Politics of Mordvania

Since 1567, the Republic of Mordvania has had a multi-party system, with numerous competing political parties. Individual political parties normally do not manage to gain power alone, and usually work with other parties to form coalition governments.

The Republic of Mordvania was strongly inspired in the principles of the Mordvanian republican tradition, which emphasizes civic virtue and political participation over other core ideas of mainstream liberal democracy. Until the constitutional reform of 1582, the Armed Forces had an important degree of influence on the decision making process regarding issues related to Mordvanian foreign policy and national security, via the Council of Defense. However, the Mordvanian constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human and civil rights and divide powers both between national and local levels and between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The judiciary of Mordvania is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Parliamentary parties

Figures in parentheses reflect initial number of seats won by party (if different from current number), prior to splits, defections, etc.

Party			Members in		Political Position
Name	Abbr	Leader	Assembly of Representatives	Chamber of Deputies	Ideology
Mordvanian Republican Party Mordvanenska Republikanska Stranka	MRS	Bogdan Privsek	142	334	Mordvanian republicanism - Center-right. Right-Republican. Liberal-Republicanism.
Left Party Lavika Stranka	LS	Zvezdana Serebryak	156	203	Left-wing - Socialdemocracy. Socialism. Left-wing populism.
Republican Social Radical Party Republikanska Socialne Radikalna Stranka	RSRS	Slavko Debevek	134	163	Mordvanian republicanism - Center-left. Left-Republican. Radical-republicanism. Socialdemocracy.
Coalition of Constitutional Forces Zakovne duvrskupina Koalicija	ZDK-KDU	Alenka Levstik	121 (92)	83 (61)	Multi-ethnic coalition - Liberalism.
Radical Democratic Party Radikalna Demokratska Stranka	RDS	Agnieszka Szczepanska	18	37	Mordvanian republicanism - Social liberalism
Bunesgan People's Party Bunesguvos liaudies Partija	BLP	Gabrielius Karbauskis	28	31	Bunesgan minority - Nationalism. Conservatism.
Bunesgan Democratic Party Bunesguvos demokratų Partija	BDP	Algimantas Strazdas	29	22	Bunesgan minority - Liberal-conservatism.
Mordvanian People's Front Mordvanenska Ljudska Spredaj	MLS	Lojze Drnovsek	0	0	Far-right. Anti-immigration populism.

List of political parties

Overview

The transition from an absolute monarchist regime to democracy and pluralism resulted in new political political parties mushrooming in the late 1560s. After the first free parliamentary elections in 1566 seats in the Constituent Assembly were divided among more than a dozen different parties and coalitions. The existence of so many parties in the Parliament was seen by many as being counterproductive to the effectiveness of the parliament and a hindrance towards producing stable governments, even more considering that the country was then in the middle of a civil war. Consequently, the electoral reform was undertaken and an electoral threshold for the Lower House was instituted prior to the 1567 elections to the Assembly of Representatives. The set threshold required a minimum vote of 3% for parties and 5% for electoral coalitions, and elections were based on nationwide proportional representation. As consequence, it had the effect of preventing a large number of minor parties from winning seats in later elections. The threshold and electoral law also prevented independent candidates from gaining election to the Assembly of Representatives, althoug they kept playing an important role in the local elections and the Upper House, the Chamber of Deputies.

Until 1573, Republican parties dominated the political scene, with the Mordvanian Republican Party and the Republican Social Radical Party becoming the two major political parties. After the Communist Party of Mordvania was suspended by the Supreme Court for illegal funding in late 1569, the non-republican left became non-existent as other left-wing organizations joined the Republican Social Radical Party-led Republican Social Coalition. The non-Republican Mordvanian right was unable to create a single bloc which could act as counterweight to the republican parties, but instead kept merging, splitting and renaming. Therefore, the major alternative to the republican parties became minority nationalist parties or multi-ethnic moderate coalitions such as the Coalition of Democratic Forces (later renamed as Coalition of Constitutional Forces).

After the disappointing 1571 Voyvode Elections, in which the Right-Republican parties repeated the result they had obtained a year before in the National Elections, the Republican Social Alliance experienced deep divisions and the left-wing coalition was dissolved. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Milan Kravanja became leader of the Republican Social Radical Party, which chose to contest in the next elections as a RSRS-only party-list. Surprisingly, the far-left United Progressive Socialist Party, led by the controversial candidate Zvezdana Serebryak, was the most voted political party after a heated electoral campaign. After long negotiations, the Republican Social Radical Party agreed to form a coalition government with the United Progressive Socialist Party, Milan Kravanja becoming the President of the Republican Council (head of government), and Serebryak becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs.

From 1573 until 1579, the left-wing populist United Progressive Socialist Party remained as the popular political force in the country, and the influence of the republican parties seemed to wane, specially after the 1575 local elections, in which candidates of the far-right Mordvanian Nationalist Party obtained a 14% of the vote, and the Left-Republican RSRS could only be fifth, in their worst result to the date, with barely 10% of the vote. Meanwhile, the Mordvanian Republican Party, now led by former Minister of National Security Borislav Vurnik seemed unable to offer an alternative to the United Progressive Socialist Party.

Still, the 1576 National Elections became the most contested elections to the date, in which Zvezdana Serebryak's United Progressive Socialist Party defeated the Mordvanian Republican Party by merely a 300,000 votes and 6 seats. The Republican Social Radical Party recovered more than eight points in that election, allowing Serebryak to become the first (and only) female President of the Republican Council.

Since the national elections of 1579, the center-right Mordvanian Republican Party has dominated the political scene, while their main rivals, the United Progressive Socialist Party, the Republican Social Radical Party and the multi-ethnic Coalition of Constitutional Forces, struggle for the second position but at a largue distance of the Mordvanian Republican Party, now led again by Bogdan Privsek. In late 1578, another republican party was founded, the centrist Republican Liberal Party -a split of the Republican Social Radical Party, formed by a group of rebel MPs who opposed to continue the alliance with the far-left United Progressive Socialist Party-, which joined Privsek's government after the 1579 elections.

Unlike other older democracies, the general public disapproval of politics and politicians as whole remains low, which has resulted in the virtual disappearance of the Mordvanian far-right from the political scene, and a decline of nationalist parties such as the Bunesgan People's Party, which in the mid-1570s abandoned federalism and embraced openly a separatist platform.

Republican parties

• Mordvanian Republican Party
• Republican Social Radical Party
• Republican Democratic Party

Non-republican national parties

• Left-Party
• Centre Democratic Party

Minority parties

• Bunesgan People's Party
• Bunesgan Republican Party
• Bunesgan Democratic Party
• Abdanian Democratic Party

Other parties

• Mordvanian People's Front
• Mordvanian Nationalist Party
• Mordvanian Nationalist Democratic Party
• Mordvanian Conservative Republican Party
• Mordvanian Communist Party
• All-Mordvanian Equality Party

Formerly important parties or coalitions, since 1560

• United Progressive Socialist Party, 1572-1588
• Republican Liberal Party, 1577-1587
• Coalition of Constitutional Forces (KDU-ZDK), 1572-1586
• Constitutional Democratic Movement, 1568-1572
• Republican Social Alliance, 1568-1571
• Federal Democratic Party, 1572-1586
• National Liberal Party, 1570-1586
• Ashkuban Society, 1561-1586
• Kaljuran Centrist Party, 1567-1586
• Social Democratic Party, 1565-1586
• National Democratic Republican Party, 1566-1571
• Mordvanian Democratic Party, 1566-1567
• Mordvanian Social Party, 1566-1567
• Communist Party of Mordvania, 1542-1570
• National Bunesgan Party, 1568-1572
• United Democratic Party, 1566-1572
• Bunesgan Nationalist Party, 1531-1567
• Bunesgan Nationalist Democratic Party, 1566-1569
• Indepenent Labour Party, 1557-1566
• Ashkuban Labour Party, 1564-1572
• Liberal Center, 1565-1570
• Liberal Party, 1566-1570

Underground political organizations in Mordvania, 1540-1567

• Democratic League of Mordvania
• Federal Workers League
• Liberal Democratic Party

See also

• Mordvania
• Mordvanian republicanism