Politics of Enqusqo

Énqusqó is a confederation of states that is governed within the framework of parliamentary democracy. Under a constitutionally constrained council of the heads of government of the confederated states serving as a central head of state while the Grand Senator, currently Lalín Woóra Múza, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the Énqusqan government, on behalf of the governments of the confederated states. Legislative power is vested in the two Gardens of the Senate of Énqusqó, the Public Senate and the Regal Senate.

The Énqusqan political system is a multi-party system. Since the republic's inception, multiple parties with divergent ideologies have been able to establish a foothold amongst the voting population. Traditionally, these parties follow different interpretations of Urbocentrism, although some other ideologies also have representation through Énqusqan political parties.

The constitution of Énqusqó is largely considered to be uncodified, instead being formed from various conventions, statues and international treaties. Many fo these elements are vestigial from the United Cities, which behaved more like an international political and diplomatic forum than a centralised political system. This has allowed Énqusqan politics to focus more on consensus and compromise than other republics with somewhat comparable government structures.

Executive
Executive power in Énqusqó is exercised by the governments of the city-states through the central, devolved Public Council.

Public Council
The Regal Senate appoints a Grand Senator as the head of the central government, guided by the strict convention that the Grand Senator should be a member of the Public Senate most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of that Senate. Conventionally, the grand senator is the leader of the majority party or senior partner in a majority coalition. The Grand Senator appoints the Public Consuls who make up the government and act as political heads of the various Government Councils. The most senior of these councils, known as the Grand Council, acts as the cabinet and is formed from the fifteen most senior consuls, with around 85 consuls in total comprising the government. While not codified in any of the foundational treaties of the republic, constitutional convention dictates that these consuls are members of the Public Senate.

As in many similar political systems of government, the executive (called simply "the government") is drawn from and is answerable to the Gardens of the Senate - a successful vote of no confidence will force the government to resign or to seek senatorial dissolution and a general election. In practice, senators of all major parties are strictly controlled by [WHIPS] who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. Despite this, there is a strong political culture of cooperation and so often governments must reach compromises with the other parties in the legislature in order to pass legislation.

Grand Senator and the Grand Council
The Grand Senator, currently Lalín Woóra Múza, is the most senior member of the Grand Council. They are responsible for chairing meetings of the Grand Council, appointing Grand Consuls (and all other positions in the government), and formulating government policy. Being the de facto leader of the RCE, the Grand Senator exercises the combined executive functions that are nominally vested in the heads of states of the member city-states.

The Grand Senator is theoretically considered as a first among their peers on the Grand Council as per the 1967 amendments, wherein they are bound to make executive decisions in collaboration with their fellow Consuls. The Public Council consists of the Grand Senator, Grand Consuls from the various government councils and some members of the Regal Council. While the Gardens of the Senate are in session, Grand Council meetings are usually held weekly.

Government councils and the Regal Council
The Government of Énqusqó contains a number of ministries known as councils, e.g. Council of the Interior. These are headed by a Public Consul who is often a Grand Consul and a member of the Grand Council. They may also be supported by a number of junior Consuls.

Implementation of the Consul's decisions is carried out by the permanent organisation called the Regal Council. Its role, as defined by the fundamental law of the republic, is to support the current government regardless of the current political party in power. In this function, the Regal Council fills the role of the civil service in other democratic systems, however, unlike many of those systems, regal consuls do not leave their post upon a change in the central Government. the administration of government councils is handled by a regal consul called the Permanent Consul. Regal Consuls are appointed to their positions by the Regal Senate which acts collectively as the head of the Regal Council.

Legislature
The Gardens of the Senate are the supreme legislative body in Énqusqó, and the government is drawn from and answerable to it. The Gardens are bicameral, consisting of the Public Senate and the Regal Senate. In addition, each member-state has its own, largely autonomous, legislatures and political systems.

Public Senate
Each member city-state has an allocated number of seats to represent them in the Public Senate, chosen by individually negotiated treaties, not by a consistent algorithm. Each member-state elects candidates to these seats in the Public Senate at general elections, and, if required, at by-elections. As of the accession of Qényalqaró in 2011, the number of seats in the Public Senate was 351, with each state having a minimum of 9 representatives.

The unique circumstances under which the republic formed fostered a cooperative and compromising political culture within the legislature. The constitutional treaties of the republic enshrine this culture into the functioning of the legislature, where a two-thirds majority is required for a bill to be approved by the Public Senate for review by the Legal Senate. It is rare for a single political party to obtain a simple majority of seats within the Public Senate, due to the constitutional criterion that elections must be held using some manner of proportional representation. This has led to most governments being formed from coalitions, with the occasional minority government.

The Public Senate uses a run-off ballot to select the senator who has the senate's confidence as a recommendation for Grand Senator to the Regal Senate for appointment. This system ensures that the Regal Senate does not mistakenly appoint a Grand Senator that does not enjoy the support of both Gardens of the Senate. The Public Senate is the only body of the Gardens that can propose statutory laws. These laws come in three distinct subtypes:


 * Direct Statues - Legally binding across the whole republic without implementation into the laws of member states.
 * Indirect Statutes - Legally binding across the whole republic, however, implementation to uphold the outlines of the statute is free for the individual governments to decide. These laws must be written into the legislature of member states to have an effect.
 * Specifications - Legally binding only to specific parties (including member states) that are ruled on by the statute.

These three types of statutory legislation are used as necessary per situation. Indirect statutes are most commonly created as they allow for each member state to implement solutions within their own governmental systems and promote solutions being found on the most pertinent level. Some scholars have written that the use of indirect statutes has created a situation wherein the primary law of member states could be viewed as secondary legislation under the republic, which has been a topic of much debate in political science literature. Specifications are unlike the two other subtypes in that they do not require approval from the Regal Senate for their implementation, instead, the Judicial Senate must vote unanimously in favour of the legislation. Although not codified, it is understood that the Judicial Senate would not veto any such specification unless it was found to be in breach of the fundamental and/or common law of the Republic. This means that specifications are considered passed without consultation of the Judicial Senate, and any concerned parties may appeal to the Grand Court if they deem the specification to breach any pre-existing legislation.

Regal Senate
The Regal Senate acts simultaneously as the head of state for the republic and as the upper house of the legislature. It consists of 33 members, who are the heads of government for each of the confederated city-states of the republic. As a legislative body, the Regal Senate predates the formal foundation of the republic, having served as the main forum for political discussion in the early days of the UC. In its modern form, the powers of the Regal Senate are tightly constrained. In theory, the Regal Senate exists still as a forum for the leaders of the member states to unanimously agree to implement billsproposed by the Public Senate, and almost all legislature produced by the Public Senate requires unanimous approval by the Regal Senate to become binding. In practice, the Regal Senate provides a further opportunity for bills to be reviewed and deemed appropriate for implementation in the republic.

As the head of state, the Regal Senate is also the only body with the authority to appoint a Grand Senator and by extension their Government to office. The Regal Senate can trigger its own vote of no confidence in the government, which, if not unanimously in support of the government, must trigger a vote of no confidence in the Public Senate.