Liberal Party of Craftia

	State and Territory Assembly Seats
JS Parliament	12 / 75
AD Parliament	3 / 67
MY Parliament	12 / 55
BE Parliament	6 / 48
JL Parliament	5 / 30
WT Parliament	7 / 37
WC Parliament	8 / 45
KT Parliament	12 / 36
LM Parliament	4 / 30
BCT Parliament	9 / 42
CIT Parliament	0 / 21

	Liberal Party of Craftia; 克拉夫地亚自由党; Kèlāfūdìyà Zìyóudǎng; クラフティア自由党; Kurafutia Jiyutō
Leader	Katie Lynwood
Deputy Leader	Ralph Sun
Senate Leader	Kylie Lange
Founded	1 May 1995
Ideology	Social liberalism; Social progressivism; Left-libertarianism; Economic liberalism
Political position	Centre-left
In government	Kagstron
Colour	Yellow/amber
Slogan	Backing the Craftian dream
House of Representatives	32 / 150
Senate	13 / 76
State and Territory Parliaments	78 / 479
Premierships	1 / 11
Governorships	3 / 11

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

Historically, the party was 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 centrist position, generally supporting free trade and market capitalism.

Today, the party is the main third party in Craftian politics, holding the third-highest number of seats in the Craftian House of Representatives since the 2055 election, 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, 2031, and 2040 to 2050.

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 2068). 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 in all states (as well as the Bankera Capital Territory) except for Addams.

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

History

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.

Federal party leaders

No.	Name	Term		Time in office	Term as Prime Minister
No.	Name	Term began	Term ended	Time in office	Term as Prime Minister
1	Steve Bergensten	1 May 1995	31 August 2009	14 years, 3 months, 31 days (5237 days)	2002–2009
2	Joe Bergensten	1 September 2009	12 September 2010	1 year, 12 days (377 days)
3	Tim Bergensten	13 September 2010	4 March 2017	6 years, 5 months, 20 days (2365 days)
(2)	Joe Bergensten	5 March 2017	18 September 2022	5 years, 6 months, 14 days (2024 days)
4	Ted Holmstrom	19 September 2022	9 September 2028	5 years, 11 months, 22 days (2183 days)
5	Ryan Nguyen	10 September 2028	4 October 2031	3 years, 25 days (1120 days)	2031
6	Kevin Abbott	5 October 2031	7 October 2050	19 years, 3 days (6943 days)	2040–2050
7	Louise Johnston	8 October 2050	17 April 2054	3 years, 6 months, 10 days (1288 days)
8	Howard Truman	18 April 2054	27 December 2056	2 years, 8 months, 10 days (985 days)
9	Bob Howard	28 December 2056	26 January 2059	2 years, 30 days (760 days)
10	Margaret Strong	27 January 2059	1 November 2067	8 years, 9 months, 6 days (3201 days)
11	Dylan Chen	2 November 2067	13 April 2074	6 years, 7 months, 11 days (2415 days)
12	Katie Lynwood	14 April 2074	Incumbent	1 month, 18 days (48 days)

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)

State and territory parliamentary leaders

Current

Alexandra Chen - Premier of Kagstron since 17 June 2068

Past premiers and chief ministers

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–).

Federal election results

Election	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	Swing	Position	Government	Leader
1995	4 / 80	4	33,760	4.91%	4.91%	4th	Fourth party	Steve Bergensten
1998	10 / 80	6	99,048	11.89%	6.98%	3rd	Third party	Steve Bergensten
2001	12 / 80	2	144,904	14.58%	2.69%	3rd	Coalition (NUP-BEP)	Steve Bergensten
2004	27 / 90	15	342,066	29.23%	14.65%	2nd	Government (BEP-NUP)	Steve Bergensten
2007	24 / 90	3	343,055	26.13%	3.10%	2nd	Government (BEP-NUP-CLP)	Steve Bergensten
2010	19 / 90	5	295,577	20.77%	5.36%	3rd	Coalition (CLP-BEP-NUP)	Joe Bergensten
2013	5 / 90	14	90,607	5.51%	15.26%	5th	Coalition (MIP-NUP-BEP)	Tim Bergensten
2016	8 / 90	3	167,237	8.94%	3.43%	5th	Coalition (HIP-CCP-BEP)	Tim Bergensten
2019	5 / 90	3	126,697	5.96%	2.98%	5th	Fifth party	Joe Bergensten
2022	9 / 100	4	227,122	9.12%	3.16%	4th	Fourth party	Joe Bergensten
2025	10 / 100	1	327,404	10.38%	1.26%	4th	Fourth party	Ted Holmstrom
2028	7 / 100	3	243,804	7.32%	3.04%	4th	Fourth party	Ted Holmstrom
2031	42 / 120	35	1,352,819	35.27%	27.95%	1st	Government (BEP-NUP)	Ryan Nguyen
2034	13 / 120	29	481,997	10.90%	24.37%	4th	Fourth party	Kevin Abbott
2037	15 / 120	2	661,199	12.71%	1.81%	4th	Fourth party	Kevin Abbott
2040	29 / 120	14	1,342,442	23.78%	11.07%	2nd	Government (BEP-NUP-GPC- MIP-LDP-SPC)	Kevin Abbott
2043	38 / 125	9	1,812,391	30.16%	6.38%	1st	Government (BLP-NUP)	Kevin Abbott
2046	35 / 125	3	1,896,364	27.63%	2.53%	1st	Government (BLP-NUP)	Kevin Abbott
2049	35 / 140	0	1,925,389	25.28%	2.35%	2nd	Government (BLP-NUP- GPC-SPC)	Kevin Abbott
2052	34 / 140	1	2,047,824	24.39%	0.89%	2nd	Opposition	Louise Johnston
2055	10 / 140	23	648,191	7.21%	16.61%	3rd	Third party	Howard Truman
2058	17 / 145	7	1,202,347	11.82%	4.61%	3rd	Third party	Bob Howard
2061	20 / 145	3	1,549,930	13.46%	1.64%	3rd	Coalition (NUP-BEP)	Margaret Strong
2064	26 / 150	6	2,122,833	17.25%	3.79%	3rd	Third party	Margaret Strong
2067	30 / 150	4	2,581,449	19.69%	2.44%	3rd	Coalition (NUP-BLP)	Margaret Strong
2070	30 / 150	0	2,964,365	19.84%	0.15%	3rd	Coalition (NUP-BLP)	Dylan Chen