Federal party

In Kryfona politics, a federal party is a party which is officially registered with the Commission of Federal Elections to contest federal elections, and is therefore eligible to run candidates and campaigns for Kryfonsparliszaiye seats. Federal parties are limited by Kryfona law by both eligibility and number, and in present day there are only six: the United Kryfona Party, the Kryfona Loyalist Party, the Kryfona Royalist Party, the Yaraan Kryfon's Movement, the Aryela Party, and the Pažem Tuszkeya. Other parties than these six have historically been eligible, but for various reasons including party splits, rejections, and a desire to remain at a local level, these other parties have not become federal parties. Since the legislation which introduced the federal party distinction–the Majority Party Act of 1839–was introduced, it has been amended four times. The number of parties which can contest a given federal election was first raised to 3 in 1902, then 5 in 1962, and most recently 6 in 1981. A clause which reduced the number in times of war was eliminated with the 1962 adjustment.

History

The concept of federal parties is relatively old in Kryfona politics, although its modern interpretation differs significantly from the original idea. Prior to the passing of the Majority Party Act of 1839, the idea of federal parties essentially did not exist, mostly owing to the recent establishment of party registration in the Kingdom. Although political parties had by then proliferated for over a hundred years, party registration was not formalized until the passing of the Party Creation and Formalization Act of 1814; what had existed as "parties" before that point were essentially informal coalitions who answered to equally informal establishments.

The establishment of parties begat the rise of actual political establishments, and conversely paved the way for the Majority Party Act by giving Kryfona political parties an actual body from which to spread politics. Because there were virtually no other parties at this time beyond the two major parties and the waning influences of independent candidates and persons running under the Loyalist Alliance banner, both parties soon realized that they could easily establish a status quo which would benefit their proliferation. In 1837, the first draft of what would become the idea of the Kryfona "federal party" was raised by Royalist members of the Kryfonsparliszaiye; these members, mostly of a centrist leaning, figured that

General requirements

Aside from registering with the CFE, parties must generally meet certain requirements to be eligible for federal party application. Most parties which are currently active in the Kingdom do not meet these requirements.

Requirements of the CFE

• Membership of at least 50,000, with 100,000 or more being preferred
• Active party branches, affiliates, or wings in two or more provinces
• Ability to contest and/or win seats in more than one province
• Active party membership in at least two provinces.

Criticism of the CFE requirements

Historically and contemporarily, the CFE has been criticized heavily for its federal requirements, and many of its federal requirements likewise have been criticized as borderline impossible to meet for many parties seeking to establish themselves. One of the most common criticisms is that because of the big-tent nature of the federal parties, virtually every ideology imaginable is either specifically or broadly represented already by one or more of the federal parties. Subsequently, many parties find themselves attracting few, if any members, and those which do often end up with the radical, irrational, or rejected members of a given ideology. This in turn, it is argued, discredits the smaller, more pure ideological parties, and results in a vicious cycle that keeps them from actively challenging the federal parties. Only a few niche parties (such as the Silverist Party) and a few radical parties (such as the Presidentialist Movement, the Revolutionaries, and the Homaitist Movement) lack representation and are therefore able to avoid these issues.

Another criticism that is often levied at the CFE requirements is that they prevent many parties from ever approaching federal status because they are too small to establish branches or contest seats in multiple provinces for extended periods of time. Even the larger parties such as the Progressive Party have struggled historically to remain large enough and powerful enough to keep contesting seats in multiple provinces and to funnel money to their affiliate branches in those provinces.

Parties which are or have been historically eligible

Current

• Progressive Party (eligible since 1971, has historically refused to become federal so it can remain grassroots).
• Kryfona Alliance (previously refused in 1971, eligible since 2015)

Former

• Social-Populist Party (eligible from 1960-1962; a party split ultimately doomed the effort)
• Social Populists (eligible from 1963-1967; never applied)
• Loyalist Front (eligible from 1954-1959; never applied over concerns of vote splitting)