Provinces of Vyvland
The Provinces of Vyvland (Vyvlander: lenjen Vyvluds) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Vyvland. There are 17 in total, stretching across the whole country. The provinces have control over education provision, utilities, infrastructure and planning, in addition to each province possessing a Provincial Diet with the power to enact legislation. However, the Diets are directly subordinate to the National Parliament, which has the power to vote to veto any Diet law. Below province-level are independent cities (vrisdeden, in some areas only) and municipalities (gemenden); many municipalities are also grouped into a municipal collective (mefwerkliggemend) or county (laandzep), where municipal powers are shared between many municipalities (the difference between these two bodies is in name only).
History
The provinces, in many instances, stem from the ancient duchies and kingdoms which used to cover Vyvland in the medieval period. For example, the kingdom of Stanmer was a major historical power in Vyvland, whose territory tended to cover a far larger area than today's province, while Bajre was originally two duchies, Bajre-Mruk and Bajre-Rycdayn. Below provinces were the historic counties, which were generally based off feudal domains and were very unequal in population. By the time of King Gunfre I in 1770, most of the provinces had settled into the forms which they resemble today, although some small areas such as Lishag and Pegerms remained as small duchies. Over the next few centuries, the few exclaves which existed were merged into nearby provinces, leaving the country with 19 provinces in 1846; all of today's provinces except Islands, but with separate Kafren Island and Grunir province, Slic province, and a formally separate city of Mafiy. Due to their long history, Vyvlanders tend to have a strong attachment to their home province.
This situation remained relatively stable up until the Vyvlander Civil War, when many provinces became partitioned between North and South. As such, parts of 'rump provinces' (Kros and Brudon in the North, Vlud, Stanmer and Wesel in the South) were merged with larger ones in their respective countries. The South later reformed the provincial structure to create smaller administrative areas which were easier to control, although many bore the names of the provinces or areas from which they were created. After Vyvlander reunification in 1983, the historic provinces were restored with a few boundary changes.
Since reunification, there has been significant support for the full splitting of the six independent cities, which have statuses above that of an ordinary municipality but below that of a province, to be promoted to full province status. Though at present these cities control essentially all functions of a province, they still are legally within the borders of their respective provinces. The six cities are Jesel, Lorence, Lyksdal, Mafiy, Strossen and Vlud. Fully splitting these cities from their provinces would also have the advantage of making the national capital essentially extraterritorial to any traditional province. However, opponents state that in many cases this would create provinces too small to function effectively, in addition to making these five cities lie outside the provinces of which they have traditionally been capitals.
Provincial Diets
Main article: Provincial Diets of Vyvland
Each province is administratively represented in its Diet by a varying number of Representatives (Representeeren), also known as Provincial Governors (Laansguveneeren) in Welland, Pegerm and the Southwest. While Stanmer has 200 Representatives, Wesel has just 38. Within each Diet, a government is formed, with a small number of ministers responsible for different provincial areas of oversight. Elections to the diets happen every four years, with the last occurring in 2011. Fifteen of the Diets also elect a Chancellor (Juncleer), who acts as the head of government for that province.
