Politics of New Ulster

The politics of New Ulster takes place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Commonwealth realm, whereby the monarch of the United Kingdom is the constitutional head of state represented by the Governor General of New Ulster and the Prime Minister of New Ulster is the head of government.

Since August 2021, there are two dominant political parties who have alternated power between them: the liberal, centrist New Ulster Democratic Party and the conservative, centre-right Liberal Conservative Party.

Status

From its founding in August 2021 until September 2022, New Ulster self-recognized as a British Overseas Territory. Under this arrangement, the government of New Ulster was fully internally self-governing and not subordinate to the Government of the United Kingdom but, in theory, the British government was meant to be responsible for defence and external affairs with New Ulster being . As New Ulster is unrecognized, however, in practice, defence and external affairs are handled by the New Ulster government. As such, it became a matter of debate in New Ulster whether this made the country a de facto Commonwealth realm despite being a de jure overseas territory. This ambiguity was resolved by the 2022 New Ulster status referendum where voters backed transitioning from a British Overseas Territory to a "Dominion" or Commonwealth realm status. This took effect on September 26, 2022, "Dominion Day".

Executive branch

As a Commonwealth realm—albeit an unrecognized one—the head of state is King Charles III, who is represented by the Governor General of New Ulster.

Main office holders
Office	Name	Since
Monarch	King Charles III	September 8, 2022
Governor	Geoffrey Marsden	August 16, 2021
Prime Minister	Stephen Cameron (LCP)	October 20, 2022

Government

The Constitution Act stipulates that the Government of New Ulster serves at His Majesty's pleasure. However, being a parliamentary democracy, this effectively means a government remains in office only so long as it commands the confidence of the House of Assembly which is elected to a term of four years.

Since September 2022, the head of government is the Prime Minister of New Ulster, currently Ethan McAllister of the Liberal Conservative Party (LCP) who has been in office since October 20, 2022. Prior to this, the office was known as Premier of New Ulster. The Leader of the Official Opposition is Stephen Cameron of the New Ulster Democratic Party (NUDP).

Legislature

The Parliament of New Ulster is unicameral consisting of the King and the House of Assembly. It currently consists of seven elected members (called Members of Parliament or MPs) who are elected on a county basis via the plurality at large system. Under this system each county also serves as an electoral district (locally called a "riding") and is allocated a number of members proportional to its population with voters having as many votes as there are candidates to elect (e.g. if a county elects 2 MPs, voters in that county get 2 votes). The last election was held on August 30, 2021.

Governor General

King Charles III is represented by the Governor General, currently Sir Geoffrey Marsden. After an election, the Governor General appoints as prime minister the person he or she thinks can "command the confidence" of the House of Assembly. In practical terms, this is usually the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in the House. The Governor General is not involved in the day-to-day administration of New Ulster, and his or her role is largely as a ceremonial head of state. The Governor General—in the monarch's name—is responsible for matters of defence and security only and, as such, serves as commander-in-chief of any armed forces raised in New Ulster.

Political parties and general elections

There are two political parties currently represented in the House of Assembly: the liberal, centrist New Ulster Democratic Party and the conservative, centre-right Liberal Conservative Party.