Washington

- A number of American politicians announced the launch of a political party in order to become a "third major party" in American political life;

Relying on attracting millions of voters who say they resent what they see as America's dysfunctional two-party system.

The new "Forward" party will be headed by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey.

The announcement of a number of former Republican and Democratic officials to establish a new party in the United States represents a not new step in its historical context, as the United States is filled with dozens of political parties, but the world knows only of them the Democratic and Republican parties.

The two parties have controlled American politics since the official establishment of the American state in 1776, and the presence of multiple political parties did not represent a major challenge to the two main parties, which continued their control of the White House and both houses of Congress over the past decades.

Difficult obstacles... can they be overcome?

It is hard to imagine a third party representative playing a serious competitive role in the 2024 presidential race, let alone winning a reasonable percentage of the American vote.

The reason for this is due to the dominance of the two major parties on political life with their financial, media, research and intellectual tools, which took decades to become firmly established and become more powerful.

No candidate from outside the two major parties has ever played a prominent electoral role, with the exception of candidate Ross Perot in 1992, when he received 19% of the vote.

The presidential elections usually witness the presence of candidates, as well as the candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties, and the most important of these parties are the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and a number of other small parties, and the candidates of other parties receive less than 1.5%, and they have never played a role decisive in challenging the identity of the winning president.

Third party candidates distinguish the ability to tweet outside the traditional American political discourse, where there is ample space for direct and frank talk, and third party candidates take advantage of the feeling of a significant proportion of American citizens of exclusion, political isolation and mistrust of the political system or its political symbols.

Congress building in Washington (French)

Lots of difficulties on the way

At the same time, candidates of other parties face great difficulties in accessing the media during election campaigns. Either the candidate is wealthy and uses his own wealth to purchase the necessary media space to publicize and present his electoral platform (the case of Ross Perot), or is famous enough to allow him to use His influence and personal relations with the media, or he remains in a vicious circle that does not lead to any result, as their lack of media coverage leads to their weak ability to compete.

Candidates of other parties are also not allowed to participate in television debates because they did not pass the conditions and rules regulating those debates, which are rules and conditions set by the sponsors and supervisors of those debates from both parties.

It is natural that the two major parties do not want any other competitor to participate in the debates, and that the candidates of the two major parties threaten to withdraw from the electoral debates if the candidates of the other parties are allowed to participate in them.

New party strategy

Party leaders will hold a series of events in 20 cities this fall to launch its platform and attract popular support. The party will begin organizing popular events to familiarize citizens with it;

It begins with a huge launch party in Houston, Texas, on September 24, with the party holding its first national convention in a major American city next summer.

The formation of the new party came through the merger of three political groups that emerged in recent years as a response to the increasing polarization within the American political system.

New party leaders cite frequent opinion polls that confirm that a majority of voters see a great need for a third political party.

The new party includes 3 movements, namely: the “America Renewal Movement” formed in 2021 by dozens of former officials in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and the “Forward Party” founded by Yang after leaving the Democratic Party in 2021 and becoming Independent, and the "Serve America" ​​movement, a group of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

The foundation of the new party is based mainly on "giving Americans more choices in elections, more confidence in themselves, and more participation in building their future," and the party defined itself as a "centrist party."

An opportunity is available .. can it be seized?

The party does not know clear political positions so far, but the composition of its leaders indicates a middle trend between the left of the Democratic Party and the right of the Republican Party.

Public reaction on Twitter was swift, and many Democrats on the social media platform feared the new party would pull more votes away from Democrats.

The "Forward" party aims to participate in the presidential and congressional elections in 2024, after completing the registration procedures in the 50 states, as well as the capital (Washington).

It aims to present candidates for local races as a preliminary step;

Such as elections for school boards, city councils, and the local state Congress, all the way to Congress and elections to the White House.