Royal Reform Acts
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The Royal Reform Acts of 1952, alternatively called the 1952 amendments or simply the 1952 Reforms (colloquially), are a series of high-profile and controversial electoral, military, and intelligence reforms and constitutional amendments passed by the reconstituted Royal Knesset in Yisrael after the Year of Blood, primarily weakening the powers of the Monarchy of Yisrael and systematically reorganizing elections in Yisrael, introducing an Electoral College and a de facto two-party presidential system.
Since January 2020, King Hezekiah III invoked his emergency legal nullification reserve power to null and void the sections of the 1952 Acts restricting his royal powers and privileges. A month later in late February 2020, a Conservative-led Knesset majority formally repealed those invalidated sections, and the repeal bill was signed into law by President Yitzchok Katz. The Act provisions forcing the monarch to make President the de facto commander-in-chief of the Royal Yisraeli Defense Forces was repealed, as were limits on the King's counter-veto of presidential vetos and Knesset legislation, and led to a full restoration of royal reserve powers. Attempts by Constitutional Liberal lawmakers and liberal groups to sue to restore the provisions were blocked by the courts.
Background
Legislation
Lobbying and campaign
Bill passage
Overview of provisions
- The office of the head of government was changed from a prime ministership to a presidency.
- The election method of selecting a head of government was changed from appointment by the King to indirect election by an electoral college.
- The role of the reigning monarch as commander-in-chief was made ceremonial and the duties of the C-in-C were bestowed on the president by the Acts designating him as the military Supreme Commander, giving him de facto control over the Royal Yisraeli Defense Forces on a daily basis.
- A number of reserve powers of the monarch were curbed or eliminated.
- The power of executive veto was extended to the president and the royal veto power was restricted.
- The presidency was given term limits of two non-consecutive terms.
- The Royal Yisraeli Secret Service was abolished and its foreign and domestic intelligence mandates were given to two new successor agencies: the Royal Yisraeli Intelligence Service and the Royal Yisraeli Security Service.
- The Royal Yisraeli Armed Forces were renamed and reorganized into the Royal Yisraeli Defense Forces.
- The Royal Yisraeli Frontier Service was reorganized and militarized into the Royal Yisraeli Border Guard, and made the fourth service branch of the RYDF.