Government of Ebenthal

His Majesty's Government
His Majesty's Government
	Coat of arms of Ebenthal
Polity type	Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
Constitution	Constitution of Ebenthal
Formation	August 11, 2014; 10 years ago
Legislative branch
Name	Konkrëse
Meeting place	Setzenbrand
	Upper house
Name	House of Aristocrats
Presiding officer	Lord President of the House of Aristocrats
Appointer	The Monarch
	Lower house
Name	House of Councillors
Presiding officer	President of the House of Councillors
Appointer	The Archchancellor
Executive branch
	Head of State
Title	King
Currently	Arthur II
	Head of Government
Title	Archchancellor
Currently	Bernardo Barcelos
Appointer	The Monarch
	Cabinet
Name	Executive Council
Leader	The Archchancellor
Appointer	The Archchancellor
Headquarters	Setzenbrand
Judicial branch
	Tribune of Truth
Chief judge	High Magistrate
Seat	Setzenbrand

The Government of Ebenthal, officially His Majesty's Government (Portuguese: Governo de Sua Majestade) and often referred to as the Central Government, is the structure responsible for the administration of the Kingdom of Ebenthal. Formally established by the Ebenthaler Constitution of 2015, the government cureently operates under the 2024 Constitution within the framework of unitary Westminster-inspired parliamentary hereditary semi-constitutional monarchy. The Ebenthaler crown is the centerpiece of the governmental structure as the source of executive, legislative, judiciary and moderating powers.

The King, also called Monarch or Sovereign, is the contitutional head of state and co-head of government, the latter role shared with the the Archchancellor. Executive power is in part exercised by the Executive Council, led by the Archchancellor who is mostly tasked with conducting the country's domestic policy, whereas the Monarch himself mostly exercises the executive prerogatives concerning foreign policy; The Monarch, however, solely has the power to assent or veto bills. Legislative power is vested upon the Konkrëse, a bicameral legislature formed by an aristocratic upper chamber, the House of Aristocrats, whose members are appointed at the Sovereign's discretion, and by an elected lower chamber, the House of Councillors; In both chambers, members serve one-year terms. Judiciary power is solely exercised by the Tribune of Truth as the country's only and supreme court of justice.

Ebenthal is a unitary state formed by 8 municipalities, 2 special autonomous regions and a condominium. As such, the national state assigns different degrees of devolved powers to its administrative units as it sees fit, but typically following a asymmetrical hierarchical model. Municipalities are governed through an executive-led system by Chief Executive appointed by the Monarch in accordance with the parliamentary party representation of each municipality. The special autonomous regions, on the other hand, have a much greater degree of autonomy and are able to decide their government models, almost entirely free from interference from the central government, and currently both such regions are organized as hereditary absolute monarchies. Elections are free and operate through single non-transferable vote system in multi-member districts. Ebenthal de facto adopts a two-party system in which the National Party and the New Democrats dominates politics, despite there being minor parties.

Government structure

Monarchy

As per the constitution, the King of Ebenthal, also referred to as Monarch or Sovereign, is the head of state and co-head of government of Ebenthal. Constitutionally, the Monarch's role is both legal, practical and political. He actively exercises a series of executive power prerogatives in addition to being the sole holder of moderating power. As such, the Monarch is nominally entitled to veto legislations at his discretion – although from the enactment of the 2024 Ebenthaler constitution, this power has been typically exercised at the government's advice, to grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and law), to summon, prorogue and dissolve the Konkrëse, to appoint the members of the House of Aristocrats and of the Tribune of Truth, to appoint the municipal Chiefs Executive, to commute criminal sentences, to create corporations through royal charter, to issue and withdraw passports, citizenship status, honours and titles, to command the country's military as Commander-in-Chief, to appoint the Archchancellor, to ratify and make treaties, to declare war and peace, to recognize states, to credit and receive diplomats and to call for elections. The collective of these powers is sometimes called royal prerogatives. All political powers are vested in and derive from the Crown and are exercised by multiple institutions in its name.

Executive

In an arrangement different from most constitutional monarchies, Ebenthal is an executive diarchy in which there is a separation of executive powers to be exercised by the Monarch and the Archchancellor; the latter, however, effectively administers the country. The Monarch appoints the Archchancellor most likely to be able to form a government with the support of the House of Councillors, the lower chamber of the Konkrëse. In practice, the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the Councilors holds an internal election to nominate a candidate for archchancellorship, and the Monarch invests the nominee in the position. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition or a minority government. In specific cases on which the lower house cannot place its trust in any of its members, the Archchancellor can be provided by the House of Aristocrats, the upper chamber of the Konkrëse; nonetheless, the Archchancellor answers to the lower chamber. The Archchancellor exercises his prerogatives mainly through the Executive Council, whose members he freely selects to act as political heads of the various State Ministries. The Archchancellor is responsible for presiding the Executive Council, select its members and formulate government policy.

As in some other parliamentary systems of government, the executive, often referred to as "the government", is drawn from [but not exclusivelly] the parliament. Unlike, however, most parliamentary systems, the Archchancellor's position is answerable to both parliament and Monarch, as his position depends not only on parliament's confidence, but on the Monarch's confidence, and in order to exert with safety his functions, the Archchancellor had to dominate the caprice, the oscillations and ambitions of the Parliament, as well as to preserve always unalterable the favor, the good will of the Sovereign.

Executive Council

The Executive Council, also referred to as Cabinet, is an institutional collegiate formed a priori by eight ministries; they are the ministries of External Relations, Interior, Economy, Defense, Culture and Education, Information and Propaganda, Science and Technology and Environment. During their tenure, the Archchancellor can dismember the responsibilities of any ministry and create other ministries. The Archchancellor appoints the members of the Executive Council freely, usually from among the members of his party or governing coalition and members of the House of Aristocrats, and can freely dismiss them. The ministers meets weekly to discuss government policy.

Legislative

Legislative power in Ebenthal is exercised primarily by the Konkrëse, the bicameral legislature of Ebenthal, and also by the Monarch, through decrees and edicts. The chief executive (i.e. the archchancellor) is drawn from and, along with his ministers, is answerable to it. The Konkrëse is formed by the upper house, the House of Aristocrats, whose members are non-partisan nobles appointed by the Monarch at his own discretion, and the lower house, the House of Councillors, whose members, partisan or independent, are directly elected through universal suffrage to represent the country's administrative divisions. In both chambers, terms of office are one year and renewable. Each administrative division, for electoral puposes labeled constituencies, provides 1 parliamentarian for every 0-10 inhabitants, thus determining the number of seats in the lower chamber.

The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can survive in the Councillors, something which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' with a parliamentary minority which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formation of a coalition government or 'confidence and supply' arrangement. A government is not formed by a vote of the Councillors, it is a commission from the Monarch. The Councillors gets its first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the Speech from the Throne (the legislative programme proposed by the new government). The leader of the party that has a majority in the House of Councillors assumes the position of President of the House of Councillors, usually simply referred to as President. The leader of the House of Aristocrats, howerver, is designated the Sovereign and is called Lord President of the House of Aristocrats, or simply Lord President. At events that bring together both chambers of parliament, the Lord President presides over the session and takes precedence over the President.

Judiciary

The Tribune of Truth is the constitutional, supreme and only court of Ebenthal for both civil and criminal cases. The Tribune is composed of five judges, four of which are called Magistrates and their leader is called the High Magistrate. The members of the Tribune are appointed for life by the Sovereign, who is constitutionally charged with rendering justice for all his subjects from him, and is thus traditionally deemed the fount of justice , but is not empowered to do so directly. The High Magistrate, however, is raised to position in internal election among the Adjudicators. The Tribune of Truth applies a hybrid system between the civil law and the customary law and employs the inquisitorial system where the judges are actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as compared to an adversarial system where the role of the judge is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecutor or plaintiff and the defendant. The Tribune of Truth is tasked with judicial review, and it may declare legislation unconstitutional, thus rendering them ineffective.

Administrative divisions

Ebenthal is an asymmetric unitary state formed by eight municipalities, two special autonomous region and one condominium, all of which may be collectively called administrative divisions. The municipalities are governed through assembly-independent executive-led devolved governments led each by a Chief Executive appointed by the Monarch in accordance with the parliamentary party representation of each municipality. The special administrative regions, enjoying of greater autonomy, are free to decide their forms of government, and currently both are organized as hereditary absolute monarchies with their own regional constitutions and sets of law. Ebenthal's only condominium, however, is a semi-incorporated territory and has much less autonomy. It is administered directly by the governments of Ebenthal, Karnia-Ruthenia and Quinta Velha through a triumvirate in which each state appoints a High Commissioner. Residents of the condominium are not Ebenthaler nationals (nor Karno-Ruthenian or Quintavelhenses), but they enjoy citizen rights, political rights excluded.

Electoral system

Ebenthal's constitution establishes minutely described electoral methods in order to give the population ample chance of political participation. The electoral system adopted in the country is the single non-transferable vote. Each voter cast one vote in a multi-member district; the candidates who receive the most votes, in descending order, are elected to fill as many seats are vacant for the district. It is considered a direct and simple system, and a generalization of the first-past-the-post voting system applied to a multi-member districts model. As of 2024, Ebenthal's largest constituencies elect three candidates. In this way, the three candidates with the highest number of votes among the many when running in each constituency are elected.

References