Politics of Edury


 * Edury*** is a federal, multiparty constitutional republic. While there is no official, constitutionally endorsed political ideology, the main parties which tend to control the government tend to be union-led, syndicalist, mid-blue institutions. These parties have their roots in the two formative revolutions of Eduran history, the civil war of 1801, and the 1861 revolution. Following the civil war, the Dar and the Senate, while preserved, continued to exist in a much reduced capacity. Replacing their importance was the Lord-Magistrate, and the Assembly. Following 1861, the present partisan system of Ledemeets was established, and the importance of union-lead politics was enshrined.

While not enshrined officially in any constitutional document, the importance of the worker-lead state has been held paramount for a long time. Various blue-shade political ideologies have generally been the governing norm since the 1861 revolution, with the as-yet-unnamed variation of wheelerism championed by Gundiagh-Eduran lawyer and revolutionary Barend de Boer being the most popular. Other blue shades of politics, such as Noyonism, National Revivalism, and Gekezikism are represented, but are generally not the leading ideology of any governing coalition due to various factors, including but not limited to these ideologies tending to remove tradition, and the Eduran cultural importance of the preservation of traditional structures.

The nation’s head-of-state is the Dar, who’s duties as head of the moderating branch are mostly ceremonial and confer little to no power to the office holder. The head of government, and the chief executive, is the Lord-Magistrate, who is chosen by virtue of being the leader of the largest party in parliament. The Lord-Magistrate appoints cabinet ministers, controls the agenda of the Assembly, and holds veto power on bills voted by the assembly. The sweeping powers of the Lord-Magistrate have led some to call Edury a “dictatorial democracy”, however this is a minority opinion. While the Senate still exists, the chamber of the Diet with political importance is the Great and Rightwise Ledemeet of Boroughmen, or just the ‘Assembly’ for the sake of brevity. The Assembly creates and votes on legislation, controls the budget for the government, and has the power to recall any minister at will, or to demand the Dar suspend the Lord-Magistrate’s executive powers and call a snap-election. The Presidium, made up of the Lord-Magistrate, the Reeve, and any three of the ministers of Cabinet, is the official board of the Assembly. The Reeve, the second in command in the Ledemeet of Boroughmen, is chosen by their parliamentary peers in order to objectively enforce the code of conduct and parliamentary system.

The partisan system of Edury is conducted through the “Ledemeet” system. While there are traditional parties like in other countries, regular parties tend to be small, local, or single-issue affairs. Most major parties are what’s called “People’s Associations”, or **ledemeets** in the local language. These are federated groupings of smaller clubs and chapters. These organizations are locally focused, and deal with much more than politics- inspired partly by the Gundhouses of Lathadu, and the Allhouses of Eduran Stroomism (which I’ll write about later), these Ledemeet chapters have a focus on community, and function as library, foodbank, community center, social club, and sometimes members-only bars or cooking clubs. Historically, the central leaderships Ledemeets have tried to rigidly tie these local chapters to their policy whims, but due to the paradoxically hyper-traditional and yet revolutionary character of Eduran culture, this has been notoriously difficult. The most famous episode of this difficulty was the aftermath of the Great Kerfuffle, in which many chapters of the National Workers Association dissolved their charters, joined and subsequently took over the Other Party. Elections in Edury take place in a mixed-member proportional fashion with geographic voting districts. Constituencies are drawn on a geographic and/or cultural basis, and receive one Burgess (**Boroughman**) for every Electoral Unit (about 300,000 people.) In addition to voting on their local representatives, Eduran voters receive a Partisan Ballot, in which they choose the one party they wish to hold the parliamentary majority, and therefore, the Magisterial chair. Extra seats are given to the parties until their holdings in the Assembly match the percentages of the partisan vote as closely as possible. The party with the most seats then has 30 days to form a coalition and then have their leader receive the Magisterial seat. Elections happen every 5 years for a General Election, but if snap elections are called, the winners finish out the term of the previous government, rather than re-setting the electoral clock. This has led to situations where entrenched but increasingly unpopular governments are unseated late into their term, with the new Lord-Magistrate only holding the Magisterial chair for a year or so, with the shortest ever Lord Magistrate holding the seat for a full 30 days.

Moderating branch
As head of state, the Daar is the highest ranking politician in the country. However, as the head of the moderating branch, the Daar holds very little actual power. While in theory they are the holder of all supreme executive authority, they invest the Lord Magistrate with said authority, and empower them to act on the behalf of the Daar, as the people's chosen representative-at-large. In reality, the primary power of the Daar is to revoke the executive authority that the Lord Magistrate is invested with, effectively calling for a snap election. This is usually only done at the request of either the Assembly (the chief house of the Diet, or parliament) or of the Lord Magistrate. However, it has happened- although rarely- that the Daar will suspend the Lord Magistrate's power, if political conditions call for it. The Daar also acts as the primary master of ceremonies for the country, investing notable individuals with honors, leading the investiture of Parliament, etc.

The other major power of the Daar is as commander in chief of the Eduran military. In reality, the Lord-Magistrate makes important military decisions, but the Daar does hold the ability to refuse a request to declare war. While this has never happened yet, modern legal scholars are mostly in agreement that it is generally within the Daar's discretion to not allow the Diet to declare war. Following the devastation of the third world war, parlimentary law generally forbids the foreign deployment of troops without a declaration of war, which has been a large part of Edury's mostly pacifist recent history.

Executive branch
The executive branch is lead by the Lord Magistrate (hyphanized as Lord-Magistrate is optional,) and the Cabinet, of which the two form the Government of Edury. The Lord Magistrate is charged with major policy decisions, leading the Presidium (The executive committee of the Assembly) as well as leading the Government. The Cabinet is made up of the various ministers, each who has their own ministry.

The Lord-Magistrate, as the chief executive, has the power to veto laws. As part of the executive authority granted to them, they must assent to laws passed through the diet. As the representative-at-large in parliament, the Lord Magistrate also has the ability to vote on law, although this is mostly symbolic.

The various ministries within the Cabinet each oversee and execute their authority through various bureaus, which are sometimes subdivided into smaller offices. For example the Minister of Transport oversees the Bureau of Permanent Ways (which is charged with railway regulation), as well as numerous other institutions. Each minister is titled "Minister of _____" corresponding with their ministry, but important cabinet positions often also receive older, more ceremonial titles. For example, the Minister of the Treasury is also refereed to as the Vaultmaster.

Legislative branch
The Diet of the Commonwealth makes up the legislative branch, and is divided into two houses- the Assembly, and the Senate.

Assembly
The Assembly is the lower house, where legislation originates. The Assembly is elected in a mixed-member proportional fashion, and is multi-partisan. Local constituencies are drawn on a geographic basis, and receive a certain number of elected representatives based on their population. At the moment, it is currently that for every 100,000 people, a constituency receives one representative. Voters also vote on a partisan ballot, where they choose one party they wish to receive the Magisterial chair. Seats are allocated to the parties, who may appoint people to fill extra seats, based on the proportion of the votes on this second ballot they received. The party with the most votes on this ballot has their party leader become the next Lord-Magistrate.

Legislation originates in an Assembly committee appropriate for whatever the legislation deals with. After being approved by the committee, it is sent to the floor of the Assembly, where the bill is read and distributed to the offices of the representatives, and amendments are discussed and voted on. The bill is then debated on, and finally, voted upon. In order to streamline the legislative process, Fridays have been set aside specifically to vote on bills; while bills may be voted upon on other days, Fridays are specifically for voting on legislation. If a bill is approved by more than a 2/3rds majority, the Senate vote is made advisory.

There is a culture which has been called "beautiful chaos" or "legislative hooliganism". In this, representatives are encouraged to shout, cheer, boo, clap, and jeer while a speaking person is making their way to the floor, but are required to become silent once the speaker is ready to start. This has been aided by the application of an electronic system of claiming the right to speak, thus making the debate process a bit more impartial.

Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Diet, and is generally considered to be less important. They cannot originate legislation, nor can they amend bills sent to them by the Assembly. However, the Senate is not an unimportant part of the legislative branch.

Senate seats are apportioned to the provinces of Edury; each one has four Senators, who are elected every other year. With some of the provinces of Edury being very rural, the per-state allotment of senators allows these less populated states to effectively object to laws which do not align with their interests, and prevent the more populated states from receiving an disproportionately high amount of funding or political attention. However, due to the fact that the Senate cannot originate legislation, and the Assembly can effectively veto the Senate with a 2/3rds vote (although this is exceedingly rare and has only happened 5 times in the last half century), means that the per-capita based lower house can effectively legislate based on the will of the people.

Judicial branch
The highest court in Edury is the High Court of Constitutional Questions, which has limited power to interpret the constitution. Edury is a civil law nation, however, the High Court of Constitutional Questions (hereafter called the HCCQ) has the ability to intercede on a case-by-case basis where they think that the law code requires an update, or where the law code does not apply to a novel case, or where the government's enforcement of a law or prerogative contravenes the constitution. Every 20 years, the HCCQ proposes a new civil code to the Diet, updated to match legislation and streamline the code after two decades of amendments and changes.

Lower courts are divided into civil, criminal, and contract courts. Each is administered by a local district court to deal with minor cases, a higher circuit court to deal with major cases, and an appellate court. Judges are chosen from graduates of a specific judicial course from law schools, or otherwise promoted from other justices.

Monarchy vs. republic
In the early days of the Eduran confederal government, the Daar was appointed for life. For the centuries preceding the Eduran Revolution, the Daars would fight with the various Assemblies of the Estates.