democrats [ edit ]

New Democrats is the name of an organisation within the National Democratic Party and a term used to describe members and ideological believers of the organisations principles. New Democrats are a faction within the party that support more socially progressive policies. They began to emerge following the 2021 General Election which saw an influx in National Democratic MNC's in more traditionally progressive constituencies of Yemet. A subsection of the New Democrats also support repealing the national ban on religion. They also believe in providing more social welfare programs for the least well off in Yemet.

Gerevites [ edit ]

Gerevites are possibly the largest faction within the party. They represent the views and policies of former president and party leader Frederik Gerev. This faction is represented in the party by the Free Democratic Group. They believe in the core tenants of 2013 Conservatism and ideology created in the aftermath of the democratisation of Yemet. 2013 Conservatism seeks to preserve the founding legislation of the Democratic Republic of Yemet and reintroduce elements of the pre-socialist era. On foreign policy they seek to maintain cordial relations with most major powers in order to preserve Yemet's sovereignty however they do support intervention in foreign states when Yemet or its ideology is threatened such as with the Listovia conflict. Multiple senior members of this faction have expressed their support for an intervention in neighbouring Eschelend following the socialist coup in the country.

A subset of this faction are Neschevites who back President Neschev and his more League of the Willing orientated foreign policy.

Fusean continentalists [ edit ]

Fusean continentalists are a small faction within both the party and the party's MNCs. They are a pro-Jenovachi faction that sees cooperation with the Peninsular Empire as a means to achieving the decolonisation of Fusea. They rejected President Neschev's Listovia deal with the Five Kingdoms. They are represented by the New Fusea group within the party.

Electoral performance and campaigns--[ edit ]

Yemetian General Election results [ edit ]

Associated groups--[ edit ]

Ideological groups [ edit ]

• New Democrats
• Free Democratic Group
• New Fusea

Alliances [ edit ]

• Slevennic Conservative Party

Party structures [ edit ]

• Tulipeo Democrats
• National Democrats Abroad
• NatDem Campaign Committee
• Union of Independent Democrats
• Young National Democrats