National Democrat Party

The National Democrat Party, was a moderate political party in Panem from June 1928 to 1938. It broke away from the Democratic Party in 1928 in order to form a coalition government with the Liberal Party, and later joined the Centrist Alliance, before it was officially consolidated into the Centrist Party (later, Centre Party) in 1938.

Split with the Democratic Party
In March 1938, after years of party infighting, interparty conflict in the Democratic Party came to a head, when Democratic Party leader and former chancellor, Henry Sheringdon, was removed through a vote of no confidence in his leadership after he supported the minority Liberal Government's trade embargo on Sununu. Following his deposition, Sheringdon, along with fifty-one Democratic MAs broke away from the Democratic Party to form the National Democrat Party. In early July 1938, the National Democrats entered negotiations with the minority Liberal Government and, on July 18th, Liberal chancellor James Emerson resigned as chancellor and subsequently formed a majority coalition with the National Democrat Party. Subsequently, Sheringdon was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Republic, becoming the only former chancellor to hold the position of vice chancellor.

At the 1931 federal election, the National Democrats, who were largely blamed for the failure of the Sununu trade embargo, lost thirty-three seats, returning only eighteen members to the National Assembly. Following this, 8 of the National Democrat MAs defected back to the Democratic Party, which had formed a minority government.

Formation of the Centrist Alliance
At the 1936 federal election, the National Democrats entered into an alliance with the smaller moderate parties to form the Centrist Alliance. The Alliance won twenty-four seats. The success was largely a result of the participation of the New Democrats in the alliance and the capitulation of the Democratic Party. Before 1936, the other alliance parties had never managed to win more than ten seats combined. The 1936 election resulted in the Liberals as the largest party and Liberal Party leader, Alexander MacDonald, sought to form a coalition with the Alliance. However, Sheringdon, who was the effective leader of the Alliance, refused to enter coalition negotiations. MacDonald subsequently formed a minority government.

Formation of the Centrist Party
In 1938, the Alliance officially consolidated to form the Centrist Party. At the party's first conference in February 1938, the new party's constitution (predominantly authored by Sheringdon) was ratified and Sheringdon, aged 80, was officially selected as the new party's leader. At the 1940 federal election, the Centrists won thirty-three seats, becoming the third-largest party in the National Assembly.

At the 1951 Centrist Party conference, Sheringdon, aged 93, stood down as leader and the party's constitution was revised. These revisions included the renaming of the party to the Centre Party and the merger with the Lancastrian Moderate Party, forming the modern Centre Party.