States of Lungary

**Subdivisions** | Counties ∙ municipalities ∙ boroughs

**Lungary** is a federal constitutional monarchy consisting of thirty **states** (Lungarian: *Land*, plural *lander*). Each constituent state maintains a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, including the right to have their own constitutions and parliaments. The states of Munbach, Kolna, and Plettenbrück are typically referred to as *stadtlander* ("city-states"), but function identically to the other states. The remaining twenty-seven are referred to as exclusively *lander*.

The original twenty-four states were founded in 1904, following the reestablishment of Lungary from the Lungarian Empire to the Federal Kingdom of Lungary. The remaining six states were founded throughout the 21st-century through referendums which partitioned large states into several smaller ones. In 1970, the state of Veckerland was separated into Northwest Veckerland, Southeast Veckerland, and Outer Veckerland; in 1976, the state of Aürbrück was created after splitting from Boizenlohn; in 1980, the states of Oderdorf and Siegbog were created after splitting from Delmenlein; in 1992, the state of Bellinmünster was created after splitting from Abenthal.

Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Lungary. According to the Lungarian constitution, some topics, such as foreign affairs and defense, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and the federation; the states retain residual legislative authority for all other areas, including "culture", which in Lungary includes not only topics such as financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training. Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level, the constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Pflescheskart ("federal council," the upper house of the parliament of Lungary) and in areas where they have legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government".

## Government

Besides the three city-states, each state has their own unicameral parliament, which is known as a *landtag* (*land*, "state", *tag*, "body"). The number of seats in each legislature fluctuates between states. States are at liberty to set the frequency of their state elections, and when they occur; most states hold state elections every four years, often not aligning with federal elections.

Much like in federal politics, each political party elects an individual to serve as their party leader in each state. Following state elections, the leader of the state party that leads the majority coalition in the *landtag* becomes *minister-president*. A *minister-president* is a role akin to the Prime Minister, and serves as head of government for the state. They also lead a council of ministers, which is tasked with proposing legislation to the *landtag*. Many *minister-presidents* play a role in federal politics as well, as they are often highly visible figures and are frequently chosen to serve in the federal government or as federal party leaders.

### City-states

City-states function similarly to the other states, although they do not have a *landtag* or a *minister-president*. Instead of a *landtag*, each city-state has a city council, more akin to the other cities of Lungary. The city council functions identically to a *landtag*. Also more similarly to cities than other states, each city-state's head of government is a mayor, although their powers are identical to a *minister-president*, rather than to a mayor of a city. City-states also have state party leaders, and these state party leaders often have even higher levels of influence than some state party leaders in other states, due to the importance of the three city-states.

## Subdivisions

The main subdivisions of a state are counties and municipalities. The city-states of Munbach, Kolna, and Plettenbrück are not broken up into counties or municipalities, instead being subdivided into boroughs. The boroughs function similarly to municipalities.

### Counties

*Main article: Counties of Lungary*

Each state is divided into several counties. Counties are a unique subdivision, as they each have their own head of state and head of government, much like the federal government. The counts and countesses of Lungary are the ceremonial heads of state, which do not have any official powers in government. Each county is governed by a county council, with its councillors elected by citizens of the county. The county council appoints a county executive, who serves as the head of government; the county executive is not a member of the council, but belongs to the governing coalition of the council.

### Municipalities

Each county is divided into several municipalities. A municipality can be designated as rural or urban; rural municipalities are centered around a single hamlet, which is then surrounded by smaller villages. Meanwhile, an urban municipality is centered around a city, which is then surrounded by smaller towns. Municipalities exist for statistical purposes, and do not have an elected government. For the most part, municipalities are represented in local government through their county governments; however, cities will have a city council and mayor, which is the smallest form of local government that exists in Lungary.