Political Parties

Political parties, also known as political coalitions, are political entities consisting of a group of people with a common platform. They first entered the Triumvirate in June of 2012, during the PEACE Act debate. The first political party created was the Progressive Party, a fairly liberal Triumvirate party created by Stavrok who was the Major Executive at the time. This spawned the more conservative Establishment Party, created by Stavrok's former opponent, Arnold Ogamon. Seeking moderation between the two parties, the Union Party was founded shortly thereafter by Ehtya. In 2013, the Libertarian Party was founded and, as a reaction to the growing power of the Union Party, in July, the Authority Party was founded. It would be nearly a year before the next significant party would be founded, the Cosmopolitan Party, which was formed as a reaction to an overreach by the Progressive Party to support traditional government and protest the Progressive's support for the Authoritarian Major Executive, Ryan Bleitze. Later on, the Socialist Party was formed by the populist half of a Authority Party split as well as a handful of new members.

## Function

Political parties perform several key functions in the Triumvirate political environment, which they do through a strong (private) leadership structure, as well as political interests to bond their members.

**Member Support:** Parties act as a support base for their members, providing lessons, teaching, and even job opportunities to those within the party. In many ways, parties are more efficient and effective at maintaining and supporting members than the government is, and they certainly make new members feel welcomed, while providing them key information on how to get started in the Triumvirate.

**Legitimacy of Candidates:** As parties must nominate and support the candidates that run for offices under their domain (e.g. Administrators, Senator, Major Executive, etc.), this provides an element of legitimacy to candidates, showing what their views are expected to be, and guaranteeing some level of responsibility for them.

**Monitor Opposition:** Political parties also help guarantee the effectiveness and transparency of government by posing a check on opposing parties (for example, if one party were to be performing corrupt practices, an opposition party would reveal so to benefit themselves in the next election).

**Communication of Political Information:** Parties provide voters and members information on politics that would otherwise be unavailable or more difficult to access for them. They provide information on how, when, and why voting takes place and also provide political candidates the information they need to run for office.

## Controversy

Zerouh believed political parties would lead to a decline in the efficiency of any branch of government and would effectively drain the elitist ideals of the Triumvirate. He said political parties would not allow enough views and varying opinions to be represented and that it could corrupt branches, especially the Executive Branch. He did however state that the Administrative Branch may find some use in political parties but that it would be very difficult to keep them from spreading to the Executive Branch as well. Zerouh also theorized that the integration of political parties would require intense regulation and would cause very polar arguments between members of the Triumvirate. Zerouh did support arguments as he felt they boosted competitive nature and allowed the best ideas to come forth, but he stated that it would be a false argument if parties were involved because people would stick to party platforms and not necessarily their own instincts.

Arnold Ogamon, Zerouh's successor as Major Executive, held an opposing view which he debated with Zerouh often. He believed that political parties would be good as they would allow for more compromise and polar ideals. It would give people support so that they could get their initiatives passed. Arnold still maintained the view that political parties should never come into play in the Judicial Branch but he did support the use in them in a complete Executive and Administrative Branch. Arnold Ogamon also established the Triumvirate Politician's Military Abolishment Caucus, which some consider to be the first political party in the Triumvirate as it was a group of Triumvirate members and politicians all fighting for the same goal (military removal). Arnold Ogamon did not consider it a political party as he said "We are a group of people fighting for something, we are a collective, not a party".

File:Universal Triumvirate Introduction to Political Parties

## List of All Parties

Parties that have been ~~crossed out~~ are no longer existent.

* **Progressive Party (P):** Founded June 25, 2012, by Stavrok
* **Establishment Party (E):** Founded June 26, 2012, by Arnold Ogamon
* **Union Party (U):** Founded July 18, 2012, by Ehtya
* **Libertarian Party (L):** Founded March 28, 2013 by Theodore Crown and Ermier
* **~~Authority Party (A)~~~~:~~** Founded July 26, 2013 by Ryan Bleitze. Merged with the Cosmopolitan Party on September 15th, 2015.
* **~~Humanitarian Party (H)~~:** Founded August 22, 2013 by Lanclot Rice. Merged with the Progressive Party on October 11, 2013.
* **Cosmopolitan Party (C):** Founded May 6, 2014 by Adelyn Ewart and Charles Sessions.
* **~~Socialist Party (S)~~:** Founded May 26, 2015 by Henry Gobar and Mio TaVi. Merged with the Progressive Party on August 31, 2015.