Political parties

Did you ever realize that the game has a vague system covering political parties? San Myshuno (City Living EP) introduced the Political career, which includes a lot more than just another job! Politicians need to pick their course, which means choosing one out of five political statements that they will work for. This can be based on personal interests like environment or capital, but it gets even more interesting when they are to debate a subject - then they can choose to discuss it from the RIGHT or LEFT.

If you take a closer look on the signs they wave while protesting, an object that is also found under wall decor in the buy catalog, it comes in 10 versions. There are two versions for each of those five courses! "Money for all" comes with 2 generic images, and I see them as one version for each of those two parties. It means "Money for all" can be approached and solved in two ways, depending on what party you represent.

I imagine the RIGHT fraction would say something like "Everyone should have some money, but those with financial muscles need some benefits in order to employ the poor." while the LEFT fraction might say "All should have similar possibilities in life, including equal right to ownership and earnings." I'm not going very detailed in my own game, but you get my point? Each course can be seen in different ways and the game indicates at least two political fractions - RIGHT and LEFT.

History
In my Region 12 I have 3 parties, RIGHT, LEFT and MIDDLE.

The RIGHT party is the oldest, as it can be traced all the way back to Year 41 when the King gave certain regional benefits to his five advisors who formed the Royal Chamber. Those men were high nobility, and naturally they protected their own privileges and status as they built the community.

The LEFT party was formed in Year 101, as a natural consequence of the growing number of low status workers and farmers. They initiated and lead the great SimNation wide revolution in Year 118. When the King died without any heir (for the second time), the revolutionists refused to accept a brand new royal family which they saw benefiting the higher classes, only. Without a royal family the high nobility lost most of their status, and the LEFT party revolutionists' demanded to have the Royal Chamber replaced with regional councils. They also insisted on getting rid of most nobility. The revolution did indeed result in less privileges for the nobility, but actually a higher number of low nobility peers. Shortly after the Year 120 Constitution was formed. Thirty years later there was a new King instated, but with a new state including The People Camber, the nobility never regained all their old power.

The MIDDLE party was established in Year 128 (today is Y224), it partly sprung out from the LEFT party. It is a very small party, probably because those being neutral don't care enough to get much involved with politics. However, their main focus today is an ECO-friendly environment, which seems to gain popularity.

So, this is pretty much the background of my political parties.

Party members
Most grown up residents with a clear community concern (or strong family traditions) will be a member of one of the three parties, working with politics or not. Most high nobility families still support the RIGHT party. I keep members listings that is updated only before the 5 years election. Everyone in the Politician career will be registered with one party, so will everyone who signed up for becoming a Hood Contact, whether they succeeded or not. The other members are a bit random, but I make sure there are a few of them in each world, mostly just one sim per household.

One year ahead of the Election Day, each party will pick their candidates to run for Hood Contact in as many hoods as possible. Most members might prefer just being an ordinary member, while some might be in for the Hood Contact job, only. Candidates can only get nominated in the hood where they reside. The parties might also select a few candidates to support all the way up to the Council, all parties desire to be represented where the big decisions are made. In some hoods the rivalry is tough, as several parties have strong candidates, while in other hoods one single party dominates.

Anyone running for Hood Contact or higher must pick a course, regardless of career. This builds transparency and also helps keeping extreme sims out of the Council, hopefully. I don't play the parties in detail, like I'm not arranging party meetings or election campaigns, and I don't know who is the top leader of each party. They have way more members than the club system allows for. It gets interesting how the Council is put together, though, because each Councilors' view might affect the department they are to lead. I can clearly see there would be a difference if they all supported the same party, but this far they have been mixed.

Election
My Region 12 is now entering Year 224, and because Election Day will come up on 1st day of Spring in Year 225, 1st day of Spring one year earlier is Nomination Day. The next time I enter my region the parties ought to have their list of nominees ready, and right now I'm working on those lists to make sure there will be someone signing up for Hood Contact in every hood. They don't need to be actively played sims, but I want to know their name, face, age and DNA in case they will become active households later on. Say if a non-played sim gets voted all the way to the Council, I would need to bring that character to life. Some of the current Hood Contacts (and Councilors) are elders on Nomination Day, meaning they can not go for another period. For example: Bud von Kaching representing the RIGHT party being the Upperton Hood Contact, Gloomville Councilor and administrating the Trads & Taxes Dept. needs to step back due to old age, and I have no idea how this will affect the election except that he must be replaced on all levels.

It requires a minimum of skills to get nominated (Charisma 2, Logic 2). When the voting process starts in one year there will first be found a Hood Contact for each hood. Then each district's (world's) top 2 Hood Contacts will fight it out for the district's Councilor. Finally the 3rd voting round decides the final order of the five Councilors, and the winning Councilor will be offered the Mayor position for the upcoming 5 years period, which includes assigning departments for the other 4 Council members.

During Spring and Summer the parties can adjust their lists. Candidates might pull out, but nobody are allowed to sign up after Nomination Day. Each party will form their strategy, seeing where their chances for Councilor are the bigger. They then announce their final candidates list on 1st day of Fall, that's half a year before the election. Because I play more than 70 households I find this process quite exciting.

This might sound quite tedious, but the routine works pretty well. You can check out my Year 220 election in a Reg12 NEWS Election Special (18 minutes TV-show).