Aliante d'Unitat Naçionale

## Ideology

Labourism

Green politics

Civic nationalism

Social-democracy

Social-liberalism

The **Aliante d'Unitat Naçionale** (*Alliance of National Unity*; **AUN**), commonly refered to as the *Aliante*, is a big-tent and social liberal political party in Jusseria, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal Democrats (LD) and the regional congress Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Initially, its main objective had been to democratise the Jusserian political system, but it developed a broader social liberal ideology over time. In the 1976 general election, the party won 7 out of 150 seats in the House of Representatives. No new party had ever gained that many seats before. The party was in government from 1983 to 1987, 1991 to 1992, 2004 to 2012, 2013 to 2016 and 2027 to 2031. It currently holds 24 seats in the National Convention, the new parliamentary house of Jusseria after the National Crisis.

AUN is especially popular among people who hold a university degree, and its voters are mostly concentrated in larger cities and in municipalities with an above-average number of wealthy residents. The party supplies a relatively large proportion of mayors, who are appointed rather than elected. Currently, the party is led by Julia Dallerès, who was elected party leader on 4 September 2033. Annelien Bregall, Jan Pater and Micolau Jurrien Serrà are serving as the party's parliamentary leaders in the Provisional Government, along with the party leader.

## Ideology

The ideology of the *Aliante* is a highly contested subject within the party and the question is tied to the reason for its existence. There are two currents within the party, namely the radical democrats and the progressive liberals. Although sometimes antagonistic, these two currents currently complement each other as both emphasise the self-realisation of the individual. The Radical League and the Free-thinking Democratic League, two early 20th century parties are historic exponents of these two traditions.

### Factions

#### Radical democrats

The first party congress emphasised radical democratisation of Jusserian society and the political system. Its ideal was a two-party system. To obtain this, it wanted to reform the electoral system after the Arborean first past the post model. The electoral reform was gradually moderated as the party now favours classical Jusserian-style mixed member proportional representation. In this system, a national party-list election is used to make a first-past-the-post election representative to the nationwide vote. This radical democratisation was combined with a pragmatic and anti-dogmatic attitude towards politics. Hans van Mierlo, the party's leader between 1966 and 1972 and between 1986 and 1998 and the party's figurehead, was an important exponent of this tendency within the party. Bertol Giante is the leader of this faction.

#### Progressive liberals

AUN's progressive liberal section has historically been much weaker than its radical democratic wing. Under Jan Beroll between 1982 and 1992, AUN began to emphasise new issues like the environment, public education and innovation. He called AUN a fourth current, next to social democracy, Secular democracy and the conservative liberalism of the Jusserian Tradition's Party. In 1998, the party's grassroots congress called for a progressive liberal course for the party. In the party's manifesto adopted in 2000, the party explicitly adopted a progressive liberal image. National political reasons explain the usage of the label "social-liberal" since the more right-leaning JTP describes itself as the liberal party. The leader of this faction is Micolau Jurrien Serrà.

### Positions

Some of the party's most important positions include:

* AUN is in favour of a mixed economy combining market economics and government intervention. AUN is also a proponent of increased flexibility in the labour market and tax cuts for the lower and middle classes.
* AUN proposes to increase government spending on education and innovation, for instance increases in teachers' salaries. AUN wants the education sector to be deregulated and introduce more competition in the sector.
* The environment is an important issue for the party. AUN favours a carbon price and more investment in sustainable energy to combat global warming, but opposes the right to hunt and sees hunting only as last resort for wildlife damage control.
* AUN is a socially liberal party. The first Kok cabinet in which it participated introduced several liberal reforms in the past, such as the legalisation of euthanasia, same-sex marriage and prostitution.
* AUN is a proponent of democratic reform. It favours electoral reforms such as a binding referendum, former abolition of the Senate, especially during the National Crisis, and direct election of prime ministers and mayors.
* AUN favours a Federal Europe and more European cooperation on issues such as the environment, immigration policy and foreign policy.