Government and politicsPolitical systemZaras has evolved over its existence from being organised as a city with a strong mayor-council government to a hybrid system that is closer to parliamentary democracy.
The
head of state of Zaras is the Governor, currently James D. Lin. The Governor is a largely ceremonial post with some reserve powers, analogous to presidents or monarchs in parliamentary democracies - a Governor's main roles are to call for elections, appoint Mayors, and, if the Mayor has lost a vote of confidence or asks for one, dissolve Parliament and call a snap election.
In the past, Governors were selected by the legislative for a five-year term, but this was changed after a 1993 reform; Governors are currently elected for a four-year term (two years apart from parliamentary elections) through a system similar to Louisiana's
"jungle primary": all of the candidates and their party affiliations are placed on one ballot and whoever wins a plurality of the votes becomes Governor. During their term as Governor, the winning candidates must resign from their parties since the post is legally non-partisan.
Historical Governors1. Nirála Kallin, Democratic Socialist, serving three terms between 1966-1981.
2. James Bay, Democratic Socialist, serving three terms between 1981-1996. He announced he would retire after the 1993 reform to allow for "a fresh start".
3. Jennifer Richard, serving two terms between 1996-2004. Richard was the first Conservative candidate to be elected Governor in a traditionally Democratic Socialist city, and enjoyed a close working relationship with Mayor Bernev during her time in office.
4. Saul Davis, serving one term between 2004-2008. A Democratic Socialist, Davis was the first Governor to serve only one term, as a health problem led him to announce he would not seek reelection.
5. James D. Lin, in office since 2008. Lin was the first Liberal Moderate to be elected to the position, and was reelected in 2012.
The
head of government is the Mayor, usually the leader of the party that has either gained a majority in Parliament or manages to negotiate a coalition government. In the past the Mayor was a directly elected position, but since the transition to parliamentary democracy a Mayor is not directly elected, but appointed by the Governor after winning an election. The Mayor then names a Cabinet, which contains 9 ministries (Culture, Defense, Education, Environment, Finance, Foreign, Health, Justice, Transport) plus the Deputy Mayor (which, contrary to the name, is actually a position similar to a Home Affairs Ministry, responsible for national security, policing and immigration in cooperation with the Defense, Transport and Justice ministries) and the Planning Commission (a prestigious post since it is in charge of urban planning, development and administrating parks and green spaces). The position of minister without portfolio also exists, usually used for party leaders and people who the Mayor wants involved in government but cannot occupy a position.
The
current cabinet is as follows:
Mayor: Shaheen Muhammad (DSP)
Deputy Mayor: Françoise Gerald (LMP)
Culture Ministry: Rishika Hadani (CTM)
Defense Ministry: Ali Batin Weiss (DSP)
Education Ministry: Shirley Williams Taylor (DSP)
Environment Ministry: Helen Westwood (Green)
Finance Ministry: Mark Seevertsen (LMP)
Foreign Ministry: Garán Hannes (DSP)
Health Ministry: Matthew Stewart (DSP)
Justice Ministry: Jenaly Dobáes (LMP)
Transport Ministry: Carla Queralt (LMP)
Planning Commissioner: Sarah Bernev (DSP)
Minister Without Portfolio: Iris Bernev (DSP)
Both the Mayor and their Cabinet wield a fusion of executive and legislative powers, but in practice power is frequently accrued and centralised by the Mayor and the Cabinet can be easily sidelined in decision-making, leading to accusations that there are insufficient Constitutional limits on power, making the position more akin to an "elected dictator" than a head of representative government and weakening democracy. Mayors of Zaras have traditionally shown some tendencies towards centralised decision-making (possibly because of the city's late adoption of representative democracy) and skepticism of reducing their powers (former Mayor Iris Bernev was once accused by the opposition of being an "elected dictator" after passing a new judiciary law, and her reply was "
Benevolent dictator, thank you, dear."), although the reality that every government since 1978 has been a coalition has served to mitigate this.
Historical heads of government1. Keith Samuel, 1956-1957 (Capital District Commissioner)
2. Marina Dora, 1957-1982 (Capital District Commissioner 1957-1966, Mayor 1966-1982)
3. Iris Bernev, 1982-2002 (Mayor 1982-2002, accused of unofficially continuing to govern from behind the scenes afterwards)
4. Caryn Sarnas, 2002-2010 (Mayor)
5. Shaheen Muhammad, 2010-present (Mayor)
Legislative power is held by the Parliament, a recent development: it was created in its modern form in November 1973 after heavy protests and threatened strikes over the government's failure to increase the size of the City Council to account for the city's rapid development and new demographics. The Parliament is bicameral, encompassing both the old, 20-member City Council and a 100-member Legislative Assembly - proposals over the years to abolish the City Council as wasteful or redefine it to make it more distinct than the Assembly have not succeeded. Any proposed law requires an approval by both chambers, first the Assembly and then the Council. If the Council rejects the law, it can either be sent back for retooling or the government can call an "overriding vote" in the Assembly, with a sufficient majority allowing it to bypass the Council and pass the law.
The Parliament's term can last five years total, but it is customary to call elections every four years since 1966. Snap elections are also allowable, but unheard of. According to election laws, the Parliament's term always expires on Independence Day, the 5th of January, the campaign season lasts three weeks, and the election takes place on the 26th of January, the government being sworn in on the 1st of February. The law specifies that a Mayor who has either lost or not run in the election shall remain in office until the handover, but so far only a distinct case of this has happened: in 1981, Iris Bernev defeated Marina Dora in a leadership election and was chosen as the DSP's leader for the election, but Dora was allowed to serve the remainder of her term until the handover. This was done because the city's prolonged lack of exceptional circumstances and political culture leads to heavy skepticism of governments that assume power without having won an election.
The Parliament's continued small size in proportion to the city's population has also drawn criticism, and spurred Mayors Sarnas and Muhammad into proposing measures to increase its size to make it more representative, but these have so far been tied up in procedural issues and not had any practical effect.
As of the 2010 election, the current composition of the legislative is as follows:
Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 37 |
Conservative Party | 28 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 17 |
Green Party | 16 |
Communist Party | 2 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 6 |
Conservative Party | 4 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 5 |
Green Party | 4 |
Communist Party | 1 |
Total: 20 seatsThe city's
judicial system is divided into two tiers: District Courts, responsible for hearing either local, district-related matters, and Civic Courts, more wide-ranging issues that affect the entire metropolitan area. Above these two tiers lies the Supreme Court, the highest court of the city and the last one that can hear appeals in a trial. It is also the last step in the process of passing a law, being charged with guaranteeing that the proposed law does not contravene the Constitution.
Zaran law is largely based on statutory law, but courts are allowed to rule that a certain law might be unconstitutional and thus annull it. The government can then either accept its repeal or re-draft the law in compliance with the Constitution.
As a means to save expenditures, all branches of government are headquartered in the
Government House, located at 1 Independence Boulevard, and all government workers have fixed salaries they cannot increase - Assemblymembers, district commissioners and Mayors can however recieve bonuses and penalties based on how well they govern (according to several criteria) and whether they've fulfilled their campaign promises. Otherwise, politicians and leaders live wherever they can find or afford to - the city does not have a special mansion for the Mayor or anything like that.
Political partiesRepresented in ParliamentDemocratic Socialist PartyMotto:
Together, for a fair and just Zaras!The Democratic Socialist Party was the first party registered in Zaras, on the same day as the declaration of independence. Unsurprisingly, it won the election three weeks later. Surprisingly, it went on to remain in office continuously, both alone (until 1978) and through coalitions with other parties (since 1978). Supporters have given it the nickname "The Natural Government Party" (detractors use it too, but with heavily sarcastic connotations) and the 40th anniversary of uninterrupted Socialist governments in 2006 used the slogan "40 years of experienced, proven leadership".
The DSP's program is roughly similar to Sweden's Social Democratic Party, and founding Mayor Marina Dora explicitly cited Sweden as the model that Zaras would use for its development. The party's policies include, among others, generous spending on welfare, education and healthcare, progressive taxation, strong unions as a "necessary" counterpart to employers' power, active labour market policies, generous parental leave, and government ownership of important sectors such as electricity and water distribution. They also support free, public education and healthcare, were instrumental in passing numerous laws to protect minorities from "arbitrary" discrimination, are officially supporters of feminism, and are opposed to implementing more restrictive immigration laws. Its social policies are notably liberal, including legalised drugs, prostitution, government-sanctioned gambling, extensive LGBT rights and a ban on guns being used outside the army.
The party used to have a reputation as excessively left-wing, hostile to business, incompetent on immigration and border control, and unable to run an economy, but it has since moved towards the centre from its previous "hard left" stance and no longer advocates nationalisation or interference in the private sector as long as it operates in accordance with city regulations. This shift to the centre is usually attributed to the party's electoral losses forcing it into a coalition with the Liberal Moderates in order to remain in government.
An anomaly amidst its centre-left policies is the party's support for mandatory military service, mandatory voting and large military expenditures. Its policies on the foreign front are also rather schizophrenic: the party is the chief architect of the city's aggressive, provocative stance towards Dainarén, but in regards every other nation it emphasises diplomacy and cooperation. It was responsible for passing a 1983 amendment to the Constitution that prevents Zaras from officially having diplomatic relations with non-democratic states, an amendment that has encountered no small amount of criticism for being unrealistic towards the demands of international relations.
The DSP's power base is generally understood to encompass the poor, the working class and trade unions, students, state employees, female voters, LGBT voters, various minority and immigrant voters, and parents. It also enjoys solid but occasionally fluctuating support from the middle classes (who support the party's public services but are skeptical of the generally high tax burdens) and some support from the retired (a group with split voting preferences).
Party leadersMarina Dora, 1966-1981
Iris Bernev, 1981-present
Conservative PartyMotto:
Responsibility and efficiency.The second oldest party in Zaras (by merely one day) and the so-called "Eternal Second Best Party", the Conservatives have spent their entire existence so far in the opposition and have never managed to form a government. They came close in 1974 and 1978 when the Democratic Socialists were unpopular, but they were hurt by leader Jay Rocke's blunders in attempting to pander to the socially conservative electorate (a promise to institute "conservative values" backfired in 1974, and a poorly-phrased speech against the government's immigration policy further damaged the party in 1978), and factional in-fighting due to the party's inexperience in playing big-tent politics. Despite Rocke's removal as leader in 1978 and replacement with Rop Djänstak, the party continued to struggle with fighting between its moderate and "hardline" wings, and steadily experienced a decline in votes during the 1980s and early 1990s under a series of short-lived, unremarkable leaders, all of whom only managed to last one term before being rejected at the next four-year party convention.
Spurred on by the 1994 election, which saw the party's worst results since democratisation, the Conservatives chose Sarah East as their leader. East succeeded in rebuilding and rebranding the party by successfully expelling its more extreme right-wing members and moved the party to the centre, abandoning all of its social planks and focusing exclusively on economic policies. Older members criticised this change as making the party indistinguishable from the Liberal Moderates, but East succeeded in increasing the party's share of votes and modernising its image. She also proved to be an effective debater in the Assembly, leading Mayor Bernev to describe her as "the best opponent I've ever had". She announced that she would retire as party leader before the 2006 election, and was succeeded by Laura Jalki. Jalki has largely kept the centrist orientation and modernised image she inherited from East, but at the same time she successfully reasserted some of the party's more right-wing social stances to regain the conservative electorate.
The CP supports the city's liberal social policies, free market economic policies, a "strong" foreign policy, and other tenets of liberal conservatism. As a concession to the
status quo, it supports the welfare state but wishes to reduce taxes and spending to ease the burden on citizens and companies. It has also in the past "theoretically" supported reinstating citizenship tests, rolling back the city's asylum policy, reducing car and petrol taxes, reducing "excessive" trade union power, and encouraging private healthcare and education. The latter two points have usually provoked rabid opposition from the Democratic Socialists, who are fanatically against such policies for fear that it may create "two-tiered education and healthcare" and affect the citizens' equality of opportunity.
Its power base includes the city's wealthier residents, more patriotic residents, motorists, the religious, capitalists, conservatives, private sector employees, the self-employed, entrepeneurs, and a section of the retired.
Party leadersJay Rocke, 1966-1978
Rop Djänstak, 1978-1980
Kar Restenis, 1980-1982
Carl Carson, 1982-1986
Fred Kierans, 1986-1990
Ted Ansélmo, 1990-1994
Sarah East, 1994-2006
Laura Jalki, 2006-present
Liberal Moderate PartyMotto:
United for freedom and prosperity.Founded in 1972 as a result of a merger between the Liberal Party and the Moderate Party, the Liberal Moderate Party traditionally presented itself as being the "centre" party of Zaras, appealing to voters not swayed by the Democratic Socialists' left-wing inefficiency or the Conservatives' infighting and excessively traditionalist views. Its is nowadays chiefly known for having been a part of coalition governments since 1978, and receive a large credit for helping steer the Democratic Socialists away from the "hard left" and towards more moderate policies.
The LMP has abandoned their occasional rightward lurches in its early years (such as supporting a reduction in welfare and immigration in 1978) and nowadays supports free market economics and privatisation, and are in agreement with the Democratic Socialists' social policies. Their key difference with the Democratic Socialists is an emphasis on individual freedom, leading to a corresponding opposition to laws the party feels excessively infringe on individual rights. Unlike the Conservatives, they are in favour of maintaining balanced labour laws and support negotiations between unions and employers as "the best way" to determine wages and benefits.
True to its centrist roots but more of an anomaly in Zaran politics, the LMP remains one party that defies the mainstream by advocating abolishing abolishing mandatory military service and moving away from an overly belligerent stance towards Dainarén, believing that it would be more productive to start engaging in bilateral talks. They also support scrapping the constitutional article that prevents the government from having official diplomatic relations with "authoritarian" states, believing that such a policy is naïve and ignorant of the realities of international relations. In criticising this policy, party leader Gerhard Stahlmann pointed out that the USA and Soviet Union always had bilateral relations with each other even during the Cold War.
Its power base includes the middle class, capitalists, the self-employed, motorists, and some students and lower-class citizens dissatisfied with Democratic Socialist economic policies. It used to receive some support from the wealthy, but those voters have since moved to the Conservative Party after the LMP entered coalitions with the DSP.
Trivia: The LMP used to be the only party in Zaras that only allowed its leaders to serve for a maximum of two terms. This policy was abolished in 1990 after they lost their popular leader Gerhard Stahlmann and suffered a reduced share of the vote in the election. It was also the only other party besides the Democratic Socialists and Communists to specifically call a convention to remove their leader before the four-year term's end, in this case due to dissatisfaction with Eèzesi Kirednüg's incompetence.
Party leadersAlbert Neven, 1972-1982
Gerhard Stahlmann, 1982-1990
Eèzesi Kirednüg, 1990-1992
Areyta Jakpanta, 1992-2006
Elzaveta Sirinale, 2006-present
Green PartyMotto:
Respect Mother Earth and her giving ways, or trade away our children's days.The Green Party was founded in 1979 after the DSP-LMP administration began to implement economic reforms, fearing that such reforms would lead to a loosening of regulations and increased pollution and environmental damage. Over the next three years, they managed to build up some support and win several district elections. They first entered Parliament in 1982, when they won a respectable 5 seats in the Assembly and 5 seats in the City Council and began to siphon environmentalist support away from the Democratic Socialist Party. However, its leader Peter Mads died of a heart attack in December 1985, and his rapidly-chosen successor Stephen B. Deng proved unable to maintain their momentum, as they lost their Assembly seats. The party then went through its mandatory internal struggle under the similarly uncharismatic Galjarad Swarti, and lost all but one Council seat in 1990 after an infamously disorganised campaign.
A party meeting was called shortly after the 1990 election and Swarti ousted, with Councillor Helen Westwood elected as its new leader. Westwood began campaigning heavily to revitalise the party's grassroots organisation, drafted in professional PR companies to remedy its troubles with the media, and used her Council seat regularly to raise protests about the DSP-LMP coalition's neglect of the environment, plan to build coal-fired power plants to ease the city's dependence on imported electricity, and inept handling of the Cape Horizon garbage beach incident.
With its sole Council seat putting it in a weak position for 1994 and a poor financial situation, the party spent all of its electoral funds commissioning a professionally-produced electoral broadcast entitled "Destruction" while Westwood went to work campaigning in person across the city. Aired as the final political broadcast of the 19th of January, the "Destruction" ad featured a montage of images from recent environmental disasters and facts about the government's increasing neglect of the city's environment with Neil Young's "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" playing in the background, and ended with a shot of the city's iconic Elsinore Park and the words "HOW MUCH FUTHER?". Recognised as one of the most iconic, effective, shocking and depressing political ads in the city's history (simultaneously), the broadcast led to a surge in the Green Party's support and an unprecedented 33 LA seats, crowding out the LMP and CP and pushing the Communists out of the Assembly entirely. The result forced the government to invite the Greens into a DSP-LMP-Green coalition, an option they accepted.
This surge could not be maintained and the party's seats have since fallen, but its support remains steady enough to make it a viable "fourth party", and keep it as part of all governing coalitions since 1994.
The Green Party is the closest Zaras has to a single-issue party: it heavily focuses on enforcing strict environmental policies, promoting renewable energy, and supporting measures to reduce the city's environmental impact as much as possible (especially taxation measures such as carbon, petrol, car and plastic bag taxes). Among some of its successes have been pushing the DSP-LMP away from excessively catering to business, promoting new environmental regulations and clean energy subsidies, organising the Nature's Volunteers groups to help maintain the city's parks and beaches, implementing strict pollution controls and mandatory recycling, and mandating limits on car emission. Some of its less popular stances have included opposing the building of any bridges to Sergan Island due to fears of the impact on its environment, proposing the introduction of a tax on air travel and opposing the expansion of the city's Najries Island airport.
Outside environmental stances, the party shares a concern for civil liberties with the LMP, and emphasises the importance of social justice and grassroots democracy. The Greens are also notably pacifistic and are the other party besides the LMP and Communists who support reducing military spending and abolishing mandatory military service - they have intentionally refused to comment on what their policy towards Dainarén is.
The Greens' power base includes students, environmentalists, the middle class, and some anarchists and socialists. They notably earn a lot of support from Zaran neighbourhoods that are known for their abundance of green space, like Aubedoré, California Coast, Cape Horizon, Rainbow Gardens, Parkland and Sergan Island.
Trivia: Due to the Green Party's somber electoral broadcasts and Helen Westwood's firebrand campaign style, they have acquired a reputation as being the least "politicianlike" parties in Zaras, more concerned with their cause than engaging in the pleasantries of PR-driven electoral politics. They also tend to be stereotyped as a bunch of doom-and-gloom-laden treehuggers dedicated to environmentalism and outright disdainful of using spin or other tricks to "connect" with voters. The Greens themselves have slyly alluded to these perceptions of the party during the 2006 election by using the slogan "Everyone is talking about independence. We're talking about the environment.", paraphrasing one of the German
Green Party's 1990 campaign posters.
Party leadersPeter Mads, 1979-1985
Stephen B. Deng, 1985-1986
Galjarad Swarti, 1986-1990
Helen Westwood, 1990-present
Communist PartyMotto:
Workers of the world, unite!The Communist Party was formed in 1973 as a splinter party for radical Democratic Socialists dissatisfied with the Dora administration's inability to nationalise the economy completely and begin the transition to socialism. They won no seats in the 1974 or 1978 elections, but did build up a following on a municipal level and won elections in several districts. Led by Stephen "Comrade" Aguiñaldo, the Communists began to assert themselves on the political stage in 1982, when they won two seats on the City Council. Their gains increased in 1986 and 1990 as a result of left-wingers disillusioned with the DSP-LMP's turn towards the centre.
However, the aging Comrade Aguiñaldo made a crucial mistake in rejecting an alliance with the Greens and dismissing Helen Westwood using very sexist terms in 1992. This alienated female voters and killed their support among students, leading to the party losing all their Assembly seats to the Green surge of 1994 and barely hanging on to a Council seat by 700 votes in Nasiek. Aguiñaldo narrowly managed to remain leader in the post-election convention but under extreme controversy and unpopularity, was deposed only a year later at a specially organised party convention. Aisha Holtzman was elected as his replacement. Since then the Communists have not managed to recapture their momentum, usually barely managing to win 2-3 seats in either chamber of Parliament, and have instead focused on activism at a grassroots and municipal level.
The party's ideology is in favour of overthrowing capitalism and beginning a transition to a communist society, duh. Its specific orientation under Aguiñaldo was Marxist with some Maoist tendencies. Holtzman has since reoriented the party towards a Trotskyist focus on avoiding a degenerated workers state and tendencies towards anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism. Holtzman has been a vocal critic of "traditional" Communism's emphasis on people being "led" towards a utopia, emphasising that any changes or revolution must come through the will of the people, and at no point can they be deprived of representation. She has accordingly steered the party towards an ironically fanatical stance on protecting civil rights and freedoms. Rather predictably, they want to abolish mandatory military service.
Party leadersStephen "Comrade" Aguiñaldo, 1973-1995
Aisha Holtzman, 1995-present
Smaller partiesThe Civic Tolerance MovementMotto:
United against discrimination and ignorance.The Civic Tolerance Movement was founded after the 1978 elections as a party to represent the interests of the city's growing Muslim minority and combat perceived discrimination. Ever since, under the leadership of Ahmad Evran, the party has diversified its stances beyond simply representing the Islamic community and has become a largely centrist liberal party that emphasises minority representation and involvement in politics, immigration policies, and the need to combat racism and ignorance.
The CTM has no representation in Parliament but is successful at a municipal level thanks to its power base of ethnic minorities and immigrants. However, the election of Shaheen Muhammad as Mayor has brought increased attention from "mainstream" parties, with Muhammad appointing Commissioner Rishika Hadani to the cabinet as Culture Minister.
The Log Cabin Green Party/Ensalutu Kajuto Verda PartioMotto: Brotherhood and Unity.
The LCGP/EKVP was
formed on 29 July 2012 in anticipation of the successful referendum to create the Trankvilaj Altecoj district, and was successful in the subsequent elections for district commission. It officially supports multilingualist policies, Titoist economic policies, Bhutanese enviornmentalist policies, a union between Zaras and Montogranda and advocates repealing the Architectural Act to solve the housing problem.
The True Communist FrontMotto:
A better Zaras for all, immediately!A splinter party formed after Aisha Holtzman took over the leadership of the CP, this party is even less popular than the Communists, and is primarily meant to represent the more authoritarian left tendencies that Holtzman dropped like a hot potato after reshaping the party's ideology.
It has some success at a municipal level, and probably a snowball's chance in hell of actually getting in Parliament, though they're still more likely to win than the NUF.
National Union FrontMotto:
Defending the city's future.The NUF is Zaras' mandatory far-right nationalist/populist party, with all its attendant policies: halting further immigration, "repatriating" foreigners who live in Zaras, harsh "law and order" policies, deregulation, phasing out the welfare state, and so on and so forth. It has no parliamentary seats (and gaining any would be a massive shock to Zarans) and minimal representation on a municipal level, having never managed to win an election outright. Its power base is stereotypically associated with racist, ignorant, over-privileged bastards, and it's frequently endured attempted bans by various districts on the grounds of its extremism.
OtherThough not parties, an important influence on the city's political life is the Association of Dainarén Refugees (ADR), whose main role is to provide a representative organisation for political refugees who have fled Dainarén's military dictatorship and taken refuge in Zaras instead. The ADR is a key promoter of the city's current foreign policy towards their neighbour and supports conscription and the current high levels of defense and law enforcement spending.
Another significant pressure group is the Alliance for the Future (AF), which is so far smaller than the ADR but gaining members and attention. The AF was formed as a result of discontent with the city's planning policies and housing shortages, and wishes to repeal the 1967 Architectural Act and being to allow construction of skyscrapers.
Past election results1966City CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 10 |
Total: 10 seats1970City CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 15 |
Total: 15 seats1974Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 52 |
Conservative Party | 21 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 27 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 12 |
Conservative Party | 5 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 3 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 20 seats1978Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 45 |
Conservative Party | 33 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 22 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 4 |
Conservative Party | 3 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 13 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 20 seats1982Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 48 |
Conservative Party | 25 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 23 |
Green Party | 4 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 5 |
Conservative Party | 1 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 9 |
Green Party | 3 |
Communist Party | 2 |
Total: 20 seats1986Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 48 |
Conservative Party | 25 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 23 |
Green Party | 0 |
Communist Party | 4 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 4 |
Conservative Party | 0 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 8 |
Green Party | 3 |
Communist Party | 5 |
Total: 20 seats1990Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 48 |
Conservative Party | 16 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 20 |
Green Party | 0 |
Communist Party | 16 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 6 |
Conservative Party | 0 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 8 |
Green Party | 1 |
Communist Party | 5 |
Total: 20 seats1994Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 40 |
Conservative Party | 11 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 16 |
Green Party | 33 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 4 |
Conservative Party | 0 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 4 |
Green Party | 11 |
Communist Party | 1 |
Total: 20 seats1998Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 42 |
Conservative Party | 16 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 21 |
Green Party | 21 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 6 |
Conservative Party | 2 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 5 |
Green Party | 7 |
Communist Party | 0 |
Total: 20 seats2002Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 40 |
Conservative Party | 21 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 20 |
Green Party | 15 |
Communist Party | 4 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 3 |
Conservative Party | 4 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 3 |
Green Party | 8 |
Communist Party | 2 |
Total: 20 seats2006Legislative AssemblyDemocratic Socialist Party | 38 |
Conservative Party | 26 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 16 |
Green Party | 18 |
Communist Party | 2 |
Total: 100 seatsCity CouncilDemocratic Socialist Party | 4 |
Conservative Party | 4 |
Liberal Moderate Party | 4 |
Green Party | 4 |
Communist Party | 4 |
Total: 20 seats
Political cultureThe minimum voting age in Zaras is 16. Voting in elections is mandatory but failing to do so is not punishable by anything worse than a small fine, and as a result Zaras regularly has very large turnouts during its elections.
In terms of electoral systems, Zaras uses proportional representation for municipal and district elections, and first-past-the-post for Parliament. The latter is more due to tradition, since the City Council before 1973 was also elected using first-past-the-post. The first-past-the-post system has been criticised more or less constantly since the 1973 transition to parliamentary democracy for not being as representative as it should (there have been cases where a party receives more votes as a percentage but does not gain enough seats), and numerous proposals for its replacement have come and gone. The chief problem in that regard is that electoral reform is something that's near-universally supported by Zarans, but divisions appear on which specific system to replace first-past-the-post (the main split is between single transferable vote, preferential voting, or mixed member proportional), and political support for it is somewhat compromised by predictable fears that it might help everybody else more.
Thanks to factors such as mandatory voting and numerous Politics classes in schools and universities, Zaras can have quite a lively civic culture, with high rates of trade union or party membership and volunteering. This political culture is chiefly based around free expression of grievances and vigilance against the possibility of governments trying to curb civil rights. Protests, rallies and vigils are quite common in the city's large public squares - in fact, it's considered a very serious sign if there isn't at least some kind of gathering in a square.
Zaran politics at a grassroots level can also tend to be quite radicalised, as shown by the support for further left-wing parties such as the True Communist Front, the Workers' Party and the Reconstruction Party (none of them represented at a metropolitan level, but in some districts) and the rate of membership for anarchist associations (or, less positively, far-right wing parties like the NUF). A few of the neighbourhoods are famous for being strongholds for radical left-wingers and anarchists, such as University Village and Workers' Quarter.
An additional part of Zaran politics is an obsession with restricting the amount of influence that business can have over politicians. Corporations and businesses in Zaras are legally banned from donating money to parties (only people can do that), and during elections each party receives equal amounts of time for electoral broadcasts, either at a metropolitan or district level.
The following
political compass chart roughly sums up the city's politics, although it tends to understate the Conservative Party's acceptance of the city's social liberal policies and makes the Green Party look less leftist than they are. The compass also depicts parties as their policy positions technically present them, whereas in practice the process of negotiation and compromise inherent in lawmaking makes them not as "extreme" as they might appear.
OOC: Thanks to Yohannes for showing how to remove the table spaces.