Saturday, June 20, 2009

Party Like a Monarchist

The Abahuza Party: Officially the Party for the Restoration of Monarchy and Dialogue in Burundi was founded in 2004 with the aim of ending the ethnic conflicts by a royal restoration. The party has gained more notoriety since running former Paris fashion model Princess Esther Kamatari for president. Their platform is aimed mostly at poor and rural Burundians; the majority of the nation.

The Albanian Democratic Monarchist Movement Party: A minor political party in Albania led by Guri Durollari. It competed in the 2005 Albanian elections but failed to win any seats.

The Black-Yellow Alliance: An Austrian monarchist party founded in 2004 who advocates the restoration of the Hapsburgs to Austria and the wider Danube region of Europe. They have contested elections in 2008 and have gained some degree of attention out of proportion to their strength because of their colorful demonstrations and public celebrations of Austrian imperial glory.

The Carlist Party: Founded in 1969 but only legal since 1977 and the death of General Franco they are a Carlist opposition party but have broken with the traditional values of the old Carlists in many ways, most prominently in that they are advocates of a sort of moderate socialism. Since 2000 their leader has been Evaristo Olcina.

The Constitutionalist Party of Iran: Founded in 1994 the CPI is a party in exile based in Los Angeles, California which favors a constitutional monarchy but has also stated that they would not oppose a republic so long as it was chosen fairly and democratically by a majority of Iranians.

FUNCINPEC: The Cambodian Royalist Party, founded in the 1980's by King Norodom Sihanouk as part of a coalition with the Khmer Rouge to combat the Vietnamese invasion the party went on to support the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in the political reorganization that followed the war and the collapse of the Khmer Rouge. Prince Norodom Ranariddh led the party for many years in a coalition with the Vietnamese Communist favorite Hun Sen. Years of association probably hurt the image of the party and they have since lost their status as the primary opposition to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party. After Ranariddh was forced out and formed his own party leadership went to Keo Puth Rasmey.

Koruna ceska: A Czech royalist party which advocates the conversion of the Czech Republic to a constitutional monarchy. Since the founding of the party in 1991 it has been led by Vaclav Srb and has contested elections but with little success. In the 2006 parliamentary elections the party received 0.2% of the votes.

Legality Movement Party: An Albanian monarchist party led by Eqerem Spahia it advocates the restoration of the Albanian monarchy under Crown Prince Leka of the House of Zogu. In 2001 it formed the political coalition "Union for Victory" and won 46 members of Parliament.

The People's Monarchist Party: Founded in 1974 in opposition to the corporatist regime of Salazar as part of the "Carnation Revolution" in Portugal it advocates the restoration of the Portuguese monarchy but has never gained much political support. They have certainly not been helped by the fact that the heir to the throne, Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, has refused to endorse the party. It has never had any members elected on its own to office but did gain two seats through an agreement with the Social Democratic Party.

The Real Politics Union: A conservative political coalition in Poland which is not strictly a monarchist party but does include monarchist members along with libertarians and traditional conservatives. It supports private property rights, traditional values, free-enterprise and opposes socialism and the EU.

The Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement: A Serbian monarchist party, founded in 2005 after splitting from the Serbian Renewal Movement it has suffered from a great deal of internal divisions and bickering. A conflict between the two presidents of the movement prevented the party from contesting the 2008 elections.

The Serbian Renewal Movement: A mostly pro-monarchist Serbian political party founded in 1990 the movement has suffered almost since its founding from political infighting and unpopular leadership. It has, over the years, gained and held a fair number of seats in government but has also been weakened by many factions breaking off or dividing to take different directions.

Action Francaise: A French monarchist party which supports the Orleans branch of the French Royal Family and is devoted to the principles of the French nationalist Charles Maurras. Association with the Vichy regime in World War II led to a drop in popularity but the party has revived and continues on today advocating nationalism, royal restoration and opposition to the EU.

Alliance Royale: A French royalist movement founded in 2001 and currently led by Yves-Marie Adeline. The AR advocates a constitutional monarchy for France and is mostly opposed to further EU integration. The party has tried to stay out of the Orleanist-Legitimist dispute.

The Democratic Rally: A French monarchist party founded in 2004 under the leadership of Philippe Cartellier it advocates "royalist democracy" and has allied with the National Movement of Czar Simeon II of Bulgaria.

Nouvelle Action Royaliste: An Orleanist French monarchist party that was originally an offshoot of Action Francaise the NAR is mostly known for what it opposes; it is anti-liberal, anti-American and anti-EU. That being said, it has in the past endorsed socialist candidates and other leftist causes.

This list is by no means exhaustive and readers are free to list other parties that should be included in the comment box. My criteria were simply parties which are fairly well known (and thus 'real world' parties and not purely internet-parties), which have held seats in government or at least fielded candidates and which are of course currently alive and functioning. It should be noted that not all monarchies feel the need to have a monarchist party, many republics ban them from existing and many monarchists do not organize themselves as parties.

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