Hetfold

Fourth Republic of Hetfold Hëtfold Negyedik Kozatarstag
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Vágtató szabadság" At the gallop of Liberty
Capital and	Levitzag
Official languages	Hazedgar nyelv
Recognised national languages	Hazedgar nyelv
Ethnic groups	Hazedgar
Demonym(s)	Hazedgar
Government	Unitary Parliamentary Republic
• Father of the House	Artur Karoyl
• Chairman of the General Security Committee	Milhak Ragyori
• Chairman of the General Safety Committee	Sandor Ruhako
• Chairwomen of the Venuszi Committee	Agota Nagy
Legislature	National Assembly
• Upper house	Second Chamber
• Lower house	First Chamber
Population
• Estimate	130 million
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	4.725 trillion USD
• Per capita	35,000 USD
Gini	26.8 low
HDI	0.908 very high
Currency	öntvény (ö)

The Fourth Republic of Hetfold, commonly known as Hetfold, is the most populous country of the region of the world known as Nordano-conitia, and the second largest economy of the same area. The capital and most populous city is Levitzag. It's bordered by Inaltia to the south-west and Erytheria to the south-east.

Today, Hetfold is a Unitary Parliamentary republic led by a system of Committees and Ministries. The country possess an highly developed post-industrial economy, the third largest of Nordo-Conitia, and performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, and human development.

Etymology

In Hazedgar, the "Seventh Earth", "Het Föld", which represents the modern area inhabited by the Hazedgars after their first six homes of legend. While at first a purely geographical term, it came to design the entire country after the Republican Uprising.

History

Principality of Arpazhar

Principality of Carpazhad

The settled tribes had much less invested in their clans and much more invested in their control of local groups of peasants and of the Körrod. To accommodate the much larger aristocracy and the diversity of their needs, the Prince guaranteed all Stoneborn the right to petition the court--though there was lengthy application process, fees, and wait times--and enshrined their control over the “faház,” the lower classes, by requiring that all petitions pass through the local Körrod before being heard at court if ever. To balance the power of the stoneborn over the faház, the Princes also instituted a royal judicial service under and inquisitorial system to ensure that the stoneborn were not actively damaging the stock of faház, which were almost all technically indentured to the Prince.

Avérkormánia

Prince Arubinian restored the centralized state and creates an assembly of his advisors to prevent the devolution that ultimately destroyed the Second Principality. This body is required to make decisions together and is composed of important nobles and druids. Arubinian also allowed the peasant class to come to court with petitions whenever they had accumulated an “Ezer,” which was initially set at one thousand forints, but changed over time. This was the first enfranchisement of common people outside of the stoneborns.

The monarchy is deposed and the national assembly took power under the control of the Szabolcsists. They instituted a new system that rewarded “those who enrich the nation,” which assigned representation based on contribution to the national treasury over a ten year term. Initially contributions were measured in Ezers, like the Arubinian courts, but due to the constantly increasing income of the area, the Szabolcsists implemented a strict percentage of total revenues system. Most of the country was too poor to earn full representation at the assembly, so they banded together to form “foltok” districts, which each village in the foltok taking a turn with their representative sitting in the assembly.

The monarchy was restored under Vazul with the support of important szabolcsists in the assembly. Vazul revoked the universal right to representation according to contribution and instead only allowed his officers and hand-picked scholars to publicly debate legislation, which his own council of state would draft. Another body of Vazul-approved statesmen would then vote on the legislation. It was under this system that Vazul was later appointed supreme ruler of Avérkormánia. Vazul then reformed the government and allowed anyone to come to the capital and debate his legislation if they wished, though his own council would later approve of them as he directed.

Hetfold

The monarchy was deposed under the Council of Vatha.

The Vathan reformations are rejected and the government is reformed. A key reform was between the town elders, who longed for a return to the foltok system, and the general public which had gladly participated in free and fair elections of the second republic. The foltok system was restored in part, except instead of having rotating members of the assembly, municipalities within each district could reject the chosen candidate of the district and instead hold their own election within the town or village to elect an auxiliary representative. The auxiliary would then have a portion of the overall district’s single vote based on the share of the population he represented. Almost all rural districts are now fully foltokized and the general district elections for the assembly person is more of a chairman of the overall delegation. Votes for a district in the assembly cannot be split, so they must come to agreement on how their vote will be spent.

Because of the complexity of the delegation system and the fact it slowed down every step of lawmaking, a constitutional reform was adopted, establishing a “one representative, one mandate, one Foltok” system.

Politics

Government

Committees

The Committees form the first half of the Executive Government of Hetfold. They are Deputies selected by their colleagues of the First Chamber to oversee the activities of the Ministries and act generally as the liaison between them and the Assembly. There are three main Committees : the Committee of General Security charged with overseeing the Intelligence Services, the police, the firefighters, and the military forces of the country. The Committee of General Safety, take care of the Finances, Public Heath, Social Programs, Infrastructures, Census, Communications, and the Inspection of the regional administrations. And then, the Committee of International Relations watch over the Diplomacy of Hetfold, with control over its embassies, international visits, and everything in relation with the "International Image" of the Republic. All three Committees have twelve members in total.

Ministries

There are currently 12 ministries in Hetfold : the Ministries of Internal Affairs, of Justice, of the Armies, of Foreign Affairs, of Public Heath, of the Regional Administration, of the Economy, of Finances, of State-owned industries, of Education, of Agriculture, and of Religious Affairs. Contrary to other republics, none of the Ministers are elected. Instead, they are promoted from inside the departments they supervise after long careers as public workers and civil servants. As a result, the Ministries are purely technocratic departments, under the supervision of the Committees. While they have a certain autonomy to them, they are nonetheless bound to follow the general directions and guidelines established by the Assembly and enforced by the Committees.

First Chamber

The First Chamber of the National Assembly is the lower house of the Republic of Hetfold. It's composed of Deputies, each representing a Foltok, or District, delimited prior to each general election on the basis of population and of the total revenues of an area as measured by the Annual Census. Each Foltok is entitled one Representative mandated for 10 years. Representatives are elected through a Census suffrage where the electors are required to be at least 20 years old and to pay the First Electoral Tax. Deputies themselves need to be over 30 years old and to pay more than 500 Öntveny in direct contributions, plus the First Electoral Tax.

Members of the Committees are deputies chosen by the First Chamber and confirmed by the Second. Therefore, Hetfold is considered to be a parliamentary republic. The House Master is the Speaker of the First Chamber. He isn't technically a member of the Assembly but the Mayor of Levitzag that preside the First House's sessions following an old tradition saying that First Assembly met in the house of Levitzag's mayor and as such, following the Hazedgar customs, had all the rights and duties that comes with the position of Host. The House Master is, as a result, generally considered to be Hetfold's head of state.

Second Chamber

The Second Chamber of the National Assembly is the upper house of the Republic of Hetfold. It's composed of Representatives, also elected by Census suffrage but with different requirements : electors need to be over 25 years old and to pay both the First and Second Electoral taxes. Candidates to a Seat in this Chamber must be over 40 years old, pay more than 1000 Öntveny in direct contributions, and the First and Second Electoral taxes as well. Contrary to the First Chamber, the Representatives are elected by Electoral Colleges including all the elligible electors of a fixed area, generally a city and its associated countryside.

Out of the 301 seats in the Second Chamber, 75 are considered to be "for life" and are essentially rewards given by the Representatives to old Ministers, renowned scientists, retired generals, or any individual considered by the Senate to be of "Outstanding talent and merit".

The Second Chamber as a role mainly of control, "correcting" law proposals from the First Chamber, auditing every year the members of the Committees and can dissolve them and force the First Chamber to elect new Committees.

Economy

Hetfold has a partially regulated market economy. The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunications. The service sector contributes approximately 72% of the total GDP (including information technology), industry 36%, and agriculture 2%. Unemployment rate amounts to 5% in January 2016. While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development, Hetfold remains an industrial power. The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.

The chemical industry is a key sector for Hetfold, as it has aided in the development of manufacturing activities and contributing to economic growth.

Agriculture accounts for just under 2% of the GDP yet Hetfold is a one of the world's top producers of wheat and soybeans. The National Agricultural Censorate maintains agricultural statistics for products that include peanuts, oats, rye, wheat, cotton, corn, barley, hay, sunflowers, and oilseeds but also livestock statistics regarding beef, poultry, pork, and dairy products. The country is a major developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.

Hetfold is a top producer of liquid natural gas, sulfur, and phosphates. Most of the mining activities, both historical and modern, are concentrated in the north and east of the country. The Undersecretary of Non-renewable Resources provides data pertaining to coal and minerals that include copper, lead, magnesium, zinc, and others.

Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. The Mohgerden Stock Exchange is an old institution established during the Third Principality to better coordinate the development of the growing textile industry and remain an important center of international finances to this day.