Politics of the Erishlands
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Political system of the Erish Realm Politisch't system af det Erischryk | |
|---|---|
| Polity type | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
| Constitution | Constitution of the Erish Realm |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Folksting |
| Type | Semi-bicameral |
| Meeting place | Folksting building |
| Presiding officer | Jedolf Ouscheirson, Speaker of the Folksting |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of State | |
| Title | Monarch |
| Currently | Liexne III |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
| Head of Government | |
| Title | Realm Chancellor |
| Currently | Eirik Geiralkson |
| Appointer | Monarch |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Realm Cabinet |
| Current cabinet | First Geiralkson cabinet |
| Leader | Realm Chancellor |
| Appointer | Monarch |
| Ministries | 13 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Erish judiciary |
| Supreme Court | |
| Chief judge | Rif Routgeirson |
The politics of Erishland take place within the framework of a representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Under the 1948 Constitution of the Erish Realm, the authority of the state derives from the public will, and it is obligated to uphold both "the provisions and soul of the constitution".
The Erish political system operates as a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, wherein the monarch, currently Queen Liexne III, is the ceremonial head of state whilst the Realm Chancellor, currently Eirik Geiralkson, is the head of government, the latter leading the Realm Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the semi-bicameral Erish Folksting. The judiciary is independent, and follows a civil system of law. The highest court, the Supreme Court, has the power to strike down unconstitutional laws.
Erishland has a multi-party system, though it is dominated by the Democratic and Liberal parties. Members of the Folksting are elected by mixed-member proportional representation, and the government is formed by the party which holds the most constituency seats. It has been the case since 1940 that the Cabinet is a minority government without a coalition, though due to the institutional setup of the Folksting, they tend to be fairly stable.
Erishland is a devolved unitary state wherein the eleven Lands are delegated the tasks of implementing national laws, and are additionally granted varying levels of autonomy. The form of government used by the Lands is the same as that of the national government, having a parliamentary system with semi-bicameral Land Assemblies and Land Councils accountable to said Assemblies.
Historical background
Constitution
Monarchy and presidency
Legislative branch
The Erish legislature consists of the unicameral Folksting. Housed in the Folksting building in Serdstad, it is at the center of Erish democracy and is the supreme legislative body. The Realm Chancellor and all other Chancellors of the Realm Cabinet come from the Folksting, and are consequently responsible to their fellow Deputies during question time, debates, and so on. If the Cabinet is subjected to a vote of no confidence by the Deputies representing constituencies - in practice, only possible if the governing party desires to either get rid of an unpopular government or resolve gridlock - the parliament is dissolved so that new elections can be held.
Composition and elections
The 240 members of the Folksting, called Deputies, are elected by mixed-member proportional representation every four years or following the dissolution of the Folksting. Half of these deputies are elected in single-seat constituencies by plurality voting, whilst the other half of seats are apportioned to resemble the outcome of a national proportional vote. In order to qualify for these apportioned seats, a party must either win a district, or receive at least 2 percent of the proportional vote. With this fairly low threshold, it is the norm for many parties to be in the parliament; as of 2020, for example, there are eight parties in the Folksting.
In large part because they are elected by plurality voting, it has almost always been the case that constituencies are either of the Democratic or People's Party, with only two independents and one Labour constituency Deputy having ever been elected. Consequently, several smaller parties do not even contest these constituency seats, although the Labour, Justice, and New Right parties have made a controversial point of doing so in recent times. Voter turnout is generally high, numbering somewhere above 80 percent; recent elections have seen a downturn in turnout, however, and turnout in local elections is normally lower.
2019 election
 | ||||||||
| Party | Constituency | Party list | Total seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
| Democratic Party (D) | 1,743,765 | 43.4 | 66 | 1,142,461 | 28.5 | 6 | 72 | |
| People's Party (P) | 1,611,035 | 40.1 | 59 | 984,538 | 24.5 | 3 | 62 | |
| Labour Party (A) | 244,157 | 6.1 | 0 | 493,431 | 12.3 | 31 | 31 | |
| Justice Party (J) | 219,000 | 5.4 | 0 | 491,210 | 12.2 | 31 | 31 | |
| New Right (NR) | 150,892 | 3.8 | 0 | 362,748 | 9.0 | 23 | 23 | |
| Liberal Party (L) | 17,107 | 0.4 | 0 | 188,080 | 4.7 | 12 | 12 | |
| Green Party (G) | 12,907 | 0.3 | 0 | 174,679 | 4.4 | 11 | 11 | |
| Agrarian Party (G) | 8,831 | 0.2 | 0 | 128,933 | 3.2 | 8 | 8 | |
| Worker's Party | 1,540 | 0.0 | 0 | 12,732 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pirate Party | 5,350 | 0.1 | 0 | 8,953 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Proletarian Union | 1,074 | 0.0 | 0 | 6,443 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Center Party | 3,229 | 0.1 | 0 | 3,239 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Others | 2,039 | 0.1 | 0 | 16,556 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Independents | 1,409 | 0.0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 38,144 | – | – | 46,476 | – | – | – | |
| Total | 4,060,479 | 100 | 125 | 4,060,479 | 100 | 125 | 250 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 5,399,635 | 75.2 | – | 5,399,635 | 75.2 | – | – | |
| Source: Realm Election Commission (2020) | ||||||||
Semi-bicameralism
Although the Folksting is a unicameral body, it is often described as "semi-bicameral". This is because constituency Deputies hold the exclusive power to pass budget bills and dismiss the Cabinet by a vote of no confidence. This system was established by the authors of the constitution with the ideal of retaining a greater separation of powers; since only the constituency Deputies have control over the executive, the national Deputies can be more concerned with the actual legislative process.
When combined with the consequences of the electoral system, this system has established minority governments as standard in Erish politics; coalition governments have never occurred at the national level, and only a couple of times at the Lands level. Nonetheless, because the governing parties lack a majority, they are forced to work with other parties on legislation, generally forming coalitions on particular issues. It is custom that core components of the governing party's program should not be either rejected by the majority of the Folksting, or have legislation contrary to said components passed by the majority (though the governing party does need to acquire a majority to pass them). If these situations occur, the governing party's constituency Deputies can vote to trigger a new election by a vote of no confidence - an unfavorable prospect when the public backs a policy. Combined with the majority of the Folksting having the capacity to instigate a referendum on a piece of legislation, this has helped foster an environment of consensus and compromise, since each "chamber" effectively has the ability to put an issue to the public which could wind up favoring one side or the other.
This semi-bicameralism is the point of some contention within Erish politics. The Labour, Justice, and New Right parties all advocate in their party platforms that the Folksting should be made completely unicameral, generally arguing that parties other than the Democratic and People's parties should get a realistic chance of being a part of government. Starting in the 2011 elections, they began contesting local elections, a decision which has seen them gain hundreds of thousands of votes, but which has been criticized by commentators for splitting the vote and potentially threatening the stability of the Cabinet government. Other parties currently in the Folksting have not taken an official stance on the matter; several individual Deputies retort that unicameralism would jeopardize separation of powers, and reduce the flexibility parties have with working on a given issue. Polling on the issue in 2019 showed that 55 percent of voters felt that the semi-bicameral system didn't need to be reformed, 28 percent felt it did, and 17 percent were neutral.
Legislative process
The legislative process begins with a bill proposed either by a Deputy, or by a petition signed by at least 50,000 people. After being proposed, it is sent to the appropriate committee to be scrutinized, amended, and, if supported by the majority of the committee, presented once more to the Folksting at large. If a majority of Deputies vote in favor, the bill is sent to the monarch for assent. Seven days after assent is granted, or earlier or later if the legislation makes a specification, the bill goes into effect. The monarch has the power to withhold assent, but this is a reserve power, and could still be overridden by simply passing the bill again; to date, assent has always been granted. Budget bills have a special procedure: in order to pass, the majority of just the constituency Deputies must vote in favor; national Deputies lack the power to vote on budget bills.