Joint List (Vistaraland)

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Commerce and Tradition Joint List

Gezamenlijke Lijst van Handel en Traditie
AbbreviationGLHeT
Senior ChairAllard Baas
Junior ChairCount Adelbert van Edalavia
Representatives LeaderMari Voskamp
Lords LeaderWillem Thorbecke
Founded20 December 2020; 3 years ago (2020-12-20)
Preceded byGoud-blauw politicians
HeadquartersVierbak, Verteken
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
Colours  Navy   Gold
Member parties
  • Imperial Conservative Party
  • Libertarian Party
Chamber of Representatives
266 / 1,068
Chamber of Lord-Advisors
48 / 118

The Commerce and Tradition Joint List (Vistarian: Gezamenlijke Lijst van Handel en Traditie), known commonly as the Joint List or colloquially as HeT, is a political alliance and parliamentary group in Vistaraland, representing members of the Imperial Conservative Party and Libertarian Party. While the two parties run separately in a number of key elections, including federal elections, the Joint List serves to ensure cooperation between the two parties in the formation of governments and passage of key legislative acts. In elections run utilising a single-member district model such as first-past-the-post or the additional member system, such as those for Provincial governments, candidates are chosen by the Joint List from both parties, and are listed as Joint List on the ballot.

As an alliance of the two largest parties in the nation, the Joint List holds the position of largest Vistari political grouping, far surpassing the more centre-leaning Civic Alliance. As such, the group has considerable sway and resides at the forefront of the coalition government currently holding power at a federal level. Allard Baas, who holds the position of Senior Chair of the group as an ex officio position due to leading the Imperial Conservative Party, currently holds the position of Prime Minister of Vistaraland. While the formal agreement signed between Baas and Libertarian leader Count Adelbert van Edalavia dates back only to the formation of the Imperial Parliamentary Council in 2020, cooperation between the parties date back multiple centuries - including serving together in government numerous times.

While both parties have seen continued success after the electoral reforms made in 2020, the Imperial Conservatives offer access to a wider voting base than the urban, predominantly middle-class, focused base of the Libertarians. Although not concurrent with all factions within the two parties, both agree on a number of issues as well as share many underlying philosophies which make up the modern Vistari centre-right, including a moderately-conservative approach to social issues, in which a gradual shift towards tolerance and acceptance of those with non-conforming sexual preferences and gender identities has been observed amongst the mainstream of both parties - whilst encouragement of traditional values and customs remains seen as an important role of Joint List members in government. Another key area of agreement within the group is that of a maintaining of the Vistari brand of economically-liberal doctrine seen both domestically and in Vistari foreign policy. While seen more explicitly amongst the Libertarians, modern adaptations of Alfred Wever's economic theories play a key role in the policymaking decisions of the Joint List. The ideology, referred to as New Weverism, advocates for the limitation of government intervention into the economy outside of the facilitation of foreign trade, as well as the distancing of socio-political disputes from economic relations, proposing a strictly pragmatic and amoral approach to international trade. Such a style of governing by the Joint List has seen considerable domestic and international criticism due to its part in several controversial decisions taken by the Vistari Government, including facilitating trade with Kæra'zna and signing a trade agreement with Blaskog after the nation was expulsed from the North Concordian Economic Forum due to their invasion of Syrtænzna in 2022.