Stanham State Government

The Government of the Commonwealth of Stanham, often known as the Stanham Government, is the the executive authority of the state of Stanham, one of the 17 states in the Federal Republic of Concadia. The state-level leader of the party with the confidence of the House of Representatives is invited to form a government by the Governor of Stanham. The leader of this party becomes the First Minister of Stanham.

Since May 2027, the First Minister of Stanham has been the Right Honourable Nicola Harris MSP, the state leader of the Socialist Labour Party. Following the most recent state elections in May 2030, the government has been formed of MSPs and Senators from the Socialist Labour Party, the Green Party and the Communist Party, giving the government control over 165 of the 300 seats in the House of Representatives, and 59 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of Parliament, with the First Minister nominating MSPs or Senators who are then confirmed by the Senate or the Worker's Assembly. Members of the State Cabinet are State Secretaries, whilst junior ministers are State Ministers.

The current Cabinet (Third Harris Ministry) comprises 14 SLP Ministers, 6 Green Ministers and 5 Communist Ministers.

## Constitutional Framework

The passage of the Constitution of the State of Stanham in 1649, the first state government was formed the following year after the first set of Parliamentary elections to the House of Representatives (at this point Senators were appointed by the Governor on the advice of the First Minister).

The Constitution established a bicameral state Parliament with no requirement on seats, only that the Parliament "should be composed in such a way that effectively represents the citizens of the State of Stanham'. This means that both the number of seats, as well as the method of election has changed over time as different interpretations of this clause were taken by the government. Currently, this has been interpreted as having a mixed-member proportional system of election to the House of Representatives and single transferable vote for the State Senate.

In 2004, the state held a referendum on whether or not the Governor should be elected or if they should continue to be appointed by the Federal President. The former option won by a landslide, and Stanham became the first state to amend their constitution to mandate the Governor be elected.

A second major change to the constitution came in 2026, when the Parliament became tricameral with the introduction of the Worker's Assembly. This came in the form of an amendment to the Constitution which was initially passed by both Houses of Parliament and was then confirmed by a referendum of the citizens of Stanham. The Worker's Assembly consists of representatives of the different industries in Stanham and is an advisory House to the Parliament and the Government, meaning no member of the Assembly can be a member of the Government. The Assembly cannot initiate legislation, however it can amend legislation and scrutinise the government via committees.

## Current Ministry

The current Ministry of Stanham consists of 14 SLP Ministers, 6 Green Ministers and 5 Communist Ministers.