President of Alsland

President of the United Provinces of Alsland
Foarsitter fan de Feriene Provinsjes Aalslân Präsident der Vereinigten Provinzen von Aalslanden Foresitter af þe Gadorsċiras af Ẹlsland Alsmaa Ühendatud Provintside President
Incumbent Hepke Veltman since 25 April 2020
Style	His Excellency (in international relations only)
Status	Head of State
Residence	Mareikehûs (Yndyk)
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Siemen Hartmann
Formation	31 October 1919
Salary	€100,000 annually
Website	www.foarsitter.as

The President of the United Provinces of Alsland (Dellish: Foarsitter fan de Feriene Provinsjes Aalslân, Martish: Alsmaa Ühendatud Provintside President) is the head of state of Alsland. According to the Constitution of Alsland, the President of Alsland represents the country in internationally and is the commander-in-chief of the Definsjemacht. Direct elections for the position of President are held every four years unless if the office of President becomes vacant, in which case a successor is to be elected within 70 days to serve the remainder of the prior President's term. During this period the constitution stipulates that the Premier immediately vacates their office to become acting President.

Historically there were no term limits for the Presidency, although term limits were introduced in 1999 following the addition of Articles 102, 103 and 104 to the constitution which limits the President to three full terms in the office and limited the President's power to represent Alsland in the Euclean Community which was transferred to the Premier. Article 104 prevented the President from being able to dismiss the Premier without consulting the Folkssenaat as had happened in 1996.

The current President, Hepke Veltman, was elected in 2020 after succeeding Rita Rebane.

Selection process

Eligibility

A Presidential candidate must be a citizen of Alsland who is at least 30 years old, has resided within Alsland for the last 10 years and doesn't currently hold any foreign citizenship. A Presidential candidate must also have gained at least 70,000 signatures of registered voters or any Alslandic citizen who is 16 or over or have been nominated by any political party with Federal or Provincial representation.

Historically, a candidate must have been a member of the Folkssenaat to be eligible for the Presidency however this was removed after the 1937 Constitution was adopted. A candidate also had to have served in the Alslandic Armed Forces to be eligible, Senators who served in the Kirenian Army before Alslandic Independence such as Villem Mand and Siemen Hartmann were also eligible for the Presidency before the adoption of the 1937 constitution removed this criteria.

Election

Candidates in a Presidential Election can be nominated by any political party with Federal or Provincial representation in the most recent election. A candidate can also be nominated if they receive 70,000 registered voters. Direct elections for the Presidency were introduced in 1940, previously the President was appointed by Senators and needed a plurality of Senators to vote for them to be appointed. If no nominated candidate can secure a majority in the election, a second round will be held between the two candidates with the most votes. The candidate that secures the most votes in the second round is elected as President. If a candidate withdraws during the second round, the other candidate is the winner by default. If only one candidate is nominated they will become President without an election being held. This has only occurred once when in 1940 when Villem Mand was declared winner by default after no other nominees were put forward.

Article 105 of the Constitution also allows for the possibility of a recall election against the President if 15% of the electorate from the previous election sign a formal petition to call an election. As of 2023, there has yet to be a successful recall petition although several have been launched but failed to pass the 15% threshold.
Results of the 2020 presidential election:

Candidate		Party		1st round 1 March 2020		2nd round 21 March 2020
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Hepke Veltman	National Bloc–Progressives	NB	1,922,877	31.5	3,070,499	50.3
	Sjearp Groeneveld	Green - Alternative Choice	GAK	927,864	15.2	3,033,873	49.7
	Suwert Jorritsma	Humanist Sotirian Union	HSU	915,655	15.0
	Aarnt Oosterhof	Liveable Alsland	LA	763,046	12.5
	Andrys de Graaf	SDAP–ASAY	SDAP	659,272	10.8
	Lydia Sirel	Future.as	T.as	598,228	9.8
	Johann Heslinga	Heslinga List	HL	225,861	3.7
	Feliks Kangur	Community 2000	C2000	91,565	1.5

Inauguration

The President-elect, along with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Speaker of the Folkssenaat and the outgoing President assumes office on the 25th of April by taking the Presidential oath in the Chamber of the Folkssenaat in a language of their choice, it is tradition however to take the oath in both Dellish and Kirenian as every President has since 1952.

"I, (First Name, Surname) elected by the people of the Federal Republic of Alsland as President of Alsland, hereby affirm my duties as stated in the constitution to uphold the Constitution of the Republic and the Laws of the Republic, and to work for the wellbeing of the citizens of the Alslandic state."

The term of the President-Elect begins after the swearing in, usually at mid-day. Following the inauguration the new President will deliver a speech to a session of the Folkssenaat before then being accompanied to inspect a guard of honour outside the Folkssenaat building. This is usually followed by a ceremonial wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier in Yndyk to commemorate those who gave their lives in the defence of Alsland.

Duties and functions

Foreign relations

Hepke Veltman in Estmere in 2019

Political affiliation

Most Alslandic Presidents are members of a political party and many have been former or current leaders or high ranking members of a party. The only exceptions to this were Tys Jonker between 1950-1960, Jimte Gorter who was appointed President following the death of X and served from 1989-1990 and Gwen Ritter who was appointed as President following the resignation and served between 2008-2010.

Efforts have been made to make the Presidency a non-partisan position but all attempts have failed due to a lack of support and interest. The Presidency was intended to become a non-partisan position following the Liberation of Alsland but President Liuwke Talsma and Premier Villem Mand both objected to the proposal which subsequently was not included in the 1937 Constitution.

Succession

The current Speaker of the Folkssenaat is Arved Levandi.

There is no office of Vice-President in Alsland, instead the Premier of Alsland is designated as the official deputy of the President. If the office of President becomes vacant through resignation, death, illness or impeachment the Premier will become President and will serve the until a new election is held although they are unable to stand in this election or until they are able to fulfil their constitutional duties. This has happened three times since the independence of Alsland, firstly after the removal of Siemen Hartmann from office in 1921. Secondly, following the death of Sotiro Kivi in office when Albert Kass became acting President and finally after the impeachment of Viljo Soosaar when Vinzent Teller served as acting Premier.

A President may temporarily hand over powers to the Speaker of the Folkssenaat. This has several times, the first being during the Gaullican invasion of Alsland after the fall of Yndyk when Mario Alver temporarily handed his powers to Ralph Bärwald who had been able to escape the city. Bärwald transferred power back to Alver the following day and both would serve a collaborationist government. The most recent instance of this was in 2020 when President Hepke Veltman delegated his powers to Arved Levandi whilst he was undergoing surgery after Veltman was injured after crashing his bicycle into a pedestrian in a public park in Yndyk.

Impeachment and removal

While in office, the president is not immune to prosecution. The only mechanism for a President to be removed from office by the Folkssenaat is by impeachment for any perceived act of breaking Alslandic law. In the event of a vote of impeachment, a session of the Folkssenaat will occur and all members must vote whether to remove the President from Office or to vote to keep a President in office. A 2/3rds majority is needed to impeach a President. If this is reached a President will be impeached and ineligible to run for any political office in Alsland unless the motion of impeachment is repealed by an act of the Folkssenaat. The impeachment case will then be passed onto the Alslandic supreme court which will decide if a President should be removed from office. If a majority on the supreme court decide to remove a President from office they will be removed immediately and the Speaker of the Folkssenaat will become President until the next election.

Attempts at impeachment have occurred historically although only one has been officially successful. A disputed impeachment motion was passed by the Alslandic government in exile against Mario Alver and was successful with all the escaped deputies voting in favour, the Presidency was left vacant officially until new elections could be held. The impeachment of Alver has been disputed as some claim that Alver's position was invalid after he designated power to Ralph Bärwald during the fall of Yndyk. The only legally binding impeachment of a sitting President occurred in 2006 against Viljo Soosaar. 162 out of 201 Senators voted in favour of impeaching Soosaar and the Supreme Court agreed to remove Soosaar from office. He was succeeded by then Premier Vinzent Teller until new elections were held.

Presidential office and symbols

Transportation

The Alslandic Government use a modified Airbus A319 for official government flights

List of presidents

No	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Took office	Left office	Political party	Affiliation/Notes
1		Siemen Hartmann (born 1932)	1920	11 March 1919	25 November 1921	Dellish Peoples' Party	As interim head of the Provisional Government of Delland.
2		Erlend Peetre (born 1932)	1922 1924	25 November 1921	25 April 1928	Dellish Peoples' Party	Acting President until 7 February 1922.
3		Mario Alver (born 1932)	1928	25 April 1928	13 December 1929	National Bloc	Continued to serve as President of a collaboration government until 1931.
Position of President vacant from 13 December 1929 until 25 April 1938 according to the Government of Alsland in exile. Villem Mand de-facto President from 1930.
4		Thiadmar Wiersma (born 1932)	1938 1942	25 April 1938	25 April 1946	National Bloc
5		Villem Mand (born 1932)	1946 1950 1954 1958	25 April 1946	25 April 1960	National Bloc	Resigned from office.
6		Fetsen Haanstra (born 1932)	1960 1964 1968	25 April 1960	25 April 1972	National Bloc
7		Pierke De Leeuw (born 1932)	1972 1976	25 April 1972	25 April 1980	National Bloc
8		Sotiro Kivi (born 1932)	1980	25 April 1980	18 November 1982	National Bloc	Died in office.
Premier of Alsland Albert Kass served as acting President from 18 November 1982 until 27 January 1983.
9		Tonnis Miedema (born 1932)	1983 1984 1988	27 January 1983	25 April 1992	National Bloc	First President to lose re-election
10		Kevin Kaljurand (born 1932)	1992	25 April 1992	25 April 1996	Social Democratic Workers' Party	First President to not be a member of the National Bloc or it's predecessor parties.
11		Taapke Kramer (born 1932)	1996	25 April 1996	25 April 2000	Democratic Party
12		Steffen Hauke (born 1932)	2000	25 April 2000	25 April 2004	National Bloc
13		Viljo Soosaar (born 1932)	2004	25 April 2004	14 July 2006	Democratic Party	Impeached and removed from office.
Premier of Alsland Vinzent Teller served as acting President from 14 July until 7 October.
14		Rita Rebane (born 1932)	2006 2008 2012 2016	7 October 2006	25 April 2020	Community 2000	First female President of Alsland.
15		Hepke Veltman (born 1932)	2020	25 April 2020	Incumbent	National Bloc