Party Leadership
Every party has two leadership layers: national (chair, vice chair, treasurer) and state (chair, vice chair, treasurer per state). Leadership roles unlock party actions, whip authority over NPPs, and control over the party treasury.
Leadership Roles
National Party
| Role | Field | Powers |
|---|---|---|
| Chair | chairId on PoliticalParty | Form coalitions, issue national whip directives, create party, recruit NPPs nationally |
| Vice Chair | viceChairId | Assist chair, issue national whip directives in chair's absence |
| Treasurer | treasurerId | Manage national treasury, set national tax rate |
State Party
| Role | Field | Powers |
|---|---|---|
| State Chair | chairId on StatePartyOrg | Issue state whip directives, set GOTV/suppression/org-building budgets |
| State Vice Chair | viceChairId | Same whip powers as state chair |
| State Treasurer | treasurerId | Set state tax rate, manage state treasury budget allocations |
Leadership Elections
State party leadership elections are run through the state party election system (statePartyElections collection). Elections are held for the positions of chair, vice chair, and treasurer separately.
Who Votes
All party members in that state who are in good standing can vote. NPPs in the state do not vote in state party elections.
When They Happen
Leadership elections are triggered by:
- A seat becoming vacant (the current holder leaves the party, switches parties, or their term ends)
- An existing leader manually triggering a new election
- Turn processing detecting a vacant leadership seat
Election Duration
State party elections run for a set number of turns (set in the election's durationTurns field). Players can declare candidacy and vote during the open window. Votes can be cast once per voter; the candidate with the most votes at endTime wins.
Score Formula for State Elections
There is no automatic scoring formula for state leadership elections — it is a direct member vote. Each eligible voter casts one vote for one candidate. Majority wins; ties are broken by earlier entry.
What Leaders Can Do
Whip Authority
State chair and vice chair can issue whip directives to NPPs in their state. Directives tell NPPs how to vote on specific bills or leadership elections. NPP compliance depends on their personality:
complianceChance = (loyalty × 0.7) + ((1 − stubbornness) × 0.3)
| Loyalty | Stubbornness | Compliance Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 100% |
| 50 | 50 | 50% |
| 0 | 100 | 0% |
Whipping is free — no action cost. But each NPP can only be whipped twice per target per chamber, so choose your directives carefully.
Budget Control
Leadership sets how the state party's income is allocated across three spending buckets (set as percentage of incoming revenue):
- GOTV budget — increases voter turnout for your party's demographics
- Suppression budget — reduces turnout for targeted opposition demographics
- Org building budget — invests in party organization score growth
Only chair, vice chair, treasurer, or national chair can adjust these percentages.
NPP Influence
National chair and vice chair can spend party resources to influence NPPs in states where no player is active. State chairs and vice chairs can influence same-party NPPs in their state using party action pools and treasury.
The chairId vs chairCharacterId Distinction
This is a common point of confusion:
- PoliticalParty uses
chairId— anObjectIdpointing to aCharacterdocument - Coalition uses
chairCharacterId— also anObjectIdpointing to aCharacter, but the field name is different
Always check the actual type definition when writing code that reads leadership fields. The field names are not interchangeable.
Related
- Party Membership — Who is eligible to vote in leadership elections.
- Party Organization — What org building budget does.
- Party Actions — What the action pool funds.
- NPP Behavior — Full whip compliance mechanics.
- Coalitions — Coalition chair mechanics and succession.