Prime Minister of the Erishlands
| President of the Confederation | |
|---|---|
 Flag of the Erishlands | |
.jpg) Eric Geralcson since 3 January 2021 | |
| Realm Cabinet Confederal Affairs Bureau Confederal Council | |
| Style | The Honorable |
| Status | Federal head of government Presiding officer |
| Abbreviation | B.B. |
| Member of | Realm Cabinet Realm Diet Confederal Council |
| Residence | 21 Stroemrinn, Fzorzborg |
| Nominator | Senators of the Realm Diet |
| Appointer | The Queen Appointed on advice of majority of Senators |
| Term length | No term limits Corresponds to the legislative terms of the Realm Diet; renewable |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of the Erish Confederation |
| Inaugural holder | Grejme Yorfaltson |
| Formation | 3 January 1840 |
| Salary | Ƕ214,000 |
The Erish President of the Confederation (Erish: Bondsvorsitzenden), also the Confederal Minister for the Erish Realm (Erish: Bondsyegnen Ärscrejcem), and known in English as the prime minister of the Erishlands, is the head of government in the Erishlands. The Erish prime minister chairs both the Realm Cabinet and the Confederal Council, and represents the former to the latter. The Erish prime minister was not originally head of government, but instead later gained the de facto and then de jure status as one. They are required to, like all other Cabinet ministers, be a member of the Realm Diet, and are specifically required to be a Senator.
The Constitution of 1839 established the President as a member of the Realm Cabinet, but left all other ministers to be established by legislation. Despite this unique status, the President was not head of government, which the Constitution originally established to be the Cabinet as a collective body; though influential, they were just the cabinet minister in charge of representing it to the Confederal Council. Their stature in the Cabinet grew over time, until their status as head of government was constitutionalized in 1887. In comparison to other prime ministers, the Erish prime minister still has fairly limited power.
Unlike many prime ministers, the Erish prime minister, as well as all other ministers of the Realm Cabinet, is not accountable to the entirety of the Erish lower house, the Realm Diet. Instead, they must only be nominated by and keep the confidence of the majority of the Senators of the Realm Diet; in practice, the prime minister is always the leader of the Government (majority party of Senators). By tradition, an Erish prime minister whose Government loses an election immediately resigns along with the rest of the Cabinet, and helps nominate the Opposition Cabinet instead of waiting for the next term to begin.
Senator Eric Geralcson of the Democrats (FS) has been the prime minister since 6 December 2020, after the predecessor Cabinet led by Royalist Senator Ulle Naesz, in response to the results of the 2020 federal election, resigned and helped nominate his Opposition Cabinet as the new Cabinet. The Geralcson Cabinet includes 6 Democrat Senators, 4 Democrat Representatives, and 5 Labour Representatives.
Titles
Since the original constitution of 1839, the office that is now that of the Erish prime minister has had two titles: the Bondsyegnen Ärscrejcem "Confederal Minister for the Erish Realm", Bondsvorsitzend "President of the Confederation". Although the titles may seem suggestive of a head of government, neither was particularly indicative of special rank. The "Erish Realm" is the official title for the Erish federal government, and with every other Confederal Minister, who are not heads of government, being the "Confederal Minister for" a particular state, the title is not special.
The title "President of the Confederation" is similarly less republican than the English terms would imply. Within the Erish political system, the Confederal Council is considered to be a level of government separate from the federal or state governments, Bondez "the Confederation". The term Vorsitzend refers to a presiding officer, with implications of being equal to other members of a body. Consequently, the title implies the Erish prime minister is merely first among equals in the Confederal Council. To prevent confusion, the term "Erish prime minister" is used in English.
When the Erish prime minister was constitutionalized in 1887, there were concerns during the drafting of the constitutional amendments that the repeated use of the term "Confederal Minister" in reference to the Erish prime minister was contrary to the amendments' purpose of preemptively limiting their power. Thus, the title of "President of the Confederation" was used. To further cement the point, the Erish prime minister does not gain the powers of their office upon appointment by the Queen, but upon swearing their constitutionally required oath before the Confederal Council to become President of the Confederation.
History
Under the original constitution of 1839, the Erish federal government lacked a singular office that filled the role of head of government. A core principle of the republicans had been the rejection of political leadership by one person, and so the Realm Cabinet, to which the Constitution all but explicitly delegated executive power, acted as a collective head of government. The one constitutionally established minister of the Realm Cabinet, the Confederal Minister, was just the ambassador of the federal government in the Council, much as the Land and Shire Ministers represent the state cabinets. Of the original six Ministers, the Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, Finance, Justice, and Realm Ministers, they were least influential. The Confederal Minister was also constitutionally designated the presiding officer of the Confederal Council, the President of the Confederation, but they are explicitly stated to "have no special authority on the outcome of its proceedings".
The ascent of the Confederal Minister to head of government was shaped by the office's duty to represent the Realm Cabinet to the Confederal Council. Beginning with Confederal Minister Frude Sturlovson (1854-60), Confederal Ministers took advantage of their ability to request opinions from other Cabinet ministers. For Confederal Ministers of states, this was and still is a purely bureaucratic measure so that their cabinets' positions can be properly represented in the Council. However, the fact that the federal Confederal Minister could realistically regularly attend Cabinet meetings turned this into a way to shape the Cabinet's agenda, and is still at the root of much of the prime minister's constitutional powers. Other Ministers gained an interest in the rising importance of the Confederal Minister. Although all ministers of both the federal and state cabinets are entitled to attend, participate, and vote in Council proceedings, the legislative connections the Confederal Minister's duties build helped benefit individual legislative agendas.
The first Confederal Minister considered to have been the Erish head of government, and thus Prime Minister, was Prime Minister Hrulv Geryeson (1872-80), who began to consistently chair the Realm Cabinet's meetings, instead of the annual rotation between the original six Ministers. By the 1880s, the Prime Minister's ascendancy became a matter of controversy, with older Federalists being wary of the concentration of power in an office intended to be delegatory, and many Loyalists fearing that they would eventually attempt to usurp the Queen. This ultimately resulted in the 1887 constitutional amendments, which formalized some of the Prime Minister's de facto powers and their position as chair of the Realm Cabinet, but also made it constitutionally clear that they were first among equals and were not able to unilaterally direct the Cabinet's decisions.
Since the 1887 amendments, the institutional powers of the Erish Prime Minister have remained largely the same. In some senses, the stature of the office has still increased. For example, whereas the original six Ministers of the Realm Cabinet were once leaders of different Government caucuses (and commonly still are), the Prime Minister has consistently been the leader of the Government itself, starting with Prime Minister Edward Hildeward in 1904. Nonetheless, the Prime Minister still has notably limited power in comparison to other prime ministers.
Nomination, appointment, accession, and removal
The Erishlands have a multi-party system in which it is all but impossible for a party to win a majority of seats in the Realm Diet, due to the dual mandate electoral system used to elect its Representatives. However, the Erish prime minister and the rest of the Realm Cabinet are elected by or under the confidence of the Realm Diet's Senators, who come from a majority Government party and minority Opposition party, both of which are elected at the same time as Representatives through a national two-round proportional vote. Thus, the Erish prime minister has since 1904 always been the leader of the Government party, and enjoys considerable stability, only falling due to a lost election or a revolt within their own Government.
The Erish Prime Minister is nominated by the Realm Diet's Senators to be the Confederal Minister for the Erish Realm, requiring only that they are a Senator and a majority of Senators do not vote against them. Upon the successful election, the Confederal Minister is appointed by the Queen, and the Confederal Diet, a gathering of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers and the state prime ministers, is convened by its Presidium. During the accession ceremony in the plenary chamber, initially presided over by the Deputy Presidents of the Council, the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court administers the Prime Minister's oath of office:
I promise and swear to execute my duties as President of the Confederation in accordance with the spirit of the constitution and the citizens.
By custom, following the oath, the Prime Minister takes their seat as the presiding officer of the Diet, and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers move that the Prime Minister be granted the floor. The Prime Minister then gives an accession speech (Erish: Tiltredingtale) laying out their political agenda for the consideration of the Diet. After the speech ends, the Diet begins a two-day closed-doors summit to discuss the major policy points of the Prime Minister's agenda. At the conclusion of the summit, a report on the proceedings and policy conclusions is submitted to the Realm Diet.
The Prime Minister, along with every other Minister and the Realm Cabinet, holds their office under the implied confidence of the Senators of the Realm Diet. If a majority of Senators vote against them in a vote of no confidence, they are forced to resign, although they continue in office until a new Prime Minister is appointed.
Constitutional role and authority
The Constitution of the Erish Confederation invests federal executive power in the Office of the Monarchy (Erish: Idedůmen), consisting of the Queen and the Realm Cabinet. Since the beginnings of constitutional democracy, the Queen has had a weak role. The Constitution from its inception has explicitly stated the Queen exercises her powers on the advice of the Cabinet, and has no more than a suspensory veto on political actions. In the modern day, this suspensory veto is an unexercised reserve power, leaving the role purely symbolic. This leaves the Erish Prime Minister as the country's leading politician and de facto highest official, although they are not nearly as powerful as many other prime ministers are.
The Prime Minister is immediately allowed upon their appointment as Confederal Minister to nominate other cabinet ministers, who must not be rejected by a majority of Senators in order for the Queen to appoint them. However, this is usually only used for when Cabinet reshufflings occur; when a Prime Minister leads their party to victory, Senators almost always nominate the Opposition Cabinet to become the new Realm Cabinet. The Prime Minister is not allowed to require a Minister's resignation, as the power to remove a Cabinet Minister instead rests with the majority of Senators through a vote of no confidence; in practice, the Prime Minister generally has the ability to remove a Minister through the implicit threat of a vote of no confidence against that Minister, but circumstances occasionally arise where a Minister has enough support within the Government to remain in power. The Prime Minister also chairs the Realm Cabinet, having the power to set the agenda of its weekly meetings. However, the Cabinet takes its decisions collectively instead of at the direction of the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister can only suggest, not order individual Ministers to take policy measures.
The Prime Minister's original role as the Confederal Minister for the federal government in the Confederal Council is still central to the office. All ministers of both the federal and state cabinets instruct their Confederal Ministers on votes and are allowed to attend and vote in bloc in Council proceedings, and the Prime Minister often delegates work in committees to support staff, but the Prime Minister still plays a key role brokering deals with state cabinets. By virtue of their constitutional responsibilities, the Prime Minister heads the Confederal Affairs Bureau (Erish: Bondssacorbüróez), which plays an important role in internal coordination of Cabinet policy, coordination between federal and state cabinets through the Confederal Council, and communications about Cabinet policy to the Realm Diet and the public at large. Their position as presiding officer of the Council, and of its foreign affairs and defense committees, is somewhat ceremonial, as they have only one vote and lack the power to unilaterally set the agenda.
The Prime Minister has much less significant influence in the Realm Diet. With the restriction of authority to hold a vote of no confidence to the Realm Diet's 69 Senators, the simultaneously, but separately elected 208 Representatives are more independent of the Cabinet than is typical in parliamentary systems. Furthermore, the presence of multiple parties means that, even with the inclusion of junior partners in a cabinet, it is nigh impossible for a committed coalition of parties to have a majority. All of this leads to the Prime Minister never having a guarantee their legislation will pass the Realm Diet, much less the Confederal Council, and having to build coalitions for each piece of legislation. Their influence is further diminished by the Prime Minister lacking the power to directly call a midterm election, which can only take place over deadlocked legislation and with the support of the majority of Senators.
Deputy Prime Minister
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The Prime Minister appoints a Minister of the Realm Cabinet as their Deputy Prime Minister (Erish: Näcstbondsborsitzenden), who performs the Prime Minister's duties if they are not present or are unable to perform their duties. Since 1976, the Deputy Prime Minister has always been a Representative from the junior coalition partner.
The Constitution's language makes it clear that the Deputy Prime Minister merely carries out the office's duties until a new Prime Minister can be appointed, although the Foreign Affairs Minister conventionally succeeds in this scenario. This has happened two times, the most recent being Scejsc Sparleson in 1955 after Prime Minister Hursc Colleson had a heart attack. The current Deputy Prime Minister is Clob Minzeson.
Living former prime ministers
As of 2021, there are five living former Prime Ministers of the Erishlands. Apart from Ole Fuglson, all of them are still active Senators in the Realm Diet, as is traditional for former Prime Ministers, though Senator Gilfriyson announced on 5 May 2021 he intends to retire after the current legislative term:
Ole Fugleson
(1988–2000)
18 May 1935
Äyoch Gilfriyson
(2000-2008)
9 November 1955
Hrůbert Růgeson
(2008-2011)
23 February 1966
Brynhild Godzesdohter
(2011–2012)
3 August 1957
Ulle Näsz
(2012-2020)
14 July 1963
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