Counties of Caldia

A geopolitical map of Glytter, showing the 25 contaetha in their respective regions.

The counties of Caldia (Ghaillish: contaetha na Ghlítteacht) are sub-national divisions that are used to geographically mark areas of local government. These land divisions were first formed following the arrival of the Verique in imitation of the counties then in use in the Kingdom of Embria. In Embria, counties were used as units of local government. The main function of the county was to impose royal control in the areas of taxation, security, and the administration of justice at both local and regional levels. Through the concept of county corporate several cities were to a status which was deemed to be no less important than the existing counties in which they lay, such as Scariff and Clyte. This double control mechanism of 25 counties plus 5 counties corporate remained unchanged for a little over two centuries until the early 19th century, since then counties have been adapted and in some cases divided by legislation to meet new administrative and political requirements. Over time the counties home to major settlements such as Spálgleann would be absorbed by the municipality entirely. Likewise, in the case of Garrafrauns and Invertwinc lands from their original counties were distributed to neighboring counties following their reorganization into a municipality based county.

Today, Caldia is made up of 26 counties. The counties have a permanent constitutional status. Under the Caldish Constitution, all 26 counties are equal in status. Each county is governed as a such, with the exceptions of Spálgleann, Garrafrauns, Invertwinc, and Shanbally, all of which are both a municipality and a county.

Types of counties

County Corporate

Metropolitan County

Autonomous County

Politics and governance

County governments have three components:

The County Commission (contae coimisiún) serves as the county legislature. National law specifies that the commissions may contain between seven and fifteen seats. Due to the small sizes of the commissions and the possibility of electing an exactly split legislature with the inevitably resulting deadlock, an odd-numbered commission is required.
The County Executive (contae feidhmiúcháin) is the head of the county's government. The Executive is chosen differently in each county. Counties either have a popularly elected county executive or an executive elected by the commission from among its members. Terms vary from county to county, but typically last between one and three years.
The County Governor (contae gobharnóir) is the ceremonial head of the county. Governors are formally appointed by the monarch on behalf of the national government. This office mainly functions as a supervising authority over the county and municipality administrations and their decisions can be appealed to him or her. County governors also play a very ceremonial role and act as an official representative of the national government, acting almost as an ambassador.

The four municipalities that are also counties, Spálgleann, Garrafrauns, Invertwinc, and Shanbally, do not follow the County Commission model the rest of the counties do. The county executive is the Laird or Lady Mayor and the legislature is the city council. Likewise, Caithia is an autonomous county and is governed in accordance with the Caithian Home Rule Act of 1978. The county executive is the Chief Minister and the county legislature is the Cynulliad.

Elections

The means of election of the commission varies from all members being elected in districts to all members being elected at large with various systems in between.

For the single-member districts, Ní Dochartaigh method of single transferable vote or first-past-the-post is used. This depends on how districts, known as wards, are established by the individual county. A county will have as many single-member districts as it will commissioners and each district contains an approximately equal population. Some counties have multi-member constituencies with at least two members. These districts are not always equal in population, as a county with seven commissioners may have a ward with three members and another with four. The Ní Dochartaigh method is employed for all of these multi-member districts.

Some counties elect their commissioners at-large, meaning they represent the whole of the county and not a specific electoral district. These counties use the Ní Dochartaigh method or open list proportional representation. It is most common in counties with commissions with more than eleven members.

If a special election takes place and there is one seat at stake, first-past-the-post is used regardless of the county's regular electoral procedures. Counties that use the Ní Dochartaigh method have at times criticized this practice.

The diversity in electoral systems has been criticized as confusing and inefficient. However, among the counties themselves and national governments there has been little desire to standardize the system. The constitution gives counties the right to determine how their commissions are selected.

Regular county elections are held every five years nationwide. The last election was on 12 June 2015.

Duties

List of counties

Arms	County (contae)	Type	County seat (suíomh contae)	Population	Region	Code	TCs	Governor (gobharnóir)	Executive (feidhmiúcháin)	Coalition
	Aerach	County	Clyte	761,402	Southern	I	31	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Caldish Dems
	Ballina	County	Mhothair	29,102	Highlands	V	3	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre
	Bouladuff	County	Cahir	614,502	Southern	G	26	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Caldish Dems
	Caithia	Autonomous	Lloidas	46,128	Oileáin Oirthir	Z	1	Órla Ní Fhlannagáin	Duane ap Drummond	Forward-Trawlers Interest-SDPC
	Clane	County	Scariff	494,287	Southern	H	24	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Clane First
	Garrafrauns	Metropolitan	Garrafrauns	973,261	Central	B	43	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	SDs-Greens
	Fahamore	County	Portnahinch	233,744	Southern	N	11	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	SDs-Caldish Dems
	Folcthagh	County	Scillimona	247,962	Lowlands	P	11	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Centre
	Holyhead	County	Inagh	240,785	Southern	E	11	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Holyhead Independents
	Invertwinc	Metropolitan	Invertwinc	782,587	Lowlands	F	33	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	SDs-Labour-Greens
	Knockdale	County	Kildale	47,953	Sudreadharr	Y	3	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre
	Liathróidí	County	Benderloch	45,049	Highlands	U	3	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre
	Liscannor	County	Abbeyfeale	250,590	Central	J	11	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Independents
	Longford	County	Dunore	436,869	Highlands	K	19	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Caldish Dems-Independents
	Mannes	County	St. Paul	358,291	Southern	C	16	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty
	Oileáin Oirthir	County	Leòdhas	246,942	Oileáin Oirthir	T	11	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre-Liberty
	Sackmannan	County	Cloghel	56,948	Highlands	W	3	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre-Liberty
	Scalghan	County	Kilkelley	178,579	Lowands	Q	7	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-Caldish Dems
	Scarp	County	Hushinish	54,405	Sudreadharr	X	3	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Scarp Independence-Liberty
	Skryne	County	Glennock	374,962	Central	L	16	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty-SDs
	Shanbally	Metropolitan	Shanbally	549,839	Southern	D	26	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Shanbally Interest
	Shillelagh	County	Roscrea	264,015	Central	M	12	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Liberty
	Spálgleann	Metropolitan	Spálgleann	1,372,565	Southern	A	61	Person Mac Person	Dorotea Fuertes i Lluís-Malloy	SDs
	Taois	County	Benbaun	92,457	Highlands	S	4	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Centre-Liberty
	Tarenny	County	Cobh	148,465	Lowands	R	6	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	Caldish Dems-Centre
	Tóinderry	County	City of Tóinderry (City)	401,583	Lowands	O	18	Person Mac Person	Person Mac Person	SDs-Caldish Dems
Total				9,257,180			399