Grand Chancellor of Tevitheim

Grand Chancellor of Tevitheim
Tevitheims Storkanslar
Standard of the Grand Chancellor
Incumbent Daniel Bylund since 8 April 2019
Style	Herr Storkanslar (male) Fru Storkanslar (female)
Type	Head of Government
Member of	Cabinet
Appointer	Electoral Council or by succession
Term length	6 years, non-renewable
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Tevitheim
Formation	11 July 1959 (1959-07-11)
First holder	Jens Vealund
Succession	Vice Chancellor
Salary	ᵹ5,000,000

The Grand Chancellor of Tevitheim (Tronder: Tevitheims Storkanslar) is the head of government of Tevitheim. Under the 1959 Constitution, the grand chancellor heads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander in chief of the Tevitheimer Armed Forces. The current grand chancellor is Daniel Bylund, who won election in the 2019 election. His term will expire on 8 April, 2025.

The grand chancellor is elected de jure indirectly through the Electoral Council to a single six-year term, along with the vice chancellor. However, the Popular Vote Agreement (PSA) means that grand chancellors are de facto elected by popular vote. Under the terms of the Tevitheimer constitution, ratified in 1959, no person who has been elected to a chancellery term may be elected to a second. In addition, vice chancellors have become grand chancellors by virtue of a grand chancellors's intra-term death or resignation and who serve more than 3 years as grand chancellor are prohibited from running for a term in their own right. In all, twelve individuals have served a total of eleven six-year terms. The longest serving grand chancellor was Wade Mannerheim, who served an elongated term due to the Third Great War and the cancellation of the 1983 elections.

The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law and the responsibility to appoint federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers. Based on constitutional provisions empowering the grand chancellor to appoint and receive ambassadors and conclude treaties with foreign powers, and on subsequent laws enacted by the Alnating, the grand chancellor has primary responsibility for conducting foreign policy. The grand chancellor also plays a leading role in the federal legislative and domestic policymaking process. As part of the system of separation of powers, the grand chancellor wields a veto power over federal legislation. In addition, as the leaders of their political parties, policymaking is shaped by the outcome of chancellery elections. The grand chancellor may also affect policymaking through executive orders, agency regulations, and appointments to the civil service.

As the leader of the world's fourth largest economy and one of the most powerful militaries on the planet, the grand chancellor possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power.

History

The position of grand chancellor did not exist prior to 1959. The title of chancellor has a long history in Tevitheim as a government official aiding in the administration of the state's affairs. Chancellors often held positions comparable to secretaries and ministers in other countries, with chancellor being made the official title of Tevitheim's cabinet officials after independence.

In 1959, with Tevitheim's new constitution, a position for head of government was needed. Intended originally to control the civil service and be a senior leader of the Cabinet, titles such as "first chancellor", "chief chancellor", or "chancellor-president" were suggested alongside the title of grand chancellor. Eventually, the title of grand chancellor was selected for the head of government. The position became official with the election of Jens Vealund on 29 September, 1959.

Constitutional Powers

As a republic with a presidential executive, Tevitheim grants significant powers to the grand chancellor, who effectively controls the executive branch, represents the country abroad, and appoints the cabinet and, with the approval of the Alnating, the judges for the High Court. The grand chancellor is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Grand Chancellors in Tevitheim have significant lawmaking powers, exercised either by proposing laws to the Alnating or by using executive decrees, an instrument with the force of law that the grand chancellor can enact in cases of urgency and necessity except to make changes to some areas of law (provisional measures cannot conflict with current law and expire after 50 days). A provisional measure comes into effect immediately, before the Alnating votes on it, and remains in force for up to 50 days unless the Alnating votes to rescind it. The 50-day period can be extended once by another 50 days. If the Alnating, on the other hand, votes to approve the provisional measure, it becomes an actual law, with changes decided by the legislative branch. The provisional measure expires at the end of the 50-day period (or the 100-day, in the case of extension), or sooner, if rejected by either the Alnating or is struck down by the High Court.

The current Constitution of Tevitheim determines that the grand chancellor has the power to

1. appoint and dismiss the ministers of state;
2. exercise, with the assistance of the ministers of state, the higher management of the federal administration;
3. initiate the legislative procedure, in the manner and in the cases set forth in the Constitution;
4. sanction, promulgate, and order the publication of laws, as well as issue decrees and regulations for the true enforcement thereof;
5. veto bills, wholly or in part;
6. provide, by means of decree, on organization and structure of federal administration if there is neither increase of expenses nor creation or extinction of public agencies; and extinction of offices or positions, when vacant;
7. maintain relations with foreign States and to accredit their diplomatic representatives;
8. conclude international treaties, conventions and acts, subject to the ratification of the Alnating;
9. decree the state of defense and the state of siege, in accordance with the constitutional procedures that precede and authorize those emergency decrees;
10. decree and enforce federal intervention, in accordance with the constitutional procedures that precede and authorize such exceptional action;
11. upon the opening of the legislative session, send a government message and plan to the Senate, describing the state of the nation and requesting the actions he deems necessary;
12. at least once a year the grand chancellor must hold a conclave of representatives for the jarldoms, send a government message and plan to them, and seek their support for actions he deems necessary;
13. grant pardons and reduce sentences, after hearing the entities instituted by law, if necessary;
14. exercise the supreme command of the armed forces, appoint the commanders of navy, army and air force, promote general officers and to appoint them to the offices held exclusively by them;
15. appoint, after approval by the Alnating, the Justices of the High Court and those of the superior courts, the Governors of the territories, the Prosecutor General of the United Jarldoms, the president and the directors of the Central Bank and other civil servants, when established by law;
16. appoint judges in the events established by this constitution and the Attorney General of the Union;
17. award decorations and honorary distinctions;
18. permit, in the cases set forth by supplementary law, foreign forces to pass through the national territory, or to remain temporarily therein;
19. submit to the Alnating the pluriannual plan, the bill of budgetary directives and the budget proposals set forth in this constitution;
20. render, each year, accounts to the Alnating concerning the previous fiscal year, within sixty days of the opening of the legislative session;
21. fill and abolish federal government positions, as set forth by law;
22. issue provisional measures, with force of law;
23. perform other duties set forth in the constitution.

Term of Office

Election

The Tevitheimer Constitution of 1959 outlines several requirements for the grand chancellor. In order to run, a candidate must be a citizen of Tevitheim, no older than 70 years of age but no younger than 35 on the day of their inauguration, a resident of Tevitheim, in full exercise of their electoral rights, and a registered voter. In addition, grand chancellors may not be elected as residents from the jarldom of their immediate predecessor, and their vice chancellor must be from a different jarldom than the grand chancellor.

Nominees for grand chancellor are commonly nominated at party conventions, which usually take place in March to June the same year of the election. Typically, the party's candidate for grand chancellor is selected through a brokered convention with party elders and members selecting the nominee. After nomination, the candidate chooses a nominee for vice chancellor, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention. Each of the major party nominees begins campaigning in early December, with the election to be held in early February.

Formally, the grand chancellor is elected indirectly by the voters of each jarldom and the territories through the Electoral Council, a body of electors formed every six years for the sole purpose of electing the grand chancellor and vice chancellor to concurrent six-year terms. Each jarldom is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation to the Alnating. Additionally, the territories are counted as a single collective jarldom for the purposes of elections to both the Alnating and for the grand chancellor. All jarldoms select their electors by popular election. In seven jarldoms the electors are distributed in proportion to their share of the popular vote. In seven more and the territories, the jarldoms select their electors by Alnating districts. Two jarldoms use a winner-take all system system, with the winner of the jarldom popular vote winning all electoral votes. One jarldom Devold, uses a mixed system where premier, electorate, and jarldom legislature all elect their own slate of electors. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the electors then the top two will move to a second round held two weeks later, with a majority of electoral votes required but through a winner take all system. If a tie happens at this stage, the vote is decided by the Alnating.

However, after the 1995 election, which saw Aleksander Goreson lose the popular vote yet win the electoral vote. While attempts to amend the Constitution failed, an agreement between several jarldoms made it so that the winner of the popular vote would receive all electoral votes from those jarldoms. Effectively, the second round of Tevitheim's grand chancellery election is done by popular vote. However, it is still technically possible for a candidate to win the electoral vote but lose the popular vote, but current methods of distribution of votes and a fractured political scene means it is practically impossible.

The grand chancellor serves for a term of six years and cannot be re-elected. If a person serves more than three years of a term begun by another person then that shall count as a full term. A sitting grand chancellor (or executive of a jarldom, governor of a territory, or as mayor) who wishes to run for a different office, regardless of the intended jurisdiction or branch of government, must resign from office at least one week after election day if they win.

Removal

The grand chancellor may be removed from office using one of four procedures. During removal proceedings, the grand chancellor is suspended from exercising the functions of office for up to 180 days. In the first two procedures to remove a grand chancellor, at least three fifths of the Alnating must accept charges against the officeholder (impeachment); and if the Alnating accepts the investigation, a trial will be held. In the case of "common criminal offenses", the trial takes place among all the justices of the High Court, with at least three fifths (currently 27 justices) needed to convict and remove the grand chancellor. In the case of "crimes of a serious nature", which must fall into one of eight broad areas, defined by law, the Alnating will be the jury and a two thirds vote will be required to convict:

1. The existence of the United Jarldoms
2. The sovereignty of a constituent jarldom
3. The free exercise of the Legislative Power, the Judicial Power, the Public Prosecution and the constitutional Powers of the units of the United Jarldoms
4. The exercise of political, individual and social rights
5. The internal security of the country
6. Probity in the administration
7. The budgetary law
8. Compliance with the laws and with court decisions

The latter two procedures do not begin in the Alnating. Instead, if three fifths of the constituent jarldoms (currently 12 of 19, as territories have half a vote) declare that the grand chancellor committed a crime of a serious nature, the Alnating is instead forced to accept the charges regardless and hold a trial. In addition, the threshold is lowered to 55% of members, rather than two thirds majority. The fourth and final procedure is identical to the previous one, but if the decision of the constituent jarldoms is near-unanimous (currently defined as 16 of 19 jarldoms agreeing) the grand chancellor is removed from office immediately. Only the third method has ever been used to remove a grand chancellor.

Regardless of the procedure to reach trial, during any trial for crimes of a serious nature the chief minister exercises executive power. If the trial does not result in a conviction within 180 days, the grand chancellor resumes office; a conviction results in removal from office and succession by the vice chancellor. If there is no vice chancellor, the most senior officer of the Alnating, usually the secretary, will act as grand chancellor until the next election. An emergency election will be held if the next election is more than 2 years away, otherwise the acting grand chancellor will serve out the rest of the term.

Only one grand chancellor, Olaf Duraksen, has ever been removed from office. Duraksen was removed due to the Constitutional Party vote-buying scandal where it emerged that Duraksen had bribed members of the Constitutional Party's national convention in order to secure votes for a proposed constitutional amendment, with the bribes being paid from federal funds. The scandal resulted in 14 jarldoms declaring that Duraksen had committed a crime of a serious nature, the Alnating was forced to accept charges, and the 55% threshold was reached. As the vice chancellor, Teo Norens, had resigned due to a stroke and was never replaced, Secretary of the Alnating Aud Tangen was sworn in as acting grand chancellor for the last 16 months of Duraksen's term.

The Alnating may, after a general election has passed, remove a grand chancellor's rights to his pension and other benefits if he was removed from office by either the Alnating or constituent jarldoms.

List of Grand Chancellors

  Social Union   Republican   Liberal Democratic   Progressive-Greens   Coalition for National Unity

Portrait		Grand Chancellor (Birth–Death)	Term		Party	Jarldom	Election	Vice Chancellor
1		Jens Vealund (1898–1975)	3 November 1959	15 March 1965	Social Union	Jomfra	1959	Aleksander Rasmussen
			5 years and 132 days
2		Aleksander Rasmussen (1920–2001)	15 March 1965	15 March 1971	Social Union	New Tremblant	1965	Edward Shillings
			6 years and 0 days
3		Håvard Uzhtank (1903–1975)	15 March 1971	6 January 1975	Republican	Ditka	1971	Rolf Ersland
			3 years and 297 days
4		Rolf Ersland (1919–2006)	6 January 1975	21 March 1977	Republican	New Tremblant	-	Jakob Genscher
			2 years and 74 days
5		Axel Anderson (1917–1981)	21 March 1977	14 May 1981	Social Union	Ilbahar	1977	Vilhelm Vinersen
			4 years and 52 days
6		Wade Mannerheim (1921–1999)	17 May 1981	20 March 1989	Social Union	Rookeryet	-	Ezio DiFrihavn (After 9 August 1981)
			7 years and 307 days
7		James Clinton (1920–2006)	20 March 1989	20 March 1995	Social Union	Gulkystheim	1989	Jonas Støre
			6 years and 0 days
8		Aleksander Goreson (1922–2024)	20 March 1995	19 March 2001	Republican	New Hammerfest	1995	Joakim Sunde
			5 years and 364 days
9		Paal Zhang (1948–)	19 March 2001	19 March 2007	Liberal Democratic	Eldegard	2001	Aslak Nordby
			6 years and 0 days
10		Olaf Duraksen (1951–)	19 March 2007	11 July 2011	Republican	Hellighjerte	2007	Teo Norens (Until 6 May 2012)
			4 years and 114 days
11		Aud Raimundo (1960–)	11 July 2011	8 April 2019	Progressive-Greens	Ditka	2013	Mikkel Landser (After 8 August 2012)
			7 years and 271 days
12		Daniel Bylund (1957–)	8 April 2019	Incumbent	Social Union	Rookeryet	2019	Abjørn Guche
			5 years and 232 days