Minor political parties of Lower Columbia

There are several minor political parties in Lower Columbia, in addition to the three major parties. What primarily distinguishes minor parties from major parties is that the former lack enough support from voters to form governments, especially at the federal level. Some minor parties have enough electoral support to win seats in both Parliament and state legislatures, but their support base is too small for them to win a majority of seats in any legislature. Others, meanwhile, are only popular in one state or region, and therefore lack enough support to be elected to national offices.

National parties
The following four political parties each hold seats in Parliament and in state legislatures, but are not popular enough to elect state premiers or form governments at the state or federal level. Roughly nine percent of registered voters in Lower Columbia belong to one of these parties.

Republican Party
The Republican Party is the most popular minor political party in Lower Columbia, and it is the only one to have formerly been a major party; it formed part of the Third Party System in the mid-19th century. Overall, its political platform is considered largely centrist. Its primary goal is the abolition of Lower Columbia's monarchy and the transformation of the country into a presidential republic. Since most Lower Columbians favor the existing monarchy, the Republicans have met with little electoral success over the past century. They also support economic protectionism, trade unions, and social democracy, which further impacts their popularity with most voters. However, their support for expanding social programs that would benefit the poor makes them popular in the cities, as well as in left-leaning states. In addition, their support for expanded civil rights often makes them popular with voters who would otherwise choose Progressive candidates. The Republican Party is commonly associated with the color orange and holds a total of 18 seats in the 75th Parliament, or 2.9% of all parliamentary seats.

Columbia First Party


Lower Columbia's most popular nationalist party is the Columbia First Party. It broke away from the Conservative Party in the mid-1980s after a series of internal disputes led many of the latter party's far-right members to distance themselves from the rest of the party. Most "Firsties", as the media have dubbed them, are followers of Dominion Theology, which they express in their political views by calling for the establishment of a "Church of Lower Columbia" with compulsory membership for all citizens. The Columbia First Party opposes relaxing narcotics laws and immigration restrictions, introducing government surveillance and privileges for minority groups, and establishing government sanctions for non-traditional marriages. Meanwhile, its members generally support protecting free speech, agrarianism, meritocracy as an alternative to enforced equality, and the integration of immigrants into Lower Columbian culture. The Firsties are the only right-wing minor political party in Lower Columbia.

As previously mentioned, the Columbia First Party is nationalistic. As such, they support military spending strictly for homeland defensive purposes, while opposing intervention in foreign conflicts and providing non-emergency foreign aid to other countries. The Firsties also oppose Lower Columbia's membership in the Liberal Monarchist Bloc and the Alliance of Independent Nations, which they consider intrusive supra-national organizations. This highly isolationistic stance puts them in stark contrast to the Conservatives and makes them unpopular with most of the electorate. However, their popularity has been growing in recent years, especially since Lower Columbia's accession to the AIN. They are identified on maps with a dark blue color and currently hold ten seats in Parliament, or 1.6% of the total.

Green Party
The Green Party, whose name also indicates the color they are associated with, is a party based on Green politics. As such, its members are strong supporters of environmentalism and strict regulation of industry. Like Greens in other countries, they also support grassroots democracy, social justice, and nonviolence; this last issue often includes support for drastically reducing military spending and using those funds to further their proposed environmental programs. Greens also support increasing civil liberties, and many of them are considered feminists. While the Greens enjoy substantial support in rural areas of the lush western states, their left-wing platform also attracts urban voters. The Green Party holds seven seats in the 75th Parliament, or 1.1% of all seats.

Workers' Party
The Workers' Party is Lower Columbia's least-popular political party with seats in Parliament. Most of their unpopularity comes from their far-left leaning; as their name suggests, their economic policies are generally socialistic in nature. Most of their members identify as democratic socialists and support such concepts as economic cooperatives and workplace democracy. They also commonly support direct government control of many economic sectors. Currently, the Workers' Party holds three parliamentary seats, or 0.5% of the total.

State and regional parties
These political parties typically focus on issues that are only relevant to residents of a particular state or region. Some of them, however, have platforms that are relevant at a national level. Those parties fall in this category mainly as a result of them not having any seats in Parliament, or because they do not have active chapters in every state.