List Political Parties of Alternate Countries

[CountDVB]

The United Socialist States of America [Semi-presidential system; President and parliament-like Congress with Chief Premier]

After the Business Plot would lead to the deposition of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and many of the protections from the Theodore Roosevelt time were rolled back, the American people responded violently. This led to the Second American Revolution, which would see the various communist and socliast cliques come together and overthrow the unrecognized government. This led to an intertim period between the old USA and what would be the USSA when during the rebuilding, the US would be attacked at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, thus leading the US into WW2. FDR would die as the last president of the United States of America in 1945 with VP Henry Wallace becoming the first president of the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the massive victories of the socialist and communist groups. They would usher in a vast period of reforms and relief over to the nation and then the world, especially with the massive protections for minorities and other developments that followed suit. They would endure a Cold War with the Soviet Union (namely over who should be the predominant socialist power, with their slow death beginning in the late 1960s and ending in its dissolution in the mid-1970s, leaving the USSA as the sole superpower) and help usher in the Socialist Pax Americana.

All the political parties of the USSA are socialist parties though still maintain predominant differences in execution, region and culture, the result of schisms in the SPA.

The "Big Three"
Oldest and most prominent historical socialist parties

Industrial Unionists' Party- Considered the successor to the Republican Party and officially born in 1950, the IUP is focused more toward the traditional and orthodox socialism focused on industrial unions, workers' rights and later on, general focus over the urban workers and people. Focused on improving the life of city-dwellers and infrastructure such as rails and power and the like. Declined in prominence starting in the late 1960s due to the rise of more parties, but would resurge starting in the 1970s and the 1980s with the next generation, along with petrol prices crashing and leading to the resurgence in public transportation. On the decline due to a perceived lack of sufficient focus on ecological concerns and uncertainity in incorporating new technologies (considered a general weakness of the party).

Agrarian Socialists' Party- Considered the successor to the Democrat Party and born in 1952, the ASP is the long standing rival of the IUP. Focusing more on the development and caring of the more rural areas along with conservation to a lesser extent. Focusing on the plight of farmers and those in similar standing. They began growing thanks to the growing tide of romanticism and so on during the 1960s along with having to invest heavily in systematically ending the "Lost Cause" myth over in the Deep South. Has a stronger tie to religion than the IUP becuase of their agrarian roots. While losing traction in the 1980s due to the rise of more parties and a lack of focus on new tech, they bounced back by promoting the spread of tech and internet to rural communities and embracing socialist reinterpretations of agrarian romanticism.

The Neo Socialist Party- Born in 1955, the Neo Socialist Party was born from those who thought the IUP and ASP were not taking into account the rising middle class or the white collar workers and thus created here as a direct successor to the SPA. They made their focus over on suburbs, office workers, artists and others during the time period. Considered a distant third party, it would rise in prominance over time, to where they would voertake the IUP and ASP by the late 1980s and remaining dominant throughout the 1990s and 2000s. While having lost some traction due to a loss of social connections, they still make up a dominant amount of the voter base. Many folk in the entertainment industry and so on maintain allegiance to here and Neo Socialists have the best track record for communicating with the people.

Other Notable Parties

Communal Solidarity Party- Also born in 1955, the Socialist Solidarity Party was born from combining the principles of Christian democracy and socialism into one package, becoming the first socialist party with a prominence over on faith, at least in principle. Focusing more on communitarianism, the party was the result of various religious groups, namely the Catholics, coming together in as the informal biases and frictions were not completely gone during this time period. Their focus on faith working with socialism has helped ease them with popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. While losing popularity in the 1970s, would regain some traction in the 1980s and beyond. Having expanded into more faiths, have found themselves focused more in suburban territory. Arguably the most socially conservative (though pretty left by OTL standards).

Peace and Liberty Party- Created around the early 1960s (still debated), the Peace and Liberty Party was founded around the hippie movement that was born against the concern of the USSA's approach to global affairs (namely on aggressive stances after the end of decolonization) along with general culture changes. Focused much more on local government, they also focused extensively on legalizing various drugs (which they would succeed in as studies would prove the merit in cannabis, psilocybin and others) along with being the major voice in the rights for sexual minorities and the like. It would decline in the late 1970s and maintain some relevancy through the focus on renewable energy in the current decades. Have been focusing in prominence on dealing with social orders and aligning with smaller parties. Quite socially liberal.

Socialist Liberation Party- Created in the late 1960s, the People Liberation Party was created as a result of increasing tensions with the USSR and the concern that the USSA was not doing enough to help socialism around the world and believed it needed to be more proactive. The most prone to warhawks and international affairs, the PLP would see the legacy of many of those in espionage and the mlitary drawn in the name of socialism and have helped fund various insurgency groups and defensive organizations around the world. Despite some accusations of imperialist tendencies, they have also done plenty in the name of international charity and done alot to deal with tyrants and the like, such as in the Middle East and so on. Have decreased in the 1980s, but made a resurgence by promoting cybersecurity and have taken an interest in space exploration.

Ecosocialist Party- Born in the early 1970s, this party was born in reaction to what they saw as insufficient policies with the IUP and so on with fossil fuels, environmental management and began championing renewable energy and battling wasteful habits and practices. They have the best ability to work with various other parties to get goals done, such as pushing for urban farming and more controversially in nuclear tech in with the IUP (even at the cost of a schism), regreening with the Agrarian Socialists, suburban farming and outreach programs with the NSP and so on. Close ties with the PLP. Also the most focus for "Amerinds" or American Indigenous peoples because of the shared lands, with one accomplishment being returning and restoring much of the land. Has seen a resurgence in working with Technosocialists over the next generation of energy creation and so on, albeit with friction of factions.

The Technological Socialist Party- Created in the late 1980s, the Technosocialists were born out of the Computer Revolution and the return of futurist sentimentalites in the youth. They would rise in the 1990s with the rise and widespread adoption of computers over across the nation and would promote the grand goal of a decentralized computer planned economy along with various other ambitions. The realm of computer geeks, internet afficionados and the youth of the 21st century, they would keep growing as the demand for computer products soar and would diversify with the Digital Age. They would also promote heavy freedom in computer usage and were the first to challenge copyright law and other more subtle issues regarding information and like (alot like OTL Pirate Parties). Well aware of the limited resources of the Earth, they have also began pushing for space exploration, asteroid mining and so on, working with various parties to do so.

 

[Deleted member 139407]

Commonwealth of the Country of Westsylvania:
One would be forgiven to think that the United States had favorable circumstances going into its first years of independence. However, the 1800 election proved that the United States was not some impenetrable beacon on a hill. The Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, would push to delay the election of either Secretary Thomas Jefferson or Senator Aaron Burr until the allotted inauguration day. Thus, the Federalist Party, through Theodore Sedgwick, officially retained the Presidency through Constitutional, yet illegitimate means. Citizens, led by former privateers radicalized by one Citizen Genet, and amplified by the radicalized Jefferson, a revolution began in the United States. However, a reorganized Provisional Army, successfully retained control for the Sedgwick regime and subdued some key areas of rebellion. The only places the army wasn't able to do so was in the region known as Westsylvania; the proposed state encompassing western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and eastern Kentucky. Thus, from regime change, the goal became secession for this area west. A successful guerrilla conflict pushed the Sedgwick administration out of the Northwest Territory and key swaths of territory from Kentucky, western Maryland, western Pennsylvania, and western Virginia; of course, the British swept in and took the majority of the remaining territory to form Indiana, and the remaining area of Kentucky, through the dealings of self-proclaimed President James Wilkinson, was put under de jure Spanish rule. Westsylvania was declared an independent republic with Jeffersonian democracy at its helm; and Thomas Jefferson as its premier President, for that matter. Through its foundation and ensuing political and economic rivalry, Westsylvania would earn a reputation as America's radical sister republic.
———
Democratic Commonwealth Party: The DCP has roots in the old Democratic Party which governed the Commonwealth with the Jeffersonian ideology for nearly 25 years. However, a rift between internal factions regarding the foreign policy with the United States (which had slowly began to democratize after a new wave of protests after the initial civil war, but was still a largely Federalist nation) and incentives for industrial practices launched the Democratic Commonwealth Party as the party of the old guard. The party, when it first formed, favored agrarian/farmer's interests, anti-United States foreign policy, Jeffersonian democracy, anti-clericalism and social conservatism. In the modern day, while still being the dominant party, the DCP have retained its agrarianism, but in favor of monopolized farming conglomerates, it has become a big-tent in terms of social issues, laissez-faire politics and promotes state atheism.

New Country Party: The NCP has roots in the opposition in the original Democratic Party. In fact, this faction was the reason the party split. The party, as both a faction and a new party, supported an amicable foreign policy with the United States, tariffs on certain imported goods, social conservatism, allowed for conversations of anti-slavery amongst its members and certainly had a more religious streak in its folds. Today, it is one of the central gathering places for the religious right, and is economically protectionist. For a time, there was a distributist faction within the party, and, in the showing of various and self-described "distributist" candidates in NCP primaries, the faction could be poised for a comeback. It should be noted that President Cassius Clay, a member of the NCP, was the president who oversaw the gradual emancipation and end of slavery in the Commonwealth.

Farmer-Laborer Union Party: The Progressive era of Westsylvania (1893-1908) in the aftermath of the Continental War was one of the most profound periods for the Commonwealth. The war had laid waist to much of Westylvania's farmland and the DCP had pushed for big farming companies to buy up the land while the NCP had made farming utilities incredibly expensive. So, various farmer interest groups formed to create the National Farmer's Party, but, despite successes statewide in Kentucky, Kanawha, and Jefferson, it failed to meaningfully take a place in coalition. The nascent Workingman's Labor Party faced a similar problem, but saw few opportunities or reasons to join with the National Farmer's. Until the successful independent candidacy of Jacob Coxey for the presidency earned the endorsements of both parties. Coxey's ideology "populism" which, in its most orthodox form, promotes worker-governed cooperative within laissez-faire economics, the promotion of a welfare state, and taxation system proposed by Secretary of Labor Relations Henry George in the United States took Westsylvania by storm and fomented the creation of the Farmer-Laborer Union Party. However, in modern times, the party has become a shell of its former self. While still largely progressive, the party has begun splitting again due to the different socio-economic relations between the urban and rural identities and to the extent to which worker-cooperatism should take; more on that in a bit. There are worries that the party may divorce into their original parties, however the F-LUP bureaucracy "assures" its voters that this isn't the case.

1800 Group: The 1800 Group is the love child of the far-right and disgruntled farmer organizations. The 1800 Group, formerly a caucus in the New Country Party before staging a walkout convention, is the most prominent far-right party that has only managed to win enough votes and seats as it has due to vote splitting outside of the core region of support: eastern Kentucky. The party promotes a return to individualistic traditional Christian values, a far-right protectionist outlook, and a socially conservative worldview.

Radical Democracy Party: This party, formed in the 1970s, was one of the first and earliest warning signs that the F-LUP party may be in trouble. The RDP has taken a populist platform and meddled it with a notable extension called "localism". This latter ideology seeks to extend worker-cooperatism to the political infrastructure by restructuring the states into "cooperatives of municipalities and a national Congress to convene these delegates". The party has slowly risen its share of the popular vote with notable jumps in popularity after a F-LUP and DCP congressional coalition government (which has happened 5 times since the RDP's inception). Socially, it is libertarian with a "live and let live" value in the face of growing divisionism in the F-LUP and in the greater Commonwealth.

Liberal Party of the Commonwealth: This party has been called "the party of empty promises running on a platform of 'nothing-ism'; a noble ideology where the candidates promise everything and anything to attempt to appeal to any and every voter." That they only have a single seat in the entire Congress taken up by one of the richest men in the Commonwealth and only 10 city councillors relegated to various coastal cities should clue you in to its status.

 

[Deleted member 139407]

Commonwealth of the Country of Westsylvania

A sequel:

United States of America:
After the First Civil War, and the resulting migration of prominent anti-Federalists to the seceding Westsylvania, the Federalist Party managed to consolidate its power over the the Union. For nearly 20 years the Federalist Party retained control, with only the nonpartisan candidacy of William Few from 1817-1821 superficially breaking their power. However, the Federalists began to combat between potential expansion against the Spanish Empire, the conversations of free trade vs. protectionism, and slavery. In combination with the Federalist split, economic downturn in the 1830s spurred the spread of various ideas regarding democracy, religious revival, and economics. This revival was known more commonly as the American Troubles, but has also been taught as the Second Civil War, as political violence was rampant, with a successful assassination of Secretary of State Andrew Jackson in 1833. A slow democratic transition would occur to relieve some of the more capital-"F" Federalist policies in the early days; although Slavery wouldn't be totally abolished until the 1880s. Today, the United States has still yet recovered its self-anointed title of being a "shining beacon of the new world." However, as the days go on, change will inevitably come.

New Federalist Party: This party cuts it right to the chase. Rather than being a simple rebranding of America's paramount political party, the NFP seeks to bring out a federalism "which embraces the modern era with the vigor which brought about our great nation". The party came about in the 1910s after the third Colorful Congress; a phenomenon in American politics where more than ten political parties would be represented at a time as it happened throughout the 1840s, the 1890s, and in the aforementioned the 1910s. The NFP, which views itself as the true party of Hamilton, has maintained a steady and consistent platform over the years including a protectionist economic outlook, socially center-right, and is broadly supportive of expanding the government to cover aspects of society like national security, culture, technological advancement, and business welfare. However, like all parties at the federal level, the NFP has caucuses: the Corsican caucus, which is a right-wing/nationalist caucus; the Main Street caucus, which is a broadly centrist to liberal caucus; the Forward March caucus, which seeks to expand alternative energy and adds both environmental protection and space exploration into its manifesto of expanded government oversight.

Liberty Party: The oldest of the current parties, the Libertarians have a history baked into the American Troubles. Born out of a concern for the evils of slavery with a christian twist, the Liberty Party swept the North. However, maintaining its status proved to be tricky as it often fell into third party status, if not ejected from Congress entirely. However, the Liberty Party's role, and specifically the part played by President Neal Dow (1869-1877) in keeping the South from seceding in the midst of gradual emancipation earned the Liberty Party massive success and status as a major party. Today, the party, although softening its religious tones, is a distributist, socially centrist, and laissez faire party which seeks a middle ground to concerns of government overreach and power. There are four key caucuses in the party: the Common Sense caucus which is home to the market fundamentalists; the Bread and Rose caucus which emphasizes distributist and democratic governance in the economy, but don't call them localists; the Patricians which seek to maintain the religious fervor in American life and culture; the Free Soil Group which are a small group of orthodox Georgists.

Reform Party of the United States of America: Ah, the Reformers, also known as the Kingmakers. However, that depends on the leadership of the party every other session. It's the only party where you could see people who would fit in both the Forward March caucus or the Bread and Roses caucus walk arm-in-arm to the national committee meeting. RPUSA is first and foremost a product of its time; the 2000s. In response to the 2Kollapse, the NFP/Liberty National government, leaving out the flailing National Alliance Party, could only agree to bail out those most responsible. In the aftermath of the Battle of Boston, a number of organizations came together with a single goal in mind: bring the people back to Washington. The RPUSA is most often described as syncretic, populist, and disorganized, and all three are true. In the last three Congressional sessions alone, the Congressional leader of the RPUSA shifted from a neoliberal Futurist, to a Confederalist, to an empty and blatant narcissist with ambitions beyond the Party leadership and no ideology to speak of. The central caucuses of the RPUSA are the Futurists which are market fundamentalists obsessed with furthering technology, the Jacobins which seek and promote synthesis between distributist, localist and Georgist political thought called "communitism", the Hand-in-Hand caucus which are primarily centrists and, allegedly, the financial backbone of the party, and the Confederalists which seeks to dismantle the federal government almost entirely. The RPUSA, depending on who you talk to, is either a miracle or cautionary tale in American and global politics.

 

[Citizen Keynes]

Political Parties of the California Republic:

Political Parties of the Republic of Texas:
Political system: semi-presidential
Voice of Texas: Established less than 2 decades ago, the party that proclaims itself to be both vox populi and vox dei, if not explicitly, has quickly established its dominance over the political scene as a united front for Christians; Protestant, Catholic, white, Hispanic, evangelical, Pentecostal, and all others. A Christian left party in the mold of some Italian parties, or that of Texas' Latin American neighbors, the Voice was established to unify the Christian centrists and populist liberals with more radical Christian socialists and moderate Chicano Catholic activists in the face of a resurgent National Democrats under the populist Rick Perry. The notoriously tempestuous time of Bob Bullock gave way to more steady leadership, and the party rose in its political fortunes. Their most recent presidential candidate was narrowly defeated, but they maintained control of Congress and the cabinet, continuing to represent Texas' many middle class and poor deeply religious voters.
National Front: The predecessor of the NF, the National Democrats, was formed from the founding parties of the republic, who dated back to the feud between Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar, upon the rise of populism and socialism in Texas in the early 1900s. The party has ever since been willing to espouse any ideology, from the laissez-faire policies of John Garner to the Keynesianism and price controls of John Connally, and ultimately to the radical privatizations of Perry, whose fall was as quick as his rise, and found himself unduly announcing the fall of his government to the president. This ultimately led to the reestablishment of the party as the National Front under more politically tolerable leadership, which has restored this incarnation to major party status, championing the interests of wealthy bourgeois citizens and the many sufficiently capitalist megachurches.
Brighter Party: A party bearing the initials of its mercurial founding billionaire, the BP is known for its eccentric ideas. T. Boone Pickens is of course that founder, who brought the heretofore unheard-of policies of balanced budgets and green energy to Texas politics but failed to get them adopted by either party beyond window-dressings, thus maintaining his relevance as a perpetually unsuccessful third-party candidate.
Other minor parties: La Raza Unida Auténtica, Dominion, Western Resistance

 

[Deleted member 139407]

Unrelated to both of my posts on Westsylvania & the United States:

Political Parties of the Roman Republic
During the 1930s, as the global economy, and all those that inhabited it, fell into chaos. Confusion and ideology were the order of the day and no where was this more felt than in Italy. Despite the kingdom's best efforts to retain control, open conflict between various criminal organizations, fascists, socialists, the Papacy, organized labor collectives, monarchists, and free communities vying for self-determination commenced after the assassination of Benito Mussolini, leader of the Black Shirts, and the unsuccessful assassination of Victor Emmanuel III. The very image of a united state on the Italian peninsula collapsed over night with the onset of the Italian Civil War and no unified Italy would emerge from this. Various mafia-states entered into a truce in Southern Italy, Venice, Tuscany, and Modena regained independence, while Sardinia would see three different regime changes within five years between the mafia, the French, and, eventually, it's own self-determination. Rome was no different. After a long and hard battle between far-right, Catholic, and democratic to left forces, the left eventually won out while the Papacy was forced to evacuate south to Gaeta for a short time due to the intensity of the violence. The republic was established and the Papacy was restored to Rome. The Roman Republic, founded in the image of Giuseppe Mazinni's republic, established a christian democratic, democratic socialist, parliamentary triumverate. While the various influences on its constitution may suggest otherwise, the Roman Republic has stood the tests of the 20th century with the Great Realignment, the Cold War and the Second Great War in the 1950s.

All party names, for the sake of ease, will be translated into English. For the sake of brevity, the parties listed will be represented in Congress and all descriptions will be four sentences or less with a single sentence denoting the number of seats held in the House of Delegates, which holds 300 people.

The Republicans (Forza) - The Republican Party is a centre-left organization and is the oldest of the political parties. The central platform of the Republican Party promotes progressivism, and christian democracy. This party is the leader of the Forza coalition government. It holds 105 seats.
Regeneration Party (Forza) - The Regeneration Party, itself a result of a split of the old People's Party, is a centre-right christian political party. The central pillars of the party is christian democracy, environmentalism, and distributism. It holds 38 seats in the House of Delegates and is a central member of the Forza coalition goverment.
East to West (Forza) - This is one of three regionalist parties who currently holds representation in the House of Delegates. Found in Umbria, to represent its regional interests, the name of the party was meant to suggest that Umbria provides the passage of the Roman Republic from the more industrialized East to the predominantly agricultural West. The Party currently has 11 seats in the House and is a member of the coalition Forza government.
Blue Cross Movement - The Blue Cross Movement, in direct contrast, is the youngest of the political parties on this list. It follows a self-described "populist" ideology, although many professionals and politicians note its right-wing policy positions. The Blue Cross Movement was formed after a split in the Regeneration Party due to various economic and social differences. The party promotes economic protectionism, social conservatism, and has generally right-wing interpretations of catholicism and christianity. It also holds 105 seats partially due to a number of plurality victories and is the principal opposition in the House of Delegates.
Citizens of Rome - The Citizens of Rome is a far-right party sitting in the House of Delegates. It holds many far-right views in its platform. The party has been accused of being neo-fascist and Black Shirt apologists. It holds 19 seats in the House.
Workers Party - Formed in a split with the soon-to-be-mentioned Communist Party, the Workers Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Roman Republic. It holds christian socialism, democratic socialism, and eco-socialism as key values in its party. It was, allegedly, in negotiations to join the Forza government, but the sudden resignation of its Party's leader over corruption halted talks. It holds 11 seats in the House.
Union of the Viterboan People - The Union of Viterboan People is a regionalist party which seeks to amplify the interests of the province of Viterbo to the national government and policy discussions. It holds five seats.
Party for an Italy for the 21st Century - This is a supranational party which can be found sporadically throughout the Italian peninsula. The central goals of this party are to form a new Italian confederation and has been considered lower-case "n"ationalist. Rome and Tuscany are the only two places where the Party has seats in any representative body. It holds two seats in the House.
Communist Party of Roman Workers and Laborers - The Communist Party is an explicitly communist party in the Roman Republic. It follows a strain of communism called "Stalinism" which follows the personal leadership, example and policies of Premier Stalin's tenure in the Soviet Union. It holds two seats.
Farmer's Party - The Farmer's Party is a regionalist party which holds values deemed important to the province of Ancona. It holds primarily agrarian policy positions on account of this. It holds two seats in the House.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

(This is as of 2003, which is the setting of the scenario I designed for 270soft's election simulator games.)

The United Commonwealth Confederation is the world's second-largest "megastate" after the Soviet Union, consisting of the nations of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and formally founded in 1959 as the successor to the Trans-Oceanic Commonwealth Partnership.

When World War II finally came to an end in 1947, the view from across the English Channel was not a reassuring one for Winston Churchill and his unity government. Most of Central and Eastern Europe was under the control of Soviet puppet regimes, while France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Nordic and Benelux countries were forced into a demilitarized "neutrality" that seriously hindered their ability to counteract Soviet influence. The TOCP was formed to solidify and coordinate cooperative foreign policy among the nations of the Commonwealth, and by the mid-1950s, while decolonisation gained steam, leaders of all four nations had grown convinced of the need for greater political cooperation and shared responsibility, leading to the signing of the Confederation Charter in Melbourne in late 1958. The remaining colonial nations were offered the opportunity to join, but opted for independence instead.

The Labour Party was formed from its namesake parties in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, along with the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Canada. Originating as the party of the working class and the trade unions, Labour is the main political home of the centre-left and has been the driving force behind many of the UCC's more popular social welfare measures. Internal party tensions have surfaced, particularly in the 1980s when the left gained the upper hand in the British chapter while the two Oceanic nations' chapters advocated for a degree of privatisation and deregulation. Labour have also taken up the mantle of the environmental movement, enabling them to pick up Green support through preference flows.

The Liberal Party began as a merger of the UK and Canadian Liberal parties, with Canada still seen as the party's strongest base of support. They have had limited success expanding in Australia and New Zealand, where the major parties largely lined up with Labour or the Conservatives when the Confederation was formed, but the instant-runoff system enables their supporters to influence the outcomes in the Oceanic countries even as they have failed to elect MPs. They have been the "junior partner" to Labour, ever since the election of 1963 when the two parties combined to surpass the Conservatives and Liberal leader Lester Pearson negotiated a coalition agreement with Labour's Hugh Gaitskell. They tend to act as a moderating force on Labour economic policies, to the frequent chagrin of the Labour left and the frequent relief of the Labour right.

The Conservative Party was formed out of various right-of-centre governing parties in each nation, with Harold MacMillan and Robert Menzies sometimes spoken of as its "founders." They take a strong anti-communist line in foreign policy, favour a strong alliance with the United States, and are seen as the friends of big business. They are also known as the party most in favour of privatisation, though with the Confederation per se holding few public assets of its own, this frequently becomes more of a proxy debate over privatisation initiatives at the national level.

The New Centre Party is the child of former Labour rebel Roger Douglas, who split in 1985 after failing to persuade the party leadership to lend limited support to some of the Thatcher Government's economic policies. A fiscally conservative, economically neoliberal, and socially moderate party, it has yet to win more than a handful of seats, but it exercises outsize influence by directing its preferences towards the Conservatives and has earned a seat at the Cabinet table for Douglas under the Mulroney and Howard Governments.

The Green Party is what it says on the label: the voice of the Commonwealth's environmental movement. While they have yet to come close to winning a seat, their preferences have been critical to wins for Labour and Liberal candidates in closely contested ridings.

The Alliance Party is a frequently unruly mix of regional-nationalist, devolutionist, and minority rights advocates that, it is safe to say, would not exist if not for the minimum-seat requirement for official party status. Separatists in Quebec and in the UK's "Celtic Countries" (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall) frequently complete for influence with moderates in their home turf as well as the leaders of indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand for whom separatist sentiment is a low priority. Though the Quebec wing is often able to claim the party leadership through sheer numbers, the party also holds the Maori seat and has considerable support in Northern Canada, while one MP was expelled in 1978 for ties to an armed separatist group in Belfast.

The People's Party is a populist party that is known for opposing neoliberalism, globalisation, and immigration. It was founded in 1988 by backbench Conservative MP Winston Peters, who focused heavily on economic issues at first and declined to endorse preference deals with any of the largest parties. Peters lost his seat in 1991, however, and the influx of more right-leaning and actively anti-immigration candidates and activists has compelled Peters into lending reluctant support to the Conservatives in subsequent elections.

First Ministers of the United Commonwealth Confederation
1959-63: Harold MacMillan (Conservative majority)
1963-71: Hugh Gaitskell (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1971-79: Robert Stanfield (Conservative majority)
1979-83: Denis Healey (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1983-90: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative majority)
1990-95: Brian Mulroney (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)
1995-99: Jack Straw (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1999-present: John Howard (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)

Party Leaders & Deputy Party Leaders as of the 2003 election
Conservative: John Howard, Michael Portillo
Labour: Jim Anderton, Jack Layton
Liberal: Brian Tobin, Simon Hughes
New Centre: Roger Douglas, Jean Charest
Green: Jonathon Porritt, Bob Brown
Alliance: Gilles Duceppe, Dafydd Wigley
People's: Winston Peters, Pauline Hanson

Anderton's ascension to the Labour leadership marks the first time that the two largest parties are both led by MPs from either Australia or New Zealand, leading some commentators to call the election the "Battle of the South Pacific."

(And I was really tempted to make Peter Garrett the leader of the Green Party!)

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

(This is as of 2003, which is the setting of the scenario I designed for 270soft's election simulator games.)

The United Commonwealth Confederation is the world's second-largest "megastate" after the Soviet Union, consisting of the nations of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and formally founded in 1959 as the successor to the Trans-Oceanic Commonwealth Partnership.

When World War II finally came to an end in 1947, the view from across the English Channel was not a reassuring one for Winston Churchill and his unity government. Most of Central and Eastern Europe was under the control of Soviet puppet regimes, while France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Nordic and Benelux countries were forced into a demilitarized "neutrality" that seriously hindered their ability to counteract Soviet influence. The TOCP was formed to solidify and coordinate cooperative foreign policy among the nations of the Commonwealth, and by the mid-1950s, while decolonisation gained steam, leaders of all four nations had grown convinced of the need for greater political cooperation and shared responsibility, leading to the signing of the Confederation Charter in Melbourne in late 1958. The remaining colonial nations were offered the opportunity to join, but opted for independence instead.

The Labour Party was formed from its namesake parties in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, along with the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Canada. Originating as the party of the working class and the trade unions, Labour is the main political home of the centre-left and has been the driving force behind many of the UCC's more popular social welfare measures. Internal party tensions have surfaced, particularly in the 1980s when the left gained the upper hand in the British chapter while the two Oceanic nations' chapters advocated for a degree of privatisation and deregulation. Labour have also taken up the mantle of the environmental movement, enabling them to pick up Green support through preference flows.

The Liberal Party began as a merger of the UK and Canadian Liberal parties, with Canada still seen as the party's strongest base of support. They have had limited success expanding in Australia and New Zealand, where the major parties largely lined up with Labour or the Conservatives when the Confederation was formed, but the instant-runoff system enables their supporters to influence the outcomes in the Oceanic countries even as they have failed to elect MPs. They have been the "junior partner" to Labour, ever since the election of 1963 when the two parties combined to surpass the Conservatives and Liberal leader Lester Pearson negotiated a coalition agreement with Labour's Hugh Gaitskell. They tend to act as a moderating force on Labour economic policies, to the frequent chagrin of the Labour left and the frequent relief of the Labour right.

The Conservative Party was formed out of various right-of-centre governing parties in each nation, with Harold MacMillan and Robert Menzies sometimes spoken of as its "founders." They take a strong anti-communist line in foreign policy, favour a strong alliance with the United States, and are seen as the friends of big business. They are also known as the party most in favour of privatisation, though with the Confederation per se holding few public assets of its own, this frequently becomes more of a proxy debate over privatisation initiatives at the national level.

The New Centre Party is the child of former Labour rebel Roger Douglas, who split in 1985 after failing to persuade the party leadership to lend limited support to some of the Thatcher Government's economic policies. A fiscally conservative, economically neoliberal, and socially moderate party, it has yet to win more than a handful of seats, but it exercises outsize influence by directing its preferences towards the Conservatives and has earned a seat at the Cabinet table for Douglas under the Mulroney and Howard Governments.

The Green Party is what it says on the label: the voice of the Commonwealth's environmental movement. While they have yet to come close to winning a seat, their preferences have been critical to wins for Labour and Liberal candidates in closely contested ridings.

The Alliance Party is a frequently unruly mix of regional-nationalist, devolutionist, and minority rights advocates that, it is safe to say, would not exist if not for the minimum-seat requirement for official party status. Separatists in Quebec and in the UK's "Celtic Countries" (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall) frequently complete for influence with moderates in their home turf as well as the leaders of indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand for whom separatist sentiment is a low priority. Though the Quebec wing is often able to claim the party leadership through sheer numbers, the party also holds the Maori seat and has considerable support in Northern Canada, while one MP was expelled in 1978 for ties to an armed separatist group in Belfast.

The People's Party is a populist party that is known for opposing neoliberalism, globalisation, and immigration. It was founded in 1988 by backbench Conservative MP Winston Peters, who focused heavily on economic issues at first and declined to endorse preference deals with any of the largest parties. Peters lost his seat in 1991, however, and the influx of more right-leaning and actively anti-immigration candidates and activists has compelled Peters into lending reluctant support to the Conservatives in subsequent elections.

First Ministers of the United Commonwealth Confederation
1959-63: Harold MacMillan (Conservative majority)
1963-71: Hugh Gaitskell (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1971-79: Robert Stanfield (Conservative majority)
1979-83: Denis Healey (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1983-90: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative majority)
1990-95: Brian Mulroney (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)
1995-99: Jack Straw (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1999-present: John Howard (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)

Party Leaders & Deputy Party Leaders as of the 2003 election
Conservative: John Howard, Michael Portillo
Labour: Jim Anderton, Jack Layton
Liberal: Brian Tobin, Simon Hughes
New Centre: Roger Douglas, Jean Charest
Green: Jonathon Porritt, Bob Brown
Alliance: Gilles Duceppe, Dafydd Wigley
People's: Winston Peters, Pauline Hanson

Anderton's ascension to the Labour leadership marks the first time that the two largest parties are both led by MPs from either Australia or New Zealand, leading some commentators to call the election the "Battle of the South Pacific."

(And I was really tempted to make Peter Garrett the leader of the Green Party!)

Love it!

 

[bran]

First Party System of the Second American Republic 1868 - 1892
(Lincoln is killed years later and is able to declare a second, parliamentary, American Republic)

Radical Party
Ideology: Classical radicalism, Free Soil, racial equality, Reconstructionism
Factions: Utopian socialism, Free silver, Protectionism
Position: Center-left to left
Base: Northern farmers, African-Americans, Protestants
Leaders: Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Butler, Benjamin Wade

Liberal Party
Ideology: Converservatism, classical liberalism
Factions: White supremacy, Anti-Greenback
Position: Center-right to right
Base: Southern whites, Catholics
Leaders: Horace Greeley, Carl Schurz

MINOR PARTIES
Readjuster Party
Ideology: Racial equality, 40 acres and a mule, Classical radicalism
Factions: Utopian socialism
Position: Left
Base: Poor southern whites, African-Americans, Labor
Leaders: Harrison H. Riddleburger

Redeemer Party
Ideology: White supremacy, Proto-fascism
Factions: Anti-Bigamy
Position: Far-Right
Base: Southern whites, Planter class
Leaders: John McEnery

 

[bran]

Second Party System of the Second American Republic (1900-1937)

Progressvive Party
Founded: 1902
Ideology: American progressivism, Social liberalism, Social democracy, Internationalism
Factions: Populism, Democratic socialism, Imperialism, Protectionism
Position: Center-left to left
Base: Middle class professionals, Labor, African-Americans, Protestants
Leaders: Theodore Roosevelt, Burton K. Wheeler, Robert M. La Follette, George W. Norris
Best state: Wisconsin (60.6%, 1921)

Liberal Party
Ideology: Free-trade, Internationalism, Conservatism
Factions: White suptremacy
Position: Center to Far-Right
Base: Southern whites, Planters, Catholics, (White) Immigrants
Leaders: Woodrow Wilson, Al Smith, William R. Hearst
Best state: South Carolina (55.8%, 1912)

Conservative Party
Founded: 1919 (as League of Americans Opposed to the Versailles Treaty)
Ideology: Isolationism, Conservatism, Laissez-faire economics
Factions: White nationalism, Anti-Semitism
Position: Center to Right
Base: WASPs, Business owners, Famers
Leaders: Henry Cabot Lodge, Calvin Cooldige, Herbert Hoover, Robert A. Taft
Best state: Maine (67.1%, 1928)

MINOR PARTIES
Populist Party
Founded: 1892 - 1920 (before merging with Progressives)
Ideology: Free Silver, Left-populism, Agrarianism
Factions: Racial equality, Socialism
Position: Left
Base: Small farmers
Leaders: William Jennings Bryan, James Weaver, Thomas E. Watson
Best state: Iowa (54.7%, 1896)

Socialist Party
Founded: 1900 (as Social Democrats)
Ideology: Socialism, Marxism, Social democracy
Factions: Communism, Christian socialism
Position: Left to Far-left
Base: Urban workers, Labor, Western miners, Catholics, Immigrants
Leaders: Eugene V. Debs, Victor L. Berger, Norman Thomas
Best state: Nevada (51.6%, 1916)

Communist Party
Founded: 1919 (as Left-Socialist Section of the Sociaist Party)
Ideology: Communism, Marxism-Leninism
Factions: Democratic socialism, Anti-fascism
Position: Far-left
Base: Urban workers, Immigrants
Leaders: Alfred Wagenknecht, Bill Haywood, William Z. Foster
Best state: New York (13.3%, 1932)

 

[bran]

"Second-and-a-half" Party System of the Second American Republic aka The Great Depression System (1936 - 1952

POPULAR FRONT COALITION
Members: Progressive Party, Socialist Party, Communist Party
Ideology: Anti-fascism, New Dealism, Keynesian economics
Leaders: Franklin Roosevelt, Henry A. Wallace (P), Upton Sinclair, Norman Thomas, A. Philip Randolph (S), Earl Browder (Comm.)
Position: Center-left to Far-left
Base: Labor unions, Urban workers, African-Americans, Catholics
Best state: New York (60.9%, 1948)

CONSERVATIVE COALITION*
Members: Conservative Party, Liberal Party
Ideology: Laissez-faire capitalism, Appeasement, Isolationism
Leaders: Herbert Hoover, Calvin Cooldige, Robert A. Taft (C), Al Smith, William Randolph Hearst (L)
Base: Northern industrialists, Southern aristocracy, Southern whites
Best state: Maine (62.1%, 1940)

* Both the Liberal and Conservative parties agreed to serve in an all party war cabinet led by Franklin Roosevelt from 1941 - 1945. Some Isolationist members of the Coalition, most notably Ohio MR Robert Taft broke away to form an Anti-war isolationist caucus, though this caucus failed to gain any seats in the 1944 election when all 5 major parties ran as a united ticket.

 

[bran]

"Post-War" Party System
(1952 - 1978)

Socialist Party
Ideology: Social democracy, Democratic socialism, Developmentalism
Factions: Social liberalism, Communism
Position: Center-left to Left
Leaders: Walter Reuther, A. Philip Randolph, Michael Harrington
Base: Labor (Most of the C.I.O.), Western Miners, Catholics, African-Americans, Urban workers
Best state: Montana (64.8%, 1960)

Democratic Union (formed from Conservative Party) [1]
Formed: 1952
Ideology: Conservatism, Dirigisme, One-Nation conservatism, Liberalism
Factions: Libertarianism, Segregationism
Position: Center to Right
Leaders: Dwight Eisenhower, Thomas E. Dewey, Nelson Rockefeller, George W. Romney
Base: Eastern Establishment, Middle class professionals, Suburban whites
Best state: Vermont (59.8%, 1956)

MINOR PARTIES
Progressive Party
Ideology: Social liberalism, American progressivism, Civil libertarianism
Factions: Socialism, Populism
Position: Center-left
Leaders: Earl Warren [2], William O. Douglas, Robert Kennedy, Orville Freeman,
Base: Middle class professionals, Eastern Establishment, Civil libertarians
Best state: California (25.6%, 1972)

Communist Party
Ideology: Communism
Factions: Eurocommunism, Marxism-Leninism
Position: Left to Far-left
Leaders: Earl Browder, Harry Bridges, Jarvis Tyner, Gus Hall
Base: Urban workers, Catholic and Jewish immigrants, Labor (United Electrical and ILWU especially), African-Americans
Best state: New York (19.8%, 1968)

[1] After the end of the war in 1945, Roosevelt's successor Henry Wallace led a social democratic coalition government with the Socialist and Communist parties. This coalition was unexpectedly elected to another 4 year term in 1948. The surprising loss in 1948 escalated tensions within the Conservative Party, which fell into a Civil War between the "Old Guard" led by Robert A. Taft, and the more moderate "New Conservatives" led by Thomas Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller. The tension reached a fever pitch at the 1951 party convention, which ended with the New Conservatives taking charge of 5 of the 9 seats on the Executive Committee. The Conservative Party seemed to be DOA for the next general election until war hero Dwight Eisenhower accepted an invitation by Thomas Dewey to run under the party label. The party's decisive win cemented the power of the New Conservative faction, and resulted in 8 years of Conservative government. By 1956, the New Conservatives controlled 7 of the seats on the EC.

[2] Historians generally rank Socialist Walter Reuther's 12 year reign (1960 - 1972) as among the best administrations in the Second Republic along with the Wade and F. Roosevelt governments. However it's generally accepted that much of the significant legislation of those years came not from Socialist policy but from the progressive Justice Minister Earl Warren who served in coalition governments from 1960 to 1969. Together with his deputy William Douglas, Warren enacted significant social reforms during his tenure including legalizing contraceptives (Reproductive Act, 1966), ensuring a right to an attorney (Legal Reform Act, 1965), and overriding state anti-miscegination laws (Marriage Act, 1963). This trend was expanded upon by Warren's hand-picked successor, Robert Kennedy, with the enactment of the second Reproductive Act (abortion legalization) and the Sexual Offenses Act (repeal of sodomy laws) in 1969 and 1970 respectively.

 

[Amagi]

Political parties in the Republic of Eygsex
Eygsex is a small island nation in the North Sea, descended from Anglo-Saxons, the country has been under Dutch, Danish and Holy Roman control.
System: Unitary parliamentary republic
-
Soscial Democratisce Gaþeran (Social Democratic Gathering): 259 seats in the Alþing
The SDG is a strong alliance of three parties, formally four before the CDAP left in 2009. It practically functions as one party. It has been in government since 2021.

Republiciscer Party (Republican Party): 109 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Social democracy, environmentalism, pro-europeanism
Factions: Democratic socialism, centrism
Position: Centre-left
Leader: Paula Snyder
Base: Young people, workers, guest workers, students
The Republican Party has always been dominant in the SDG and is the most moderate of the three, its leader - Paula Snyder - has been Prime Minister since 2021.

Winster (Left): 81 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Leftism, social democracy, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, civil rights, green politics, feminism, pro-europeanism
Factions: Eurocommunism, third way
Position: Centre-left
Leader: Margreþa Oxer
Base: Young people, activists, ethnic minorities, women, students
Winster is the youngest party in the SDG - being formed in 1987 and included in 1995. Winster is the most controversial party, never getting high numbers of votes and regularly clashing with the other parties, particularly the CDAP which led to them leaving the SDG. Winster is the largest party in the Alþing to never host a prime minister.

Weorcherisce Party (Worker's Party): 69 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Trade unionism, worker's rights, social democracy, socialism, soft euroscepticism
Factions: Eurocommunism, third way, progressivism
Position: Centre-left - Left-wing
Leader: Tomas Martinson
Base: Working-class, industrial workers, trade unionists, unemployed
The Worker's Party was formally the dominant party in the SDG and is the most left-wing, professing "ownership of the means of production democratically" until 1991. Deindustrialisation and gentrification from the 1980s - particularly from the capital and former WP stronghold of Cyngsburk - has caused the party to decline significantly.

Nascionalisce Party (National Party): 182 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Liberal conservatism, conservatism, liberalism, pro-europeanism
Factions: Centrism, libertarianism, reactionary conservatism
Position: Centre-right
Leader: Henry Obelis
Base: Middle-class, retirees, private sector workers, farmers
The National Party has been the largest party in the Alþing since its establishment nearly a century ago. The National Party had been in government recently but was deposed after a corruption scandal and the aftermath of COVID-19, receiving a poor showing last election.

Soþ Nascionalisce Party (Real National Party): 16 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Nationalism, conservatism, right-wing populism, anti-immigration, euroscepticism
Factions: Ethnic nationalism, liberal conservatism, libertarianism
Position: Right-wing
Leader: Jeones Bruen
Base: Working class, retirees, farmers
The SNP branched from the party in 2013 due to dissatisfaction among conservatives in the party over growing immigration and European integration under the NP government. The SNP nearly entered government in 2017 led by populist strongman Willem Asketil, but has since declined to nearly a quarter of its previous seats.

Crister Democratisc Agrarisce Party (Christian Democratic Agrarian Party): 14 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Christian democracy, agrarianism, social democracy, social conservatism, euroscepticism
Factions: Centrism, conservatism, liberalism, nationalism
Position: Socially right-wing, economically centre-left
Leader: Helena Gat
Base: Farmers, christians, working-class rural
The CDAP was formally the most powerful party in the country, but has slowly declined in power and prestige as more farmers became wealthy and started to move towards the National Party and urbanisation meant that farmers made an increasingly smaller share of the population. The CDAP left the SDG in 2009 when it believed the coalition was moving too leftwards and entered a spat around climate regulations, it has sinced moved rightwards.

Beweging vor Eygsex (Movement for Eygsex): 13 seats in the Alþing
Ideology: Liberalism, libertarianism, direct democracy, populism, euroscepticism
Factions: Centrism, social democracy, conservatism, pro-europeanism
Position: Centre - Centre-right
Leader: Jeorg Scilling
Base: Young people, middle class, activists, private sector workers, urbanites
BvE is a populist movement formed in 2011 from a merger of various populist movements, most notably the Libertarians who won 6 seats in 2006 after the government threatened to censor the internet. The BvE is based around its charistmatic billionaire magnate Jeorg Scilling, who is 77 years old and became a celebrity through practically fathering Eygsexish rock in the 1970s through his record company, he later became the wealthiest man in Eygsex by expanding his business and becoming a very popular celebrity. The BvE generally has little real policy and is on the decline as many voters have been drawn to other populist parties like the SNP or Winster.

 

[Wendell]

Current (2023) political parties in the German Union, a federal German state with similarities to the Weimar Republic (as well as some real differences) in a timeline in which Napoleon is killed in battle in 1809:

Conservative Party: Dominated by protestants, this is the principal conservative German Party. For states' rights and prerogatives, for the independence but vibrancy of the German churches, for religious institutions controlling basic state-sponsored education (similarly to modern Belgium), for an ordoliberal social market economy.

Agrarian and Smallholders' Party: focuses on taxes and policies of concern to largely rural but not particularly well-off landowners as well as their tenants

Centre Party: consists of Catholics who would otherwise support the Conservatives, Liberals, or Agrarians.

Liberal Party: Dominated by secularists and religious minorities, this party prefers more of a market-oriented economy, though desires strong consumer protections, and supports constitutional change around plethora of petty states in the German Union. The Liberal Party also houses currents supportive of electoral reform, criminal justice reform, and urban renewal. The Liberals mainly enjoy middle- and upper-class support.

Workers' Party: As the name suggests, this is the party of the working class. In this case, mainly those in urban and suburban areas as well as quarry workers. This party dominates the labor organizations in the country. This party has internal divides along sectarian and social policy lines.

State Interests Party: This a populist, big-tent party representative of the smaller states in Germany, those the Liber al Party would prefer to see consolidated. This Party has outsized influence due to its domination of the small states. The lack of ideological and even demographic cohesion within this party helps as much as they hurt, but frequently sees the party as a part of governing coalitions whether or the left or the right and those in between.

Vanguard Party: Irrelevant hard-core nationalists with little power and no coherent policy vision beyond opposition to "foreign influence" its supporters never seem able to identify or define.

 

[Sir William Jol]

(This is as of 2003, which is the setting of the scenario I designed for 270soft's election simulator games.)

The United Commonwealth Confederation is the world's second-largest "megastate" after the Soviet Union, consisting of the nations of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and formally founded in 1959 as the successor to the Trans-Oceanic Commonwealth Partnership.

When World War II finally came to an end in 1947, the view from across the English Channel was not a reassuring one for Winston Churchill and his unity government. Most of Central and Eastern Europe was under the control of Soviet puppet regimes, while France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Nordic and Benelux countries were forced into a demilitarized "neutrality" that seriously hindered their ability to counteract Soviet influence. The TOCP was formed to solidify and coordinate cooperative foreign policy among the nations of the Commonwealth, and by the mid-1950s, while decolonisation gained steam, leaders of all four nations had grown convinced of the need for greater political cooperation and shared responsibility, leading to the signing of the Confederation Charter in Melbourne in late 1958. The remaining colonial nations were offered the opportunity to join, but opted for independence instead.

The Labour Party was formed from its namesake parties in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, along with the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Canada. Originating as the party of the working class and the trade unions, Labour is the main political home of the centre-left and has been the driving force behind many of the UCC's more popular social welfare measures. Internal party tensions have surfaced, particularly in the 1980s when the left gained the upper hand in the British chapter while the two Oceanic nations' chapters advocated for a degree of privatisation and deregulation. Labour have also taken up the mantle of the environmental movement, enabling them to pick up Green support through preference flows.

The Liberal Party began as a merger of the UK and Canadian Liberal parties, with Canada still seen as the party's strongest base of support. They have had limited success expanding in Australia and New Zealand, where the major parties largely lined up with Labour or the Conservatives when the Confederation was formed, but the instant-runoff system enables their supporters to influence the outcomes in the Oceanic countries even as they have failed to elect MPs. They have been the "junior partner" to Labour, ever since the election of 1963 when the two parties combined to surpass the Conservatives and Liberal leader Lester Pearson negotiated a coalition agreement with Labour's Hugh Gaitskell. They tend to act as a moderating force on Labour economic policies, to the frequent chagrin of the Labour left and the frequent relief of the Labour right.

The Conservative Party was formed out of various right-of-centre governing parties in each nation, with Harold MacMillan and Robert Menzies sometimes spoken of as its "founders." They take a strong anti-communist line in foreign policy, favour a strong alliance with the United States, and are seen as the friends of big business. They are also known as the party most in favour of privatisation, though with the Confederation per se holding few public assets of its own, this frequently becomes more of a proxy debate over privatisation initiatives at the national level.

The New Centre Party is the child of former Labour rebel Roger Douglas, who split in 1985 after failing to persuade the party leadership to lend limited support to some of the Thatcher Government's economic policies. A fiscally conservative, economically neoliberal, and socially moderate party, it has yet to win more than a handful of seats, but it exercises outsize influence by directing its preferences towards the Conservatives and has earned a seat at the Cabinet table for Douglas under the Mulroney and Howard Governments.

The Green Party is what it says on the label: the voice of the Commonwealth's environmental movement. While they have yet to come close to winning a seat, their preferences have been critical to wins for Labour and Liberal candidates in closely contested ridings.

The Alliance Party is a frequently unruly mix of regional-nationalist, devolutionist, and minority rights advocates that, it is safe to say, would not exist if not for the minimum-seat requirement for official party status. Separatists in Quebec and in the UK's "Celtic Countries" (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall) frequently complete for influence with moderates in their home turf as well as the leaders of indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand for whom separatist sentiment is a low priority. Though the Quebec wing is often able to claim the party leadership through sheer numbers, the party also holds the Maori seat and has considerable support in Northern Canada, while one MP was expelled in 1978 for ties to an armed separatist group in Belfast.

The People's Party is a populist party that is known for opposing neoliberalism, globalisation, and immigration. It was founded in 1988 by backbench Conservative MP Winston Peters, who focused heavily on economic issues at first and declined to endorse preference deals with any of the largest parties. Peters lost his seat in 1991, however, and the influx of more right-leaning and actively anti-immigration candidates and activists has compelled Peters into lending reluctant support to the Conservatives in subsequent elections.

First Ministers of the United Commonwealth Confederation
1959-63: Harold MacMillan (Conservative majority)
1963-71: Hugh Gaitskell (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1971-79: Robert Stanfield (Conservative majority)
1979-83: Denis Healey (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1983-90: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative majority)
1990-95: Brian Mulroney (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)
1995-99: Jack Straw (Labour-Liberal coalition majority)
1999-present: John Howard (Conservative-New Centre coalition majority)

Party Leaders & Deputy Party Leaders as of the 2003 election
Conservative: John Howard, Michael Portillo
Labour: Jim Anderton, Jack Layton
Liberal: Brian Tobin, Simon Hughes
New Centre: Roger Douglas, Jean Charest
Green: Jonathon Porritt, Bob Brown
Alliance: Gilles Duceppe, Dafydd Wigley
People's: Winston Peters, Pauline Hanson

Anderton's ascension to the Labour leadership marks the first time that the two largest parties are both led by MPs from either Australia or New Zealand, leading some commentators to call the election the "Battle of the South Pacific."

(And I was really tempted to make Peter Garrett the leader of the Green Party!)

Wonder what the flag of the United Commonwealth Confederation would look like?

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

Wonder what the flag of the United Commonwealth Confederation would look like?

Probably something like the OTL Commonwealth flag - here's the graphic I made back when I was trying to make a TL out of this:

 

[Sir William Jol]

Probably something like the OTL Commonwealth flag - here's the graphic I made back when I was trying to make a TL out of this:
View attachment 800241

Ooh, you're telling me there's a timeline?!

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

Ooh, you're telling me there's a timeline?!

I only ever got a few posts written (it's linked in my signature as "Battle of the South Pacific" if you really want to see it). I'm not sure I'll ever go back to it, though.

 

[Sir William Jol]

I only ever got a few posts written (it's linked in my signature as "Battle of the South Pacific" if you really want to see it). I'm not sure I'll ever go back to it, though.

Oh I see. Almost thought that the United Commonwealth Confederation was a megastate consisting of the OTL Soviet Union merged with the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the rest of North America. But now I realize it's an alternate world where the British Commonwealth united as the UK became TTL's Soviet Union instead of Russia as per OTL.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

Oh I see. Almost thought that the United Commonwealth Confederation was a megastate consisting of the OTL Soviet Union merged with the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the rest of North America. But now I realize it's an alternate world where the British Commonwealth united as the UK became TTL's Soviet Union instead of Russia as per OTL.

Actually, I had sort of a backstory for this that I used to create some scenarios for 270soft's election simulator games called "The Era of Megastates." The other megastates besides the United Commonwealth Confederation are the Soviet Union, the Nordic Union (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland), and the European Socialist Federation (basically the OTL Warsaw Pact nations plus all of Germany and Austria). I suppose you could also consider the U.S. a megastate too.

The POD, incidentally, is that D-Day fails, with the result that nukes are eventually used against Germany rather than Japan, and the Red Army sweeps much further into Europe. This was going to be revealed in a lecture to Oxford's history department by a certain Prof. Pierre Trudeau, after which alternate history forum posters start a topic called, "WI: Pierre Trudeau becomes First Minister of the Confederation?"

(Now you've got me wanting to start writing it again.)

 

[Sir William Jol]

Actually, I had sort of a backstory for this that I used to create some scenarios for 270soft's election simulator games called "The Era of Megastates." The other megastates besides the United Commonwealth Confederation are the Soviet Union, the Nordic Union (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland), and the European Socialist Federation (basically the OTL Warsaw Pact nations plus all of Germany and Austria). I suppose you could also consider the U.S. a megastate too.

The POD, incidentally, is that D-Day fails, with the result that nukes are eventually used against Germany rather than Japan, and the Red Army sweeps much further into Europe. This was going to be revealed in a lecture to Oxford's history department by a certain Prof. Pierre Trudeau, after which alternate history forum posters start a topic called, "WI: Pierre Trudeau becomes First Minister of the Confederation?"

(Now you've got me wanting to start writing it again.)

Sounds really interesting, if you ever chose to continue it again I surely would watch with anticipation!