Potato Democrats

The **Potato Democrats** are a big tent political party and democratic activist organisation in the Potato Empire. The organisation was formed on October 26th, 2022 by JVTA, a journalist and businessperson from Thailand. The organisation was originally formed to promote democracy and democratic reform in the Potato Empire, but later reformed into a political party. The Potato Democrats are the oldest political party in world history, predating all other political parties.

The party draws upon an ideology of social democracy. The party is supportive of improving foreign relations, and in the wake of terror threats and security incidents, has called for the strengthening of national borders. Potato Democrats also campaigns for the construction of infrastructure (e.g. housing), the implementation of a proper currency in the Empire, furthering of LGBT+ rights, and encoding a constitution and it's contents into law. The Potato Democrats are neutral on the topic of having a monarchy.

The party's leader is JVTA. The party currently has candidates in four voting areas.

## Logo

Potato Democracy's logo depicts a stylised apple, coloured red and green (the party's colours). The party logo was inspired by Yabloko, a Russian political party which opposes the rule of Vladimir Putin and, as do the Potato Democrats, campaigns on democratic reform. Inspiration for the logo could also stem from Apple Daily, a now-defunct pro-democratic newspaper from Hong Kong.

TAITHELEGEND has commented that the logo bears similarity to a tomato.

## History

### Early history

The Potato Democrats was first announced on October 26th, 2022, with the creation of the organisation's page on the Realmplex Wiki. The name of the organisation had previously been used in discussion between JVTA and TaylorWorld, while the logo for the organisation first showed up on the Potato Empire's Discord server on October 13th. The name of the party was inspired off that of the Liberal Democrats, a liberal political party in the United Kingdom.

### January 2023 election

During the January 2023 election, the Potato Democrats crushed their opponents, the United Crop Party, across the board, winning every seat in the Council. The party had, however, come close to not achieving this supermajority; the Thailand seat had been tied in the original election, though a recount saw the seat given to the Potato Democrats.

The victory basically gave Potato Democrats room to do anything the party pleased. However, the hysteria soon died down, and the party began to implement it's policies.

### May 2023 election

The Potato Democrats were reduced to one seat in the May elections. Furthermore, JVTA, the party leader, was knocked out of parliament, leaving SpecShark as the party's sole representative. The party subsequently formed a coalition with the UCP, however one day later, the UCP crossed the floor and made a coalition with the Action Party, denying the Potato Democrats a second term.

### September 2023 election

The Potato Democrats began its September 2023 campaign on August 15th, 2023. The party used the slogan "Let's progress forwards."

On August 27th, 2023, the party published an attack ad, regarding the status of unfinished builds. It featured a cricket above the Action Party logo. Rory in particular was singled out for his Thailand house not being completed. Rory criticised this, saying he was not head of construction. When the party posted another ad a few moments later, Rory accused them of attempting to dodge [his] criticism. Independent candidate SandwichPress also criticised the ad, claiming it was "not funny". On the 5th of September TheAllSeeingBird Rejoined the party to contest the bird land electorate.

## Policies and campaign promises

The Potato Democrats are ideologically centre-left, though the party advertises itself as a big tent party. Its policies, in some detail are as follows.

* Democratic reform - Creation of an elective "council" that regular citizens can run for and have a voice in.
* Infrastructure - Building of new residencies, landmarks, commerce, and leisure locations.
* Constitution - Encoding a constitution into law.
* Border security - Strengthening borders to prevent terrorism and disruption.
* Foreign relations - Improvement of foreign relations with The Gays and the Carrot Republic.
* Civil rights - Furthering of rights for the LGBT+ community.
* Economy - Creating an official currency for the Potato Empire.
* National identity - Crafting the first national anthem on the server.
* Emergency services - Creation of healthcare centres (e.g. hospitals, clinics, pharmacies) and fire emergency services.
* Business - Support for both new and existing businesses, companies, and shops.

The party is neutral on the existence of the Potato King. The organisation claims it will "function at its best regardless of whether [Potato] is a monarchy or republic".

The party opposes authoritarianism and, while it has shown strong opposition to war, supports the maintenance of a military and/or police force.

## Members

### Current

* JVTA *(leader)*
* SpecShark
* TheAllSeeingBird - Originally a member between between December 2022 and April 2023; departed after Bird Land's founding; returned on September 5th, 2023, to contest the council seat of said region.

## See also

* List of political parties in the Potato Empire
* JVTA
* PMI

**Political entities:** **Potato Democrats** |  Social Democratic Party

**Locations:**Albert Tower | JVTA's house |  Jonasland | Jonas's Store