Political System

The **Kingdom of Vilzland** is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, consisting of three Houses, each fit with their own individual purpose. While the **Monarch** is the Head of State, the **Prime Minister** is the Head of Government.

## Parliamentary Houses

### The Senate

The **Senate** is the legislative lower house, consisting of **Members of Parliament** (or **MPs**) from different political parties. MPs are elected through constituencies within each province, as shown in the constituency count below:

* **Skirling (SK):** 23
* **Dubenring (DU):** 22
* **Dellford (DE):** 20
* **Wagnerbeck (WA):** 23
* **Troonstad (TR):** 23
* **Waalhoven (WH):** 22
* **Epienne (EP):** 30
* **Parac (PA):** 21
* **Canesse (CA):** 27
* **Greater Ljochstéd (GL):** 20
* **Total:** 231

The party that holds the most constituency seats becomes the leading party. The leader of that party becomes the **Prime Minister of Vilzland**.

The Senate convenes regularly to discuss, scrutinise and vote on proposed bills. Bills that are passed in the Senate become **national law**, which apply in all provinces and cities. This also means that laws proposed by **Provincial Governors** and **Mayors** will have to comply with national law, or they can be declared void by the courts.

### House of Honour

The **House of Honour** is the legislative upper house, consisting of experts and specialists in different areas of expertise. They are voted by the government, similar to a committee, and branch out from any and all fields, including engineering, economics, sport and culture, media, etc.

The House of Honour's job is to scrutinise legislation passed through them. They can bar legislation from going through, but the Senate can overrule them if two-thirds of the Senate vote in favour.

The House of Honour is reshuffled after every general election, however members can keep their seats depending on the current climate. This is in order to make sure that expertise is kept as modern as possible. With each new Senate, there are 150 seats available in the House of Honour.

### House of Aristocracy

The **House of Aristocracy** rarely ever convenes, unless a monarch dies or abdicates. The House of Aristocracy is made up of respectable aristocratic noblemen, whose job is to choose the next monarch from a list of heirs. This consists of Dukes, Princes, the Clergy, etc.

The House of Aristocracy was last convened in 1946, to appoint **Robrecht van der Straeten** as **Robrecht II**, after the abdication of Philippe I.

## Political Positions

### Prime Minister

The **Prime Minister** is the Head of Government, who represents the party with the most seats or with a majority in the Senate. They act as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as well as the leader of the Senate. They are often the ones to propose important national new legislation, to be debated within the Senate. They are also the chief of diplomacy, being the official representative of the Kingdom, on behalf of the monarch.

### Leader of the Opposition

The **Leader of the Opposition** has no real major power per se and are merely another Member of Parliament, but they are the leader of the major opposition party to the government, meaning their position is still of strong influence.

### Provincial Governor

A **Provincial Governor** is someone in charge of the well-being of a major province. They are elected through two-stage voting by the three to four large cities within each province. Their job is to represent their province as an MP, but can make provincial-only laws by decree if they so wish to. However, if their provincial laws are declared incompatible with national law, they are made illegitimate and voided by the courts.

### Mayor

A **Mayor** is someone who is in charge of a provincial capital, the more populated areas, including the national capital city, **Ljochstéd**, which acts as a Mayoral city rather than a province. Like Provincial Governors, they are elected through two-stage voting within that capital city alone, and can make decisions that only affect their city. However, these decisions can be overruled by their Provincial Governor, and Mayors are also subject to illegitimacy if their laws are incompatible with national law.

**NOTE: An MP can be a Mayor AND a Provincial Governor at the same time, but one person cannot be Mayor of two cities or Governor of two Provinces at once.**

**NOTE TWO: The person MUST be a pre-existing MP before they can run for Mayor or Provincial Governor.**

### Senate Speaker

The **Senate Speaker** is in charge of calling the Senate to order and announcing the activities of the Senate. They act very similarly to the Speaker of the House in the United Kingdom, with similar areas of impartiality; before becoming the Speaker, the MP must first renounce their political affiliation and allow for their seat to be occupied as the Speaker's Constituency. The Speaker cannot be a Mayor nor Provincial Governor, and must hold no government position.

## Voting

### Senate

The Senate is voted based on constituencies, as mentioned above, with an FPTP system. Pretty standard stuff.

### Provincial Governors / Mayors

**Provincial Governors** and **Mayors** are both elected through a two-stage voting system. In the first round, candidates announce their intention to run (as long as they are existing MPs and are local to the city or province), and the first round of voting is a free-for-all until two or three more popular candidates are announced for the final vote. Parties can choose to throw their support behind a candidate that represents a plethora of different views for the area; for example, a candidate who represents both **Christian Democrats** and **Union-Vilzland** views could win the endorsement of those two parties going forward into the second round of voting.

The second stage is the main competition for the position between the two or three remaining finalists. It is as long a process as the first stage, but campaigns will be more concentrated and focused on the prize, while the first round was merely for endorsements and initial support. At the end, the second vote determines the winner out of the two or three, and that winner becomes Mayor or Provincial Governor.

### Senate Speaker

The **Senate Speaker** is a position that requires absolute impartiality. Before candidates are allowed to enter the race, they must first take the **First Oath of Renouncement** (as seen below) in order to confirm that they are willing to renounce their political affiliation before entering the race. Once they are agreed and entered, the position of Senate Speaker is put to a vote by all MPs in the Senate. It is a contest of popular vote done through MP voting booths. The candidate with the most votes wins, and must take the **Second Oath of Renouncement**.

## Oaths of Office

### Prime Minister / Deputy Prime Minister

The **Prime Minister** and **Deputy Prime Minister** oaths are the same, except for the inclusion of the word "Deputy" shown below. The oath is conducted on the first day of the Senate, to commemorate its opening.

"I, [name], do hereby declare, that I shall faithfully execute the role of [Deputy] Prime Minister. I shall serve Vilzland and her King with pride, and lead the nation not into despair. God bless my soul."

**NOTE: The Deputy Prime Minister always goes first in terms of inauguration. The Prime Minister, being the Head of Government, is the last to be inaugurated in every case.**

### First Oath of Renouncement (Senate Speaker)

The **Senate Speaker** has two oaths they must conduct. The first is conducted by candidates wanting to take part in the vote, as an initial renouncement of the political affiliation during the voting procedure:

"I, [name], do hereby declare, that I renounce my beliefs and standings, in due course of this process of which I am about to take, and do humbly reject them unless my service is without requirement."

This oath does not include the "God bless my soul" ending, as it is not the acceptance of the final position.

### Second Oath of Renouncement (Senate Speaker)

The **Senate Speaker's** second oath is the one conducted by the winner of the vote. They take this oath before they are legitimately recognised as the new Senate Speaker:

"I, [name], do hereby declare, that I renounce my beliefs and standings, and humbly reject them until my service is of no further requirement. I shall embrace impartiality, and lead the Senate not into disorder, for as long as I may serve. God bless my soul."

**NOTE: If for whatever reason a new Prime Minister and new Speaker are to be inaugurated together, the Speaker conducts their inauguration first, followed by the Deputy Prime Minister, and finally the Prime Minister.**