Doggerland Left

Doggerland's Left, often abbreviated as the DL (Doggish: Doggerlandische Linz) and previously known as the United Left People's Party, (Doggish: Folkspartij Unitayr Linz, ULPP or FpUL) is a democratic socialist political party in Doggerland. It is led by Rune and Heiligerhahn and espouses democratic socialism and radical reform as well as internationalism. The party stands firmly on the left, within the Dogger polical spectrum, it stands between the Labor Worker's Party and the Communist Party. The party has had one of the most tumultuous histories of any party, having cycled through 5 leaders in three months and participating in government coalitions three times as it stands currently.

According to pre-January election polling, it was the largest party in Doggerland with 60 registered members as of January 28, 2021, later falling to third in the February 2021 election, and the regaining its footing tying for first with the LWP in the March 2021 election.

There are ecosocialist factions following the absorption of the former Green Party by the DL. The Anarcho-Garfieldist Party was founded from former DL member Sam.

The DL's official site can be found here.

Lore
Main article: Toiburg Conference

The United Left People's Party was established on January 25th, 2021 as merger of around a dozen local organisations, as in almost every part of the country had a smaller candidate ran to the left of Labor. Seeing an opportunity to take away disconcerted Labor members as well as the large number of Doggers who had only voted in local elections previously. Many of these local leaders met at Toiburg and formed the ULPP. Following in a brief party vote, James Summers was elected party leader.

Pre-election (January 2021)
Membership was ambitious, the ULPP was by far the largest party by membership, and it was the first party to field party lists for the upcoming election. The first party list was based on leadership then followed by participation. It was also the first party to publish campaign materials in video format. It was the second party to distribute print materials during the campaign period.

During the intervening period, James Summers resigned abruptly on January 27th, 2021. He cited the pressures that party leadership had on his schedule. In a brief party vote, the membership decided to acclaim with no objections, to have former deputy leader Kevin Trevor as party leader. This was to prevent any uncertainty with regards to leadership so close to the election. Party member Lily Hail, a former prime minister for the MHoC, held a deputy leadership election, where 5 participants entered. After 4 rounds of counts, It's Holmgang, Then was elected Deputy Leader. Trevor published the second party list based on recommendations from the first, with certain members engaged in the deputy leadership being raised during the election period.

Rune was granted permission by Kevin Trevor to enact 3 caucuses within the body of ULPP. Upon suggestions by KhanOfKhans and Sam, associate status was granted to allies of the LGBT+ caucus. After consultation with Dadijo Penguinez, him and Rune established the Disability caucus, the fourth caucus.

January 2021
Main articles: Forward! Alliance for Progressive Action

The party performed favourably in both pre-election and preliminary results for the Jan. 2021 election, it is expected to enter government with proposed coalition deals with various parties in preliminary talks.

Following various negotiations with the parties, it entered coalition with both the Justice Party and the Labor Worker's Party. As this did not constitute a a majority government, the Communist Party entered in confidence and supply. An internal poll was conducted to judge party support for either the Liberal or the Communists as confidence and supply. Because of conflict between the ULPP and the Liberal Party, the Communist Party won an internal poll 86% to 14% as the preferred coalition partner. The coalition between the three parties was dubbed Forward! Alliance for Progressive Action.

Soon after, Owfedcdl briefly left the ULPP, attempting to re-form the Green Party. He quickly retracted less than half an hour later, but was unable to gain a cabinet position because of his dissent so soon within asking party leadership for a position. He has since proposed forming his own party, the Dogxit Party, with little recognition.

The first legislative priorities of the ULPP were the Socialist Reform Bill, written by Deputy Leader Holmgang. Party leader Kevin Trevor nominated LWP member Zebra for speakership, for which he won against Femboy Neoliberalism.

February 2021
Main article: February 2021 Doggerland legislative elections

Initial national polling for the ULPP led government as being generally favorable, the SRB being approved by just over half of the population. There is a vocal portion of dissenters, but generally polling has been favorable on the ULPP's behalf. Despite the vocal opposition, the SRB passed with the Forward Coalition holding the majority.

Kevin Trevor and Holmgang unexpectedly resigned as leader and deputy leader at once before the February 2021 election. This event was known as the Doggerland political crisis of January 2021. Kevin cited his inability to garner support from his party's base and expanding the coalition further.

Ayvind Bjarnason and Kenson were elected as leader and deputy leader respectively following the period in which the ULPP was effectively leaderless. During this time, Rune served as party leader until a leader was elected, and organized the ballots for such an event to happen. Kenson, a former Libertarian, defected from his party once Kevin Trevor resigned, and led a controversial run for leadership, only to lose to Ayvind Bjarnason following two rounds of votes on an RCV Ballot.

Ayvind led the party to one of its worst defeats yet, this was likely due to a great deal of controversy from the SRB, as well as the pre-election chaos that ensued so close to the election day. During their brief time as PM, Ayvind reformed both the ULPP infrastructure and pushed for several bills. However this stint as Prime Minister did not last long, as Ayvind was voted out during the February 2021 election. Ayvind was the first non-binary Prime Minister, and the second member of the LGBT community as PM.

Ayvind served as leader of the opposition with the Communist Party and the newly formed Anarcho-Garfieldist Party, which split from the ULPP following a row over leadership. Owfedcdl was ejected from the ULPP and was advised to join the LWP due to controversies over his role in the party.

March 2021
Main articles: Alliance for National Stability, March 2021 Doggerland snap legislative elections

An internal poll conducted by Ayvind themself proved to be damning, with them having an overall low popularity amongst ULPP members. This proved to be the same for the external poll and subsequent internal report. Following advice as laid out by the Internal Report, Ayvind resigned as leader, paving the way for Kenson to become the fifth leader of the ULPP. Kenson, who enjoyed relative popularity within the server, was viewed favorably by a majority of server members. The ULPP began reforms following the advice of the Internal Report and its advised policy goals. Ayvind took the position of deputy leader, and quickly rose within the ranks of the server, becoming a King's Commissioner. Ayvind's position of Commissioner quickly led to reforms of the main server's infrastructure and they were commended by members from across the political spectrum.

Following three months of inactivity by the incumbent Triangle Government, the LWP staged a Vote of no confidence, which resulted in the ousting of TheOWOTriangle. They were subsequently murdered by a mob consisting of the incumbent senators at the time. The resulting coalition, the Alliance for National Stability, consisting of the LWP, ULPP, AGP, CU, and CP, passed three major pieces of legislation. This was more than the Triangle Government's one bill.

The March election saw the ULPP regain some of its early traction, with it leading the preliminary results. The results had the LWP and the ULPP tied for first. This led to the ULPP and the LWP forming a government with the Communist Party. This led to a quick splintering of the LWP. Kenson was set to become the Prime Minister with LWP and CP support, with Ayvind launching a bid as Speaker of the House. Despite their controversial tenure as leader of the ULPP, Ayvind was endorsed by several members of the house for their bid as speaker as a show of bipartisanship.

April 2021
Main article: 2021 referendum on abolishing the Senate of Doggerland, Doggerland political crisis of April 2021, 2021 Military Seizure of Parliament

The ULPP's role in government was relatively uncontroversial. Despite its initial roughness regarding the ill-fated SDU, the party retained its membership and gained two members after RepOfCommunists and God joined the party. Kenson's most controversial dealing was regarding his intention to abolish the senate, which had vocal dissent from the senators themselves, a lot of whom were senators. Kenson's referendum came in at 59% for, and the remaining abstain or no.

On April 11, the ULPP held a public poll choosing a new party logo, name, and leadership structure. The Public Poll was to be weighed at 40% of the total, with the remaining private poll to be weighed at 60%. The party was renamed Doggerland Left and switched to a co-leadership system. Both Kenson and Rune threw their hats into the ring. The leadership election was set to be held on April 14, 2021. Both were reelected by walkover.

Kenson committed suicide on May 24, 2021. This led to an immediate succession crisis. Prime Minister Mel's jailing of Trashman for supposed fraud was later revealed to have been done by Mel himself following an elaborate deep state within Doggerland's political establishment. This led to the DL and DCP withdrawing confidence from the LWP led government, with most LWP members fleeing the LWP because of Mel's authoritarianism. In total 5 LWP members defected, with one choosing to remain in the party permanently. The DL sided with the DCP led faction, consisting of the DL, DCP, V+P and Lbt parties. When the conflict subsided, Rune merged the opposing sides as a neutral third party and became Prime Minister of Doggerland to avoid breaking out in all out civil war.

Their stint as Prime Minister included organizing both the moderator and National Assembly elections, as well as abolishing the senate during their 4 days as Prime Minister. Their tenure was marked with a deliberate pause in all passages of bills during the mourning period for the terrorist attack that former speaker and DL member Ayvind committed. Ayvind promptly fled to a yet undisclosed nation and has not been seen since. Elections were called for April 29.

May 2021
Main article: April 2021 Doggerland legislative elections, May 2021 Doggerland legislative elections, May 2021 Forward Presidential Alliance presidential primaries, May 2021 Doggerland presidential election

The April election was marked with intense levels of fraud due to Beady spreading the ballot box overseas and leading to a 20 point IDP swing. Due to a royal decree by King Moose, its results were annulled and Beady formed a separate opposition. The Alliance of Democratic Decency, consisting of the LWP, DL, DCP, LP, AGP, and V+P was created as an interim, with Hawyee as Prime Minister.

Hawyee's tenure was short and lasted 2 weeks as was decided upon by coalition partners, who believed that the house must be reconvened once clean and fair elections were held. The result had a clear return for a 4 party led coalition with the LWP at the head. However, external interference struck and the LWP was cleaved in two, depriving the Left of a 1 seat majority. Saber, as the leader of a broad right-wing coalition was brought in as head.

The presidential election was held simultaneously, two days prior, a Presidential Primary was held with 4 members of the DL participating. Rune, co-leader of the DL managed to beat out the LWP Deputy Leader and former Leader in the TCP (Two Candidate Preferred) vote. Rune won 50% of the vote in the first round, and despite some interference, won with just over 50% in the second round, becoming President of Doggerland.

Rune highlighted their focus as President on "mental health, server health, server activity, and addressing the epidemic of the partisan divide and addressing the importance of showing kindness towards eachother." Their running mate was Yma McRachubolk of the LWP.

Ideology
The ULPP is a party rooted in the tradition of left-wing politics. Party membership identify generally as democratic socialists, with a moderately-sized ecosocialist wing following the unofficial dissolution of the Green Party. Its broad party platform can be found in their manifesto. ULPP membership voted to take a neutral, individual member-based approach towards joining the European Union. If it was to join the EU, it would either join GUE/NGL or DiEM25.

Party membership generally is close to DiEM25 and Progressive International in ideology.

Party membership tends to be divided over coalition partners, with some members concerned with allying with the center-left while others tend to advocate for allying with the far left. There are some dissenting voices proposing allying with the far-right, but these are few and far in between. Party membership is unanimous in rejecting neoliberal economic systems, and opposition to third way economics.

Symbols


In a official strawpoll held by James Summers, the Red Banner of Hope was voted as the party logo at 60% support.

A second poll was conducted on April 11, 2021 when the party was rebranded. Option 6 won with a narrow majority over Option 1. The iconography for the 6th option was inspired by parties such as En Comú Podem and Lewica.

Lily Hail has published the official ULPP Design Guide at here. The Official ULPP visual identity pack is available here for download.

Ideological caucuses
Officially the DL has four specific caucuses. The LGBT, Ecosocialist, Minority, and Disability caucus. Individual caucuses are similar, and have drawn comparison, to UK Labour's Socialist societies.

LGBT+ Caucus
Associate membership is reserved for members who are not members of the LGBT+ community but consider themselves allied to such and would like to participate in a consultation based format. It is the largest of the identity-based caucuses, comprising of 18 members and 3 associate members. It will transition into the Parliamentary LGBT+ Caucus once Parliament is established, while also having its members retain membership of the DL LGBT+ Caucus.

Ecosocialist Caucus
As the former Green Party membership has been unable to retain registration due to expiry of official party status, many members felt obligated to form an environmentally focused Ecosocialist caucus. The Ecosocialist caucus is the only ideologically oriented caucus, and is the largest one by membership comprising of 20 members.

Minority Caucus
Members who are BAME or PoC and members of the DL, pushing for legislation made by minorities for minority interests. The caucus aims to increase minority participation in politics. It is tied with the Disability caucus for the smallest caucus by membership, it is expected to broaden into the Parliamentary Minority Caucus when the Jan. 2021 Parliament is instated.

Disability Caucus
As suggested by Dadijo Penguinez, members who are disabled advocating for representation and legislation that keeps in mind disability-focused concerns. It is currently tied with the Minority caucus for being the smallest party by membership. It is expected to broaden into the Parliamentary Disability Caucus when the Jan. 2021 Parliament is instated.

Internal leadership elections concluded on January 29th, 2021. Collective leadership was agreed universally as the best option.

January 2021 Leadership elections
The party held leadership elections on January 26-28, 2021. Kevin Trevor was unanimously voted as leader while It's Holmgang, Then narrowly beat 752cicon to become deputy leader in a ranked choice vote.

EU Parliamentary Party election
An internal election was held on January 29, 2021 to decide which EU party the ULPP would join once Doggerland accessed to the EU. Despite a direct endorsement of DiEM25 by Party Leader Kevin Trevor, the membership voted for the Party of the European Left.

The results are as follows:

April 2021 Policy Election
On April 11, 2021, the ULPP held two ballots to determine the direction of the party. The ballot decided whether the party should rename itself to Doggerland Left or not, and whether the party should hold a co-leadership structure. Initiative 1 passed at 54.14%, while Initiative 2 passed at 62.9%. The 6th option for the logo poll won narrowly against Option 1.

Following the passing of Kenson because of his apparent suicide, the first seat for the co-leadership opened up, with two contenders currently.

The Deputy Leadership election was held through a new system averaging the candidates from 0-5. This was the same system which will be the same as the moderator elections that was called by Rune.

January 2021 Legislative Elections
Main article: January 2021 legislative elections

The ULPP led the preliminary support polling on January 27, taking 31.2% of the votes. On January 29, they received the plurality of the popular vote (29.6%), but failed to make a 50% majority. After forming a coalition with the Labor Worker's Party and the Justice Party while supporting a confidence and supply agreement with the Communist Party, they were able to maintain a minority government, making Kevin Trevor the first Prime Minister of Doggerland.

February 2021 Legislative Elections
Main article: February 2021 legislative elections

The ULPP dropped its vote share and became the third largest party in Parliament. It ultimately fell into opposition against the LP-LWP-CU coalition. It later participated in the vote of no confidence which resulted in the LWP seizing power and allowing the ULPP to rejoin the government under the Alliance for National Stability.

March 2021 Legislative Elections
Main article: March 2021 legislative elections

The United Left People's Party managed to regain some of the momentum it had once, heading into the election, leading early polls. It wound up tying with the LWP to be the biggest party in government, with Kenson agreed to be the Prime Minister.