Election of 2776
When the SP lost 45 seats in the general election of 2776, party leader Margaret English came under direct attack from many within the party leadership, and they actively recruited Bauer for the position. Although English still maintained a large amount of support from the base, her inability to come to an agreement with the other parties regarding a cabinet due to her insistance on proportional representation and her feud with FAP Chairman Erik Chamberlain led her to lose a great deal of credability. This convinced Bauer to challenge her during the party conference in Kien. Despite once again being a major underdog, Bauer won the leadership contest by a confortable margin, deposing English, who left her post in disgrace and without offering her support to Bauer's leadership.
The first task, and first success, of Bauer's term came soon after his election, when he concluded an agreement with the Fascist Authority Party to form a unity cabinet with equal representation, and in the process formed a close personal relationship with Erik Chamberlain. He also moved the party towards a strong royalist position, angering many hardline socialists, but gaining significant respect among others in the Diet. In the 2779 general elections, Bauer led the party to a four seat gain in the Diet, bring their total to 110 seats, coming in with the fifth largest number of seats, but only thirty seats behind the first-place Objektivismus Partei. Following the election the party broke its informal alliance with the Christliche Liberalen Allianz, and formed a much stronger and beneficial one with the FAP.
The first task, and first success, of Bauer's term came soon after his election, when he concluded an agreement with the Fascist Authority Party to form a unity cabinet with equal representation, and in the process formed a close personal relationship with Erik Chamberlain. He also moved the party towards a strong royalist position, angering many hardline socialists, but gaining significant respect among others in the Diet. In the 2779 general elections, Bauer led the party to a four seat gain in the Diet, bring their total to 110 seats, coming in with the fifth largest number of seats, but only thirty seats behind the first-place Objektivismus Partei. Following the election the party broke its informal alliance with the Christliche Liberalen Allianz, and formed a much stronger and beneficial one with the FAP.
