National Union Party of the Homeland (Patraja)
Overview
National Union Party of the Homeland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | NUPH or NUP (National Union Party) |
| Chairperson | Marija Torenvoa |
| Presidential Representative to the Confederal People's Assembly | Averin Martis |
| Presidential Representative to the Confederal People's Senatorium | Mario Analli |
| Founders | Martin Barasian Valleri Kreanin |
| Founded | December 13, 1993 |
| Merger of | National Unionist Party People's Homeland Front |
| Preceded by | National Unionist Party |
| Headquarters | 5108 Erana Street, Karneja, Patraja |
| Student wing | National Unionist Academics Program |
| Youth wing | Young Patrajans |
| Women's wing | National Federation of NUPH-represented Women |
| Membership (2028) | 1,312,908 |
| Ideology | National Conservatism Nationalism |
The National Union Party of the Homeland, alternatively known as the National Union Party, the National Union, or the Unionist Party, is the largest political party in Patraja, occupying the Presidency, a majority in the Senatorium, and a plurality in the Assembly. The National Union Party of the Homeland was founded in December, 1993, as a successor to the previous National Unionist Party, which had experienced a collapse in popularity. The relative refounding party was done mainly to disparage itself from more extreme, hard-edged extremist elements of the previous NUP, and also to introduce new thinkers into the leadership that may have proven unpopular be circumventing an election altogether. Amongst these new thinkers was future Patrajan president, Leonid Analli, who would serve as the longest-serving Party Leader, from 2002 to 2022, until the party leadership became, by the 2022 Restructuring Admission, associated solely with the president. The title of Party Leader was also changed to Chairperson in 2022, and the current Chairperson of the NUPH is the Patrajan President, Marija Torenvoa.
Since 2025, the NUPH has launched several sub-groups, appealing to the youth, women, and some vocal minorities, increasing its party membership from the first time since 2008 from 812,000 to the current registered amount of 1,312,908 confirmed members of the NUPH.
History
Party Origins [~1960s - 1993]
The National Unionist Party, started sometime vaguely in the Junta-era of Patrajan history, was an essentially-covert gathering of leftover Social Nationalists and Pretvists that dimmed down in both intensity and extremism over time. Upon the founding of the original NUP, it considered itself, and was considered, a neo-terrorist cell, and three or four shootings in the 1960s were attributed to alleged members, though none confessed to even the existence of the party. However, as time went on, and as military crackdowns and propaganda eventually led to a subsiding of tensions, the NUP found itself in a slow and careful shift to the mainstream. Its leadership, previously decentralized, had its first central meetings in the 1980s, as talks of the military backing away and allowing a new democratic constitution to be made emerged. This meeting, whether coincidentally around this time, or intentionally-called because of this waxing military involvement, led to the formation of "The Committee," an aptly-named congress that elected the first leader of the NUP, Karlo Valerij, sometime around the mid-80s.
However, Valerij was soon voted out. An ardent extreme Social Nationalist, he was deemed not the leader for the party's future, much to the chagrin of its older base. Instead, in 1987, Markos Martelli, a young moderate nationalist, was both invited and elected to the groups leadership as an outsider-leader, intended to coax in fresh blood and to bring the NUP slowly into the mainstream, to coincide with the implementation of a new, democratic constitution. The sudden military retreat from political life in 1988 essentially ensured that these long-term plans would need to be accelerated much quicker. The NUP made its first public debut at Provincial elections within the Federal Republic of Patraja in 1990, and were firmly rejected by the voting populace, securing only one obscure seat in the Province of Karneja, where most of their small support was located. This election, along with a failed 1991 rally that resulted in both arrests and counter-protests, led the group to consider an entirely new branding.
In 1992, Markos Martelli was deemed too extreme for the climate, and an even more moderate conservative, Martin Barasian, was brought in. At the outset, the purpose of this reelection was to essentially remake the party, and Barasian got to work quickly. Across the year, Barasian invited many moderate conservatives and nationalists to host forums and interest meetings, even successfully nabbing political upcomer Leonid Analli, to form a new party. The general structure and naming of the NUP would be used once more, and Markos Martelli would be kept as a Party Treasurer, in the new party, so as to not dissuade older members, whilst new thinkers, such as Vallei Kreanin and Analli, would be brought in to form Barasian's right-hand men. The name would be changed simply, modifying only one word and adding one more. It is important to consider that, despite its current infamy, the original NUP was still an extremely-obscure party; it was clear that Barasian figured that the respect of the older cliques was more beneficial than the absurdly-small amount of public relations problems the name would make.
On December 13, 1993, the National Unionist Party was dissolved in its entirety, and its assets, members, and other details transferred over into the new National Union Party of the Homeland several minutes later.
Early History [1993 - 2002]
The early history of the NUPH was marked by only marginal improvements in winnings. The rebranding helped, however, as in 1994 regional elections, the NUPH secured 14 seats across the south of the nation, and even managed to flip a member of Parliament towards the party. However, the largest boost to early momentum came when the republic was reformed and confederated in 1995. After the dissolution of the Federal Republic and the start of the Confederated Republic, the NUPH found a large increase in votes. In the 1998 elections, the NUPH secured several appointed subcomittee positions from political contacts in other parties, and also won 13 seats in the Assembly, and 5 in the Senatorium. This 1998 push essentially marked the NUPH as a small, but possibly tie-flipping, influence in the government. The reforms of Barasian, though slow, proved to be quite important.
However, after another win in the 2001 elections, wherein the NUPH got three more seats in the Assembly, Barasian suffered a massive stroke, reportedly caused by a mixture of stress and chronic health problems. In 2002, Martin Barasian passed away. In his place, political hopeful and then-Provincial Governor of Paulinios Leonid Analli was elected as Party Leader by the Committee, starting what many call the "Analli Era" of the party.
The Analli Era [2002 - 2022]
After his ascension to Party Leader in 2002, Leonid Analli immediately worked on further moderation of the party, eliminating the old moniker of the party congress from "The Committee" towards the "Union Committee of the Party." Along with that, Analli further de-facto exiled the last remnants of the older members, kicking out the most fervent of those believers. Many of those exiles, including and led by former Party Leader Markos Martelli, would proceed to found the Patrajan National League, an extremist political party nearly classified a terrorist organization in 2008.
In 2004, with Analli's changes, the party would reach a new high in the Assembly and Senatorium, officially having 30 Assemblymen and 12 Senators. This number put the NUPH at a firm moderately-sized party, and the hype for the group reached an all-time high, increasing the party membership tenfold until the 2007 elections. During this time, Leonid Analli quietly divorced his first wife, Maria Konsala, who would go on to become a relatively successful socialist writer in the 2010s. In a 2018 interview, shortly before her assassination, Maria would note that Analli was "entirely dedicated to the party's growth at that point" and was "neglectful beyond known extent because of it."
In 2007, the NUPH actually shrunk a little in the Assembly, down to 27 Assemblymen, but kept its general influence. The 2007 elections were marked by a general stabilization of the party into the mainstream, with the leadership beginning to more freely speak about the extremist past of the party, and in its work to fully rid itself of extremist. During this time, Leonid Analli gave the description of the party as a "thinktank, of sorts, of moderate nationalist minds interested in keeping [Patraja's] fight for independence at a forefront...considering the recent historical rarity of [Patrajan] independence, it is a political need within our nation."
In the 2009 Special Confederal Elections and the 2010 Elections, the NUPH reached its absolute peak legislative powers before Leonid Analli became President, holding 40 Assemblymen and 30 Senators. 30 Senators was, before that point, an unreached number in the Confederated Republic, and it was a deeply-held plurality within that legislative branch. The Senatorium soon became an NUPH stronghold of support, continuing its history of loyalty to the party even to the modern day.
In 2013, Leonid Analli won the race for the Presidency of Patraja, becoming both President of Patraja and President of the Patrajan Confederal Peoples Congress from 2013 to 2022. This three-term stretch would not be met until the 2028 elections, when Marija Torenvoa won the Presidency for her third term, and still has not been topped. During this era, a "Unionist Golden Age" occurred, with a significant deal of centralization both within the party and within the country. Supported by the NUPH, and by his second term, Leonid Analli became known as the elder statesman of Patraja, an aged and experienced politician in service of Patrajans since the 1980s. The public had, in literal senses, watched the man grow from an ambitious Provincial Governor to an aged President.
By 2022, with no blemishes on his record, a constant plurality in the Assembly and a majority in the Senatorium, Analli had the fervent support of what seemed like most Patrajans to pursue an unprecedented fourth term, towards a service of 12 years as President. Instead, Analli shocked the world, and the party, with the unprepared, unscripted, and sudden announcement of his Appointed Deputy-President of the Confederal Peoples Congress, Marija Torenvoa as his political and presidential successor. Three days after the announcement of a young, unheard-of, political nobody as his successor, Analli resigned as Party Leader, once more shocking the NUPH by essentially announcing his resignation from politics altogether.
With no choice but to back Analli's play, lest they risk estranging the massive support from the leader, the NUPH backed Marija Torenvoa's play for Presidency. However, unsure of how long the woman would even last, they elected Mario Analli, the nephew of Leonid Analli, and then-Senator, to the position of Party Leader. Mario Analli lasted a total of 19 days in office as Party Leader, after Leonid Analli explicitly came out of retirement to push the NUPH to total unity with his successor.
In 2022, Marija Torenvoa was then elected as the Party Leader, beginning what many theorists call the "Torenvoa Era" of the party.
The Torenvoa Era [2022 - ]
Upon the election of Marija Torenvoa to the leadership of the NUPH, along with her election to the Presidency, the NUPH soon reentered a period of ideological reorganization. Whereas civic, moderate, and conservative nationalism had dominated and been nurtured during the Analli years, Torenvoa's distinct political inclinations and political tendencies had caused her to become unusually-active within the party - sometimes more than in the Presidency. Her first action was to rename the leadership lore to the title of Chairperson, which was voted on unanimously within the inner councils of the party. Many believe this to be a primary loyalty test of those within the party. Soon after, Torenvoa began a republicanisation of the party, removing many elements of former monarchical support within the country. A new ideology, primarily called a "New Republicanism," fueled by Torenvoa's then-famed ideological novel, "Saving Republics; A Legal Perspective on Dissolution of Democracy and Formalizing Aristocracy." Marija Torenvoa has continued to serve as the Chairwoman of the NUPH from 2022 to now.