President of Carucere
| President of the Republic of Carucere | |
|---|---|
| Prezidan Repiblik Karuku | |
.svg) Presidential Emblem | |
 Presidential Standard | |
| Style | His Excellency |
| Status | Head of State Head of Government |
| Residence | State House, Carucere |
| Seat | Kingston |
| Term length | Duration of Senate (four years), renewable once |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of Carucere |
| Precursor | Governor of Carucere |
| Inaugural holder | Jean Préval |
| Formation | 17 March 1961 |
| Succession | Premier of Carucere (as Vice President) |
| Deputy | Vice President of Guyana |
The President of Carucere, officially the President of the Republic of Carucere (Papotement: Prezidan Repiblik Karuku), is the head of state and the head of government of Carucere. Under the Constitution of Carucere the president heads the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic. The current president is Neil Gaubina, who took office on 1 December 2018.
The presidency was originally intended to be a ceremonial office with no real executive power, as Carucere was originally envisioned as a parliamentary republic. However political power was centralized under the Presidency by Jean Préval, who held the office for 17 years from 1957 to 1974. Today Carucere functions as a presidential republic, although it still maintains many aspects of a parliamentary system. The President is elected by a unique electoral system where the presidential candidate of the party that wins a majority in the Senate election is automatically elected to the office. If no party achieves a majority, the candidates of the top two leading parties proceed to a run off election conducted by the Senate.
History
The office of the Presidency ultimately originates from the "president" of the post-revolutionary government after the Carucerean Revolution. First held by Jana Maia, it was purely an informal institution and acted as a public figure and spokesperson of the provisional government; for this reason it is considered as a precursor to the current office of the presidency. When Jean Préval was elected president by the Senate in early 1954, the institution became increasingly formalized; Préval would use his position to mediate disputes and help draft the constitution. The office was officially created in July 1957 after the ratification of the new constitution. The drafters of the constitution intended Carucere to be a parliamentary republic with the President as a mere figurehead with the Premier as head of government. However Préval was able to extract concessions to empower the President at the last moment. This included the power to command the security forces of the country and the power to enact decrees.
As President, Préval used his popularity and the support of the Senate to exercise prerogatives beyond what was granted to him in the constitution. The President became the main executive power with the Premiership only serving to execute policy rather than creating it. As a result up until the late 1960s, power in Carucere was personalized rather than institutionalized which meant that the power of the president depended largely on President Préval's political standing. As his popularity began to wane after economic malaise caused by the Sugar Crash in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Préval successfully pushed for constitutional changes that formalized some of his prerogatives, ensuring the primacy of the presidency over the premiership, and reforming Carucere into a presidential republic in 1970.
The presidency's new position in the Carucerean political system would survive the fall of Préval from political power, as Victorin Lurel routinely exercised the powers of the President. However the political chaos following the fall of the Social Liberation Party in the mid-1970s led to difficulties in electing a President, as parties often struggled to gather the necessary majority of Senate votes to elect the President. In 1985, this electoral system was changed in favor of a system where the candidate of the largest party would automatically become President. By the late 1980s, the powers of the President were institutionalized and solidified the presidency as the center of Carucerean politics. In 2003, the method by which the President was elected was modified once again; if a party gained a majority in the Senate the procedure would remain the same, but if no party gained a majority, the candidates of the top two parties by vote share would proceed to a run off election hosted by the Senate, who would elect one of two candidates by a plurality vote with the necessary quorum.