Liberal Party of Craftia

The Liberal Party of Craftia (LPC, commonly known as the Liberals, colloquially the Libs) is a centre-left liberal political party in Craftia. It generally sits on the left of the Craftian political spectrum in terms of social policy, while in the centre in terms of economic policy. The party is regarded as more economically liberal than the social democratic National United Party. The Liberal Party is often considered an ideologically left-libertarian and progressive party.

Founded in 1995, the party was historically more centrist and classically liberal, in line with the political views of founder Steve Bergensten. The party shifted from the centre towards the centre-left starting in the 2020s, in contrast to the United Party, which moved from a left-wing to a centre-left position at around the same time. While the NUP remains more economically left-leaning, the Liberals retain their original economically liberal position, generally being more supportive of free trade and market capitalism.

Today, the party is the main third party in Craftian politics, continuously holding the third-highest number of seats in the Craftian House of Representatives since the 2055 election (as well as for most of the time since the 2040s, as well as the third-highest number of seats in most state and territory parliaments. Its voting support usually remains between 15% and 25% of the popular vote, although it reached a high of 35.27% in the 2031 federal election and has formed government (as a senior coalition partner) at the federal level from 2002 to 2009, in 2031, and from 2040 to 2050, supplying two of Craftia's three longest-serving Prime Ministers (Steve Bergensten and Kevin Abbott). In the 2040s it threatened the grip of the United Party as Craftia's dominant left-leaning party, although in the 2050s it fell to approximately its current level of support.

The Liberal Party is informally divided into two main factions: a progressive, social liberal faction (known as the Left Liberals), and a more centrist, classical liberal or libertarian faction (known as the Bergensten Liberals). Throughout the party's history, the Bergensten faction was more dominant. Today the Left Liberals are the dominant faction.

The party gains most of its electoral support from young voters, middle class voters and professionals in urban areas as well as some exurban regions outside major cities. Indonesian and Indian Craftians have also traditionally supported the Liberals. The Liberal Party's strongest state has consistently been Kagstron, as well as the Bankera Capital Territory. While the federal Liberal Party has remained reluctant to serve in coalition with the centre-right Craftian Conservative Party, its state divisions have supported state Conservative governments throughout most of the party's history.

On the federal level, the party is in a loose coalition with the governing United Party, providing confidence and supply. It is currently the senior government coalition partner in Kagstron (since 2064). It is the junior coalition partner with the National United Party in Jagsland and Western Craftia, and with the Mojang Democratic Party in Lumina. It is also the Official Opposition in Meyang and Wintaro. The Liberals have formed government at least once in all states (as well as the BCT) except for Addams, which has traditionally been its weakest state.

The party's current leader has been Katie Lynwood since the 2074 leadership spill.

Origins
Craftian politics proved to highly volatile following the declaration of independence in 1987. Although the existing three major parties – the centre-left Craftia Liberty Party, centre-right National Party of Craftia and right-wing Protection of Craftia Party – had cemented themselves as the main players in Craftian politics, their internal party systems had been thrown into disarray following the rapid succession of events leading up to and following Craftian independence. All three parties struggled to form united intra-party decisions regarding West Craftia, relations with the Miners Republic, and post-independence economic and social reforms to pave the way for post-war recovery. The centre-right Craftian Conservative Party and the left-wing National United Party, founded in 1990 and 1991 respectively, had disrupted the entire three-party system by the 1992 federal election but left a large gap in the centre of the political spectrum.

Steve Bergensten, a longtime moderate politician who had been sitting in Parliament since 1981, founded the Liberal Party of Craftia in 1995 after switching between a multitude of parties as a result of the frequent policy changes and a perceived absence of liberalism represented in Craftian politics. Bergensten had previously represented the Independent Craftia Party (pre-1980), Liberty (1980–1981), National (1981–1986), Craftian Democrats (1986–1989), before moving back to Liberty (1989–1995). The decline of the Liberty Party by 1995 had convinced Bergensten to form a new party representing classical liberalism, centrism and pragmatism.

The Liberal Party was formally established on 1 May 1995, in time for the federal election later that year. In its first electoral test, the Liberals cleared the 2% threshold to enter parliament (winning 4.91% of the popular vote) and gained 4 seats. The new party, running on a platform of 'fresh liberalism', rapidly rose in popularity, ousting Liberty from its position as third-largest party in 1998, and claiming its place as the new kingmaker in an upturning of Craftian politics. The party first entered government in the 2001 election after forming a coalition agreement with the larger United Party. Bergensten became Deputy Prime Minister of Craftia under James Herbert.

Deputy party leaders
1. Bob Kay (1 May 1995 – 14 September 1998, S. Bergensten)

2. Joe Bergensten (15 September 1998 – 27 July 2005, S. Bergensten)

3. Jackie Solomon (28 July 2005 – 9 December 2007, S. Bergensten)

4. Tim Bergensten (10 December 2007 – 16 October 2008, S. Bergensten)

(2) Joe Bergensten (17 October 2008 – 31 August 2009, S. Bergensten)

(4) Tim Bergensten (1 September 2009 – 28 September 2009, J. Bergensten)

5. Christine Lester (29 September 2009 – 2 June 2012, J. Bergensten/T. Bergensten)

6. Bob Green (3 June 2012 – 19 September 2013, T. Bergensten)

7. Miles Dewar (20 September 2013 – 4 March 2017, T. Bergensten)

(5) Christine Lester (5 March 2017 – 24 May 2020, J. Bergensten)

(4) Tim Bergensten (25 May 2020 – 10 July 2020, J. Bergensten)

8. Ted Holmstrom (11 July 2020 – 18 September 2022, J. Bergensten)

9. Harrison Lake (19 September 2022 – 25 February 2029, Holmstrom/Nguyen)

10. Kevin Abbott (26 February 2029 – 4 October 2031, Nguyen)

11. George Whisky (5 October 2031 – 3 January 2032, Abbott)

12. Petra Bergensten (4 January 2032 – 2 September 2040, Abbott)

13. Louise Johnston (3 September 2040 – 17 September 2049, Abbott)

14. Anthony Rudd (18 September 2049 – 7 October 2050, Abbott)

15. Bob Howard (8 October 2050 – 8 September 2052, Johnston)

16. Howard Truman (9 September 2052 – 20 July 2053, Johnston)

(15) Bob Howard (21 July 2053 – 20 September 2055, Johnston/Truman)

17. Nicola Rhee (21 September 2055 – 17 September 2058, Truman/Howard)

18. Margaret Strong (18 September 2058 – 26 January 2059, Howard)

19. Neleh Bergensten (27 January 2059 – 11 May 2065, Strong)

20. Kelly Ding (12 May 2065 – 15 August 2072, Strong/Chen)

21. Ralph Sun (16 August 2072 – present, Chen/Lynwood)

Current

 * Alexandra Chen - Premier of Kagstron since 17 June 2068

Jebsten

 * Trace Dezch (2057–61)
 * Anna Burges (2057)
 * Garry Hinhoff (2055–57)

Meyang

 * Sene Edune (2054–56)
 * Mark Chatham (2053–54)

Berhardsson

 * Jerry Pak (2046–49)

Jagsland

 * Jason Vien (2012–15, first Asian Craftian premier of Jagsland)

Wintaro

 * Emmett Brownjohn (2035–38)

Western Crafia

 * Ben Rodriguez (2035–36)
 * Phil Fry (2030–35)

Kagstron

 * Charlie Kim (2066–68)
 * Melanie Campbell (2064–66)
 * Jon Misuto (2056–58)
 * Anthony Schmidt (2049–56)

Lumina

 * Jack Jaxon-Soh (2039–45)

Bankera Capital Territory

 * Adrian Goward (2046–55)
 * Brian Fillus (2019–22)

Timeline of state and territory governments
Federal (2002–2009), Jagsland (2012–2015), BCT (2019–2022), Western Craftia (2030–2036), Wintaro (2035–2038), Lumina (2039–2045), Federal (2040–2050), Berhardsson (2046–2049), BCT (2046–2055), Kagstron (2049–2058), Meyang (2053–2056), Jebsten (2055–2061), Kagstron (2064–).