United Provinces (Kylaris)

United Provinces of the Western Arucian Islands Provinces-Unies
1945–1954
Flag Coat of arms of United Provinces Coat of arms
Motto: Ever conscious of God
Anthem: In Plenty and In Time of Need
Location of the United Provinces (1946-1948)
Status	Sovereign state
Capital	Subercaseaux
Common languages	Gaullican, Estmerish, Etrurian, Chloésien Creole, Imaguan Creole
Religion	Sotirianity
Demonym(s)	Arucian
President
• 1945–1949	Lionel Hegan
• 1949–1954	Pierre Voloix
Prime Minister
• 1945–1949	Pierre Voloix
• 1953–1954	Raymond Rivière
Historical era	Great Game
• Establishment	4 May 1945
• Departure of Imagua from the United Provinces	23 April, 1948
• Dissolution	14 February 1954
Area
1948	153,505 km2 (59,269 sq mi)
Population
• 1948	4,233,970
Currency	Arucian shilling
Preceded by Succeeded by File:ImaguaColonialFlag.png Colony of Imagua Colony of Sainte-Chloé Assimas Islands Imagua File:ImaguaFlag.png Sainte-Chloé Carucere Bonaventure
Today part of	Bonaventure Carucere Imagua and the Assimas Sainte-Chloé

The United Provinces (Gaullican: Provinces-Unies), officially known as the United Provinces of the Western Arucian Islands (Gaullican: Provinces-Unies des aruciennes occidentales) was a sovereign nation and political union between the Arucian islands which form the modern-day countries of Bonaventure, Carucere, Imagua and the Assimas and Sainte-Chloé.

The United Provinces was a post-colonial entity, comprised of the former Gaullican colonies of Sainte-Chloé and Carucere, the Estmerish colony of Imagua, and the Etrurian colonies of the Assimas Islands and Bonaventura. It was formed in 1945 with the separation of the former West Arucian Gaullican colonies from the Community of Nations trusteeship of the Arucian Federation and the end of Estmerish rule over Imagua and the Assimas. It reached its height with the end of the Solarian War in 1946, when the former Etrurian possessions in the West Arucian were transfered to the Union. Imagua seceded from the provinces in 1948, while Sainte-Chloé and Carucere left in 1954.

History

Origins

In the immediate aftermath of the Great War, the Community of Nation's Trusteeship Council placed the former Gaullican colony of Sainte-Chloé under the trusteeship of the Arucian Federation, which also comprised of the islands of Parane, the Îles Émeraude and the Îles des Saints, which today are part of Satucin and Gaullica respectively.

As a mandate jointly administered between Estmere, Etruria, Halland, and Werania, the Arucian Federation was geographically split between the Western Arucian and the Eastern Arucian, which as Parane and the Îles Émeraude reverted to Satucine jurisdiction in 1940, meant that the possibility of a union between these former Gaullican possessions became unlikely.

At the same time, Estmere's colonial empire began to weaken, leading to the Colony of Imagua being given an "equal partnership" with Estmere in 1936, although Estmere still maintained some powers over Imagua. Despite Imagua effectively being a sovereign state, there were some concerns that the Colony of Imagua would not be viable as sovereign states, due to its small population in comparison with Sainte-Chloé. This led to proposals by certain Estmerish officials, most notably TBD, to incorporate Imagua with the neighbouring Sainte-Chloé, as it would not only address concerns about Imagua's viability, but also ensure Estmerish influence over the West Arucian Sea.

This led to discussions about the possibility of Imagua establishing a political union with Sainte-Chloé, particularly as many Imaguan businessmen felt that the resources present in Sainte-Chloé would help benefit the economy, while the Chloesians sought assistance in developing their industries, and most importantly, independence from the Community of Nations trusteeship.

By 1944, negotiations began in earnest, with the idea to establish a constitution and a common framework for the nascent federation. Despite some issues, these negotiations proved to be a success, particularly as Pierre Voloix and Imaguan business leaders were able to negotiate a deal that would ensure that the provinces would maintain most of the powers that they originally had, while guaranteeing official bilingualism between the Gallophones and Estmerophones.

With these negotiations a success, a constitution was drafted to help institute the agreement, while negotiations took place to allow Sainte-Chloé to leave the Asterian Federation, and for Imagua to terminate the reserve powers that Estmere still had over the country, in order to facilitate the merger into the United Provinces. These negotiations ultimately succeeded, with Estmere passing legislation in November 1944 to allow Imagua to join the United Provinces.

In March 1945, elections were held across the future United Provinces, which saw the emergence of three major political parties: the Gallophone Democratic and Labour parties, and the Estmerophone Sotirian Democratic Party, with these three parties taking the most seats. Due to the common right-wing politics of the Democratic and Sotirian Democratic Parties, the two parties formed a coalition, with Pierre Voloix chosen to be the first Prime Minister of the United Provinces.

Union

President Lionel Hegan, 1947

On 3 May, 1945, the United Provinces officially came into being, with the last Governor of Imagua, Lionel Hegan, being sworn in as the first President of the United Provinces. The coalition government between the Democratic Party and the Sotirian Democrats was instituted, with the first Prime Minister being Pierre Voloix.

Initially, the two parties cooperated, with the Arucian shilling being officially adopted, a customs union established, and an agreement made to construct a planned capital in Subercaseaux (present-day Sainte-Chloé). However, as the months progressed, fractures began to emerge between the two parties on a whole host of issues, most notably cultural and linguistic issues, which was exacerbated by the fact that in Imagua, most politicians were of Euclean origin, in contrast to the Chloésians, who were dominated by the Bahian majority.

This came to a head in 1946, when following the conclusion of the Solarian War, the Assimas Islands, which had been part of Etruria since 1814, was transferred to the United Provinces. As Imagua declared war against the Greater Solarian Republic, who governed the islands at the time, Imagua and the Sotirian Democratic Party argued that the islands should belong to it, particularly as they feared that "having an Etrurian province would reduce us Imaguans to a minority." In contrast, the Democratic Party, as well as opposition Labour and Catholic Democratic Party, argued that the Assimas should be its own province, citing linguistic and cultural differences between it and Imagua.

When the SDP threatened to break their coalition agreement and table a motion of no confidence against Voloix's government, Voloix relented and allowed the Assimas to become part of the Province of Imagua. However, this crisis led to deteriorating relations between the two governing parties, as well as the province of Imagua with the federation, which was exacerbated further by labour unions from both sides criticising the United Provinces as it currently stood.

Expulsion and later years

By 1947, it became clear that the United Provinces, as it currently stood, was no longer viable. With the Imaguan government and federal government being "at each other's throats," combined with a similar acrimonious relationship between the governing Democratic and Sotirian Democratic Parties, there was little political will remaining for the United Provinces to continue on with Imagua.

Thus, on 4 August, 1947, TBD tabled a bill to the Chamber of Commons, proposing the expulsion of the Province of Imagua from the United Provinces. With both the opposition and governing parties supporting it, it passed both the Chamber of Commons and the Legislative Council with ease, only for the President, Lionel Hegan, to veto the bill, expressing concerns that the bill could set a precedent for other provinces leaving the United Provinces, even though Hegan sought to "support the rights of my kith and kin [to leave the United Provinces]."

Per constitutional procedure, the legislation returned to Parliament, where a supermajority of legislators, including the entirety of the Imaguan delegation, voted in favour of the bill to expel Imagua. This led to the start of negotiations between the federal and provincial governments to come to an "amicable agreement" on the separation of Imagua from the United Provinces.

After coming to an agreement covering various topics, including Imagua's share of the debt and the continued usage of the Arucian shilling as its currency, Imagua officially exited the United Provinces on 23 April, 1948. With its departure, Hegan served until 1949, when Pierre Voloix succeeded him after Hegan refused to stand for a second term.

The five remaining provinces continued as members of the United Provinces, which now operated practically for Chloéois interests. Although the system worked for a time, the usage of a federal system and institutional corruption under Pierre Voloix eventually began to give rise to opposition. Under the leadership of Raymond Rivière, the Labour Party and the Catholic Demoocratic Party merged in 1953 into the Catholic Labour Party, which campaigned on a platform of constitutional and economic reform. They would take control of Parliament in the third elections of the United Provinces.

However, Voloix managed to secure the Presidency and tried to oppose the reform, but Rivière pushed hard for constitutional change with popular backing. There was very nearly a crisis; however, before tensions reached a boiling point, Voloix agreed to not interfere with the reform process and to see it through in an attempt to keep his position after the transition process. The constitution was rewritten, and the Republic of Sainte-Chloé was declared on Febuary 14th, 1954, thereby ending the United Provinces.

Politics

Government

Former parliamentary building in Subercaseaux as of 2008

The governance of the United Provinces was governed by the Constitution of the United Provinces, which made it a federation.

The head of state was the President of the United Provinces, who was elected every four years. While in theory, the President wielded extensive powers, these were tempered by the fact that the head of government, the Prime Minister was required to advise the President before the President could act, which effectively curtailed the President's independent authority.

The Prime Minister came from the bicameral Parliament, which was divided into two chambers. The Legislative Council, whose members were appointed by the President and served for life. The lower house, the popularly elected 49-member Chamber of Commons, served for four years alongside the President and were based on the population of each province. The Prime Minister was a member of this house.

The judicial system was based off of the common law system, in particular using the Imaguan legal system as a basis for the United Province's legal system. This led to the Federal Supreme Court being the highest court in the federation.

Per the constitution, the federal government had powers over defence, foreign relations, immigration, and monetary affairs, as well as the federal capital, Subercaseaux, while the provincial governments had all other powers.

Parliament

The size of the Legislative Council fluctuated over time. Seats in the Legislative Council were based on linguistic differences, with 13 seats allocated to Estmerophones and 12 seats to Gallophones prior to 1946, for a combined 25 seats. With the admission of Bonaventure and the Assimas in 1946, an additional 12 Etrurophone seats were added, expanding the Council to 37 seats. After the secession of Imagua in 1948, most Imaguan Estmerophone councilors resigned, but six chose to remain and were allowed in their posts for the remainder of their life. An additional Gaullican seat was added, bringing the Council's size to a temporary 29, though with a future 25 seats envisioned. By the constitutional crisis of 1953, only 4 Estmerophone Councilors were left.

By custom, the linguistic seats were divided between Provinces of the same language. According to custom, 5 Gaullophone seats were from the province of Sainte-Chloé, 3 from Carucere, 3 from Sainte-Geneviève and 1 from Trinité. When the Gaullophone seats were expanded, Sainte-Chloé gained an additional seat. The Etrurophone seats were divided, with 9 seats alotted to Bonaventura, and with 3 seats allotted the Assmimas Islands as part of Imagua.

The Chamber of Commons began with 49 seats. With the former Etrurian colonial expansion of 1946, 16 seats were added to the Chamber, brining the chamber up to 65 members. After the Imaguan seccession, the districts were readjusted and the Commons returned to 49 seats for the 1949 elections.

Administrative divisions

The United Provinces was into five or six provinces, each with extensive powers per the constitution.

Provinces of the West Arucian Islands

Province		Capital	Union		Population			Land area in km2	Chamber of Commons Seats
			Admission	Departure	1945	1946	1949		1945	1946†	1949/53
Bonaventure	BV	Sermoni	Oct 17, 1946	Jan 1, 1956	N/A	1,569,255	1,678,233	40,015.36	N/A	14	16
Carucere	CA	Carrefour	May 4, 1945	Feb 14, 1954	248,619	253,450	263,292	8,165.51	3	N/A	3
Imagua	IA	Cuanstad	May 4, 1945	Apr 23, 1948	936,918	1,198,513	N/A	24,494.7	11	2	N/A
Sainte-Chloé	SC	Port de la Sainte	May 4, 1945	Feb 14, 1954	2,455,834	2,473,633	2,535,031	56,824.44	27	N/A	23
Sainte-Geneviève	SG	Sainte Geneviève	May 4, 1945	Feb 14, 1954	543,252	556,465	584,353	6,522.88	6	N/A	5
Trinité	TR	Citadelle	May 4, 1945	Feb 14, 1954	203,766	204,902	207,619	1,630.6	2	N/A	2

†These represent the division of the 16 additional seats from the 1946 special election after the addition of the Assimas and Bonaventura.