First Deputy of Meronnia

First Deputy of Meronnia
Premier Député de la République
Incumbent Maximilien Sardou since 17 March 2013
Executive branch
Style	First Deputy (informal) His/Her Excellency (international correspondence)
Status	Head of Government
Member of	Chamber of Deputies Council of Government
Residence	Palais Gouvernment
Seat	Senone, Meronnia
Nominator	Political Parties
Appointer	President of Meronnia
Term length	Indeterminate ("At the Chamber's Pleasure")
Constituting instrument	Constitutional Amendment 1822
Precursor	Captain of the Chamber
Formation	2nd October 1822
Salary	L279,000 annually

The First Deputy of Meronnia is the head of government of Meronnia. The current First Deputy is Maximilien Sardou, since 17 March 2013.

The First Deputy (informally abbreviated to FD) ranks as the most senior government secretary. They are responsible for chairing meetings of the Council of Government, allocating posts to Federal Secretaries within the government, acting as the spokesperson for the government, and providing advice to the President of Meronnia.

The existence of the office is stipulated in the Constitutional Amendment of 1822, wherein the role was first introduced. It replaced the previous position of Captain of the Chamber which was broadly less powerful.

History

The Chamber of Deputies, created in an Institutional Act in 1799, was originally led by a position called the Captain of the Chamber which commanded the confidence of the chamber, and sat in (but did not lead) the Council of Government. In 1822, amendments replaced this position with the new role of First Deputy with significantly expanded authority, including chairing the Council of Government and appointing Secretaries to the Federal Bureaus.

Since the 1822 creation of the role there has been little formal change to the role and its responsibilities, though in recent years convention has started to afford the First Deputy greater authority over Meronnian foreign affairs policy, due to successive Presidents following the lead of the sitting government.

Responsibilities

The First Deputy is Meronnia's Head of Government. Constitutionally, their role is to "direct the actions of the Government", giving them broad authority to determine policies undertaken by their administration. The First Deputy appoints and may remove at any time the Secretaries of the Federal Bureaus, and chairs the Council of Government which functions similarly to an executive cabinet in many nations.

The Council of Government may, at the direction of the First Deputy, adopt and enact Lois Essentielles, executive acts which take immediate effect. These acts can not contradict or amend any existing legislation, but otherwise have few legal limitations. They can be repealed by a simple majority vote of the Chamber of Deputies, and must also come with a stated length of enactment, after which they are immediately repealed; some Lois Essentielles (for example the declaration of a Federal Emergency) may be granted "Indeterminate" lengths of enactment, effectively avoiding this automatic repeal process.

The First Deputy is, by definition, the leader of the coalition commanding the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies, so they have significant ability to determine the legislation passed by that chamber. First Deputies are not necessarily the administrative heads of their respective political parties, most First Deputies tend to have significant authority in their party, for example on the determination of electoral lists.

Election

Following the Proportional Party List elections for the Chamber of Deputies, which typically occur once every four years, a period of negotiations takes place as parties represented in the Chamber organize into coalitions. If a coalition forms which holds a majority of seats in the chamber, the Chamber Leader of the largest party in that coalition automatically becomes the First Deputy. If not, a vote of confidence must be held to confirm the leader of the largest coalition as First Deputy. If neither the largest or second largest coalitions can gain the confidence of a majority in the Chamber, a new election must be held; this has never occurred but nearly was invoked several times, most prominently following the 2007 Election which forced Faction Radicale and Faction Liberale to form a government together.

List of First Deputies

N°	Portrait	Name	Term of Office	Political Party
1		Godefroy Marchal	15 November 1823 - 15 November 1827	Independent
2		Armel Pascal	15 November 1827 - 10 November 1835	Independent
3		Noel Boulanger	10 November 1835 - 19 November 1851	Independent
4		Bertrand Crozier	19 November 1851 - 12 November 1859	Faction Radicale
5		Marian Blanchard	12 November 1859 - 15 November 1863	Faction Liberale
6		Jean Trintignat	15 November 1863 - 17 November 1867	Faction Radicale
7		Marian Blanchard	17 November 1867 - 2 March 1869	Faction Liberale
8		Adolphe Rouzet	2 March 1869 - 11 November 1875	Faction Liberale
9		Valentin Barbier	11 November 1875 - 14 November 1887	Faction Radicale
10		Gérôme Picard	14 November 1887 - 16 November 1899	Faction Liberale
11		Cyrille Pernet	16 November 1899 - 13 November 1907	Faction Radicale
12		Pierre-Marie Jaubert	13 November 1907 - 15 November 1923	Faction Liberale / Radical Liberals
13		Roland Bozonnet	15 November 1923 - 17 November 1927	Parti Socialiste
14		Pierre-Marie Jaubert	17 November 1927 - 17 November 1931	Faction Liberale
15		Émilien Jaccoud	17 November 1931 - 16 November 1939	Faction Radicale
16		Ludovic Crevier	16 November 1939 - 14 November 1943	Parti Conservateur
17		Yannick Desramaults	14 November 1943 - 18 November 1947	Faction Liberale
18		André Prudhomme	18 November 1947 - 16 November 1955	Faction Radicale
19		Ludovic Crevier	16 November 1955 - 16 November 1959	Parti Conservateur
20		Jean-Philippe Lahaye	16 November 1959 - 28 August 1965	Parti Pays-National
21		Carine Cortot	28 August 1965 - 13 November 1975	Faction Radicale
22		Christophe Thibault	13 November 1975 - 19 November 1979	Faction Liberale
23		Léopold Deloffre	19 November 1979 - 13 November 1987	Faction Liberale
24		Solenn Camille	13 November 1987 - 11 November 1995	Faction Radicale
25		Grégory Antegono	11 November 1995 - 7 March 2003	Faction Liberale
26		Anne-Marie Génin	16 November 2003 - 17 November 2007	Faction Radicale
27		Justin Beaux	17 November 2007 - 17 March 2013	Faction Radicale
28		Maximilien Sardou	17 March 2013 -	Faction Liberale