Shingōan Government

*For general information about the country of Shingō, see Imperial Republic of Shingō*

### Polity Type

Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy

## Judicial Branch

### Head

Supreme Court of Shingō

The **Government of Shingō** consists of legislative, executive, and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Shingō, first created in 135 G.E. It is a unitary state, containing six administrative regions, with the Emperor as its Head of State. His role is ceremonial and he has no powers related to Government. Instead, it is the Cabinet, comprising the Ministers of State and the Prime Minister, that directs and controls the Government and the civil service. The Cabinet has the executive power and is formed by the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government. The Prime Minister is designated and appointed to office by the members of Parliament.

The Parliament is the legislature, the organ of the Legislative branch. It is unicameral, consisting of a single house of elected members. Its members are directly elected by the people, who are the source of sovereignty. It is defined as the supreme organ of sovereignty in the Constitution. The Supreme Court and other inferior courts make up the Judicial branch and have all the judicial powers in the state. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Shingōan constitution and the power of judicial review. They are independent from the executive and the legislative branches. Judges are designated or appointed by the Cabinet and never removed by the executive or the legislature except during impeachment.

## The Emperor

The Emperor of Shingō (天皇) is the head of the Imperial Family and the ceremonial head of state. He is defined by the Constitution to be "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people". However, he is not the nominal Chief Executive and he possesses only certain ceremonially important powers. He has no real powers related to the Government as stated in chapter 14 of the Constitution.

Following new legislation passed in 395 G.E., the Emperor's presence in social and political affairs has been expanded, with him being permitted to ceremonially open and close sessions of Parliament and deliver annual speeches to the people on the state of the nation. This speech, however, is heavily curated and does not include any personal commentary.

The current Emperor of Shingō (今上天皇) is Shirayama. He was officially enthroned on January 1, 391 G.E., following the abdication of his father.

## Executive

The Executive branch of Shingō is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet, and is designated by the legislative organ, the Parliament. The Cabinet consists of the Ministers of State and may be appointed or dismissed by the Prime Minister at any time. The practice of its powers is responsible to Parliament, and as a whole, should the Cabinet lose confidence and support to be in office by Parliament, the Parliament may dismiss the Cabinet *en masse* with a motion of no confidence.

### Prime Minister

The Prime Minister of Shingō (内閣総理大臣) is designated by Parliament and serves a term of four years; with no limits imposed on the number of terms the Prime Minister may hold. However, because the Prime Minister is a member of Parliament, they are subject to the Constitutional rule which states that all members of Parliament must retire upon reaching eighty years of age. Prior to the Prime Ministership of Hikaru Nakajima, all Shingōan prime ministers had operated under the historical precedent set by Sōsuke Koide (the first prime minister of Shingō) of stepping down after one's second term in office. The majority of all Shingōan prime ministers, therefore, have served two terms or less in office. The Prime Minister heads the Cabinet and exercises "control and supervision" of the executive branch, and is the head of government and commander-in-chief of the Shingōan Military. The Prime Minister is vested with the power to present bills to Parliament, to sign laws, and to declare states of emergency. He or she presides over the Cabinet and appoints, or dismisses, the other Cabinet ministers.

Parliament designates the Prime Minister with a ballot cast under the run-off system. If a single member does not receive a majority of all votes, then subsequent elections are held with the members who received the least number of votes in the previous election being eliminated.

### The Cabinet

The Cabinet of Shingō (内閣) consists of the Ministers of State and the Prime Minister. The members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister. Article 52 of the Constitution states that all members of the Cabinet must be civilians and residents of Shingō for at least eight years. Additionally, national law states that a majority of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, must be members of Parliament. The Cabinet is required to resign *en masse* while still continuing its functions, till the appointment of a new Prime Minister, when the following situation arises:

1. Parliament passes a non-confidence resolution, or rejects a confidence resolution, unless Parliament is dissolved within the next ten days.
2. When there is a vacancy in the post of the Prime Minister, or upon the first convocation of Parliament after a general election of the members of Parliament.

#### Ministries

The Ministries of Shingō (行政機関) consist of seven total ministries. Each ministry is headed by a Minister of State, which are mainly senior legislators, and are appointed from among the members of the Cabinet by the Prime Minister. The names and functions of these ministries are as follows:

* **Ministry of Agriculture**
	+ responsible for oversight of the agriculture, forestry, food, and fishing industries.
* **Ministry of Defense**
	+ oversees the armed forces and national defense. Responsible for military and veterans affairs policy.
* **Ministry of Finance**
	+ responsible for the overall stewardship of the Shingōan economy. This includes preparing the annual national budget, as well as advising the Government on economic and fiscal matters, tax and tariff policy, social measures, security issues, financial stability and Shingō’s international commitments.
* **Ministry of Foreign Affairs**
	+ responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations.
* **Ministry of Health and Labor**
	+ advises the national government in matters pertaining to worker safety and healthcare. It is responsible for enforcing laws relating to public health, safety, and sanitation.
* **Ministry of Infrastructure**
	+ advises the national government in matters pertaining to housing, infrastructure, urban development, and transport. It directs and appoints members to the National Homelessness Coordinating and Financing Council and oversees and reports on the developments of the Housing Assistance Program.
* **Ministry of Justice**
	+ responsible for the judicial system, correctional services, and household, property, and corporate registrations. It also serves as the government's legal representatives.

While Deputy Prime Minister is not an official cabinet position, its manner of appointment and dismissal is similar to cabinet ministers and it is often included in cabinet meetings. The Constitution states that the Deputy Prime Minister temporarily assumes the duties of Prime Minister when the office is vacant until Parliament is able to elect a new Prime Minister. Additionally, the Deputy Prime Minister also has the authority to address Parliament and the Cabinet on behalf of the Prime Minister when asked to do so. It is possible for a Minister of State (official member of the cabinet) to also be the Deputy Prime Minister.

## Legislative

The Legislative branch organ of Shingō is the Parliament (国会). It is a unicameral legislature, consisting of a single house of elected representatives. Empowered by the Constitution to be "the highest organ of State power" and the only "sole law-making organ of the State," its members are elected using a Mixed-Member-Proportional voting system and is ensured by the Constitution to have no discrimination on the qualifications of each member; whether be it based on "race, creed, sex, social status, family origin, education, property or income". Parliament, therefore, reflects the sovereignty of the people; a principle of popular sovereignty whereby the supreme power lies within, in this case, the Shingōan people.

Parliament's responsibilities include the making of laws, the approval of the annual national budget, the approval of the conclusion of treaties, and the selection of the Prime Minister. In addition, it has the power to initiate draft constitutional amendments, which, if approved, are to be presented to the people for ratification in a referendum. The Constitution also enables Parliament to conduct investigations in relation to government, demand the presence and testimony of witnesses, and the production of records, as well as allowing the house to demand the presence of the Prime Minister or the other Minister of State, in order to give answers or explanations whenever so required. Parliament is also able to impeach Court judges convicted of criminal or irregular conduct.

All decisions in Parliament are decided by a majority of those present, unless otherwise stated by the Constitution, and in the case of a tie, the matter is to be treated as rejected. A member cannot be expelled, however, unless two-thirds or more of those members present passes a resolution therefor. The Prime Minister may be removed from office by Parliament via a majority of votes being cast in favor of a motion of no confidence.

### Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Shingō. The speaker opens and closes meetings and debates in Parliament and determines who speaks. The speaker also represents the Parliament as a whole, such as in ceremonies and with visits by foreign officials and heads of state. As a Member of Parliament, the speaker has the right to vote; however, speakers usually follow the precedent set by Speaker Togashi Tanemoro in 155 G.E. of not voting on contentious matters in Parliament (or only voting to allow further debate or preserve the status quo). Additionally, speakers abide by the precedent of not engaging in debates with other members so as to remain impartial.

The speaker is a Member of Parliament who is elected by other Members of Parliament and typically holds the office throughout their 4 year term, unless they resign or are removed. There are no limits on the number of times an individual may serve as speaker; however, they, like all members of Parliament, must retire upon reaching eighty years of age. The Constitution states that Parliament shall vote to elect a new speaker whenever the position is vacant. In a similar manner to elections for the prime minister, Parliament elects the speaker using a run-off system. If a single member does not receive a majority of all votes, then subsequent elections are held with the members who received the least number of votes in the previous election being eliminated. In most cases, however, subsequent elections are not needed.

## Judicial

The Judicial branch of Shingō consists of the Supreme Court, and two other lower courts; the Appeals Courts and Local Courts. The Judicial branch's independence from the executive and legislative branches are guaranteed by the Constitution, and is stated as: "no extraordinary tribunal shall be established, nor shall any organ or agency of the Executive be given final judicial power"; a feature known as the Separation of Powers. Article 60 of the Constitution states that all the Court judges are independent in the exercise of their own conscience and that they are only bounded by the Constitution and the laws. Court judges are removable only by public impeachment, and can only be removed, without impeachment, when they are judicially declared mentally or physically incompetent to perform their duties. The Constitution also explicitly denies any power for executive organs or agencies to administer disciplinary actions against judges.

Trials must be conducted, with judgment declared, publicly, unless the Court "unanimously determines publicity to be dangerous to public order or morals"; with the exception for trials of political offenses, offenses involving the press, and cases wherein the rights of people as guaranteed by the Constitution, which cannot be deemed and conducted privately.

### Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Shingō (最高裁判所) is the court of last resort and has the power of Judicial review; as defined by the Constitution to be "the court of last resort with power to determine the constitutionality of any law, order, regulation or official act". The Supreme Court is also responsible for nominating judges to lower courts and determining judicial procedures. It also oversees the judicial system, overseeing activities of public prosecutors, and disciplining judges and other judicial personnel.

The Supreme Court consists of five total judges who are appointed by the Cabinet and must be confirmed by an independent committee of members of Parliament. The Constitution states that judges may serve a maximum of sixty years in their positions and must retire upon reaching eighty years of age.

### Appeals Courts

The Appeals Courts of Shingō (控訴裁判所) have the jurisdiction to hear appeals to judgments rendered by Local Courts, excluding cases that have been (or will be) heard by the Supreme Court. Criminal appeals are directly handled by the Appeals Courts, but Civil cases are first handled by Local Courts. Regional Appeals Courts have the authority to overrule judgements issued by Local Courts. These courts are also known as "Prefectural Courts," as each Appeals Court has jurisdiction over a single, specified prefecture in the country.

### Local Courts

The Local Courts of Shingō (地方裁判所) have have the authority to hear initial civil and criminal cases within their geographical jurisdiction. Local Courts typically have jurisdiction over a given metropolitan area or over various smaller towns or villages.

### Penal System

The Penal system of Shingō (矯正施設) is operated by the Ministry of Justice. It is part of the criminal justice system, and is intended to resocialize, reform, and rehabilitate offenders.

## Institutions & Precedents

### National, Prefectural, Territorial, and Municipal Governments

There are three levels of government in the Shingō, each differing in responsibilities and scale. Article 80 of the Constitution states, "Prefectural and territorial laws shall not, under any circumstances, conflict with or undermine this Constitution or national laws passed by Parliament." Functionally, the responsibilities and laws passed by each level of government are as follows:

**National** - Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Banking, National Taxes, Mail Services, Copyright Law, Criminal Law, Civil Rights Law

**Prefectural and Territorial** - Prefectural and Territorial Taxes, Hospitals, Prisons, Education, Marriage, Property, Distribution of Legal Permits

**Municipal** - Building Permits and Zoning, City Parks, Public Transportation, Garbage Collection and Recycling, Water and Sewer Services, Fire Prevention, Infrastructure

### Primary Elections

In both national and prefectural elections, most political parties have primary elections, during which members of a party will vote to nominate party leaders and other preferred candidates to be placed on said party's PR List. Typically, the individual with the highest number of votes in a primary election will be declared leader of the party, and thus, they will be said party's candidate for Prime Minister in an upcoming national election. Other party candidates will be placed on the party's PR List in order of their total votes received. List seats won by a party in a national election will subsequently be filled by these candidates.

Despite the prevalence of this practice, there is no legal requirement for parties to have primary elections and any party may hypothetically nominate their own candidates for Prime Minister and PR Lists without consulting voters (although this practice is highly discouraged). Some political parties choose to rely solely on public votes to determine their candidates for political positions while others give a significant level of decision-making power to senior members of the party.

## Voting & Elections

### National Elections

The Imperial Republic of Shingō utilizes a mixed-member proportional representation system in which voters get two votes: one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency, and one for a political party. Seats in the legislature are filled first by the successful constituency candidates, and second, by party candidates based on the percentage of nationwide votes that each party received. The constituency representatives are elected using first-past-the-post voting, in which the candidate who receives the largest number of votes is declared the winner. Constituency boundaries are redrawn every few years by an impartial council, and no single constituency may transcend prefectural borders. The nationwide party representatives are drawn from published party lists, in which those at the top of the list are the first to receive positions in Parliament if their party has won "list-seats." A party must meet a 3% threshold in its total percentage of party votes received in order to have list seats.

    The ranking of party lists are determined by party primary elections, as prescribed by national law. In a party primary, several candidates (who must be members of their party of interest) will campaign within a political party with the goal of being placed on said party's list. List spaces are allocated based on which candidate received the largest share of votes within the primary, with those who received the most votes being placed at the top of the list. Only registered members of a political party may vote in said party's primary elections.

MMP differs from parallel voting in that the nationwide seats are allocated to political parties in a compensatory manner in order to achieve proportional election results, and differs from the mixed single vote in that voters can split their ticket, voting for different parties locally and on the national level. Under MMP, two parties that each receive 25% of the votes may both end up with 25% of the seats, even if one party wins more constituencies than the other. Parties are to be allocated list seats until they are exactly represented or slightly overrepresented in Parliament according to their share of the national party vote.

### Local Elections

Elections held to determine the composition of prefectural and territorial legislatures in the Imperial Republic of Shingō utilize a proportional representation system, meaning that a party's share of seats in the legislature will be based on the total percentage of votes received in an election. Legislature elections, however, utilize an open-list system, as opposed to the closed-list system used in national elections. In an open-list system, voters are able to influence the order in which a party's representatives are elected. Local elections are typically held two years after national elections and are often collectively referred to as midterms (due to occurring midway through members of the national parliament's terms in office). Only residents of a given prefecture of territory are permitted to vote or run for office in these elections.

Elections for Municipal (City) governments utilize an approval voting system, meaning that voters may vote for one or more candidates and the candidates with the most total votes are elected as members of the city council. Members of the city council subsequently appoint one individual among their membership to serve the position of mayor. In some municipalities, however, citizens directly elect the mayor utilizing a first-past-the-post system. The number of members of a given city council differs across municipalities and ranges from 3 to 9. In small villages and towns, citizens may directly govern through a general assembly (public meeting of town residents) which has similar authority to a city council.

### Overhang Seats

The Constitution of Shingō does not forbid the creation of overhang seats; however, such measures have never been taken in the country's history. Overhang seats would conceptually be used when a party wins more constituency seats than it would be entitled to from its proportion of (party list) votes. These overhang seats would then be filled by those candidates who earned it in the constituency elections.

### Example (77th Shingōan National Election)

Election MapNational Party VoteComposition of Parliament after election
1. ↑ Shingō Prefectures
2. ↑ Chapter 14, Articles 99-102 of the Constitution of Shingō
3. ↑ Chapter 3 of the Constitution of Shingō
4. ↑ Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Shingō
5. ↑ Chapter 4 of the Constitution of Shingō
6. ↑ Chapter 14, Article 99 of the Constitution of Shingō
7. ↑ Chapter 3, Articles 58-59 of the Constitution of Shingō
8. ↑ Chapter 2, Article 41 of the Constitution of Shingō
9. ↑ List of prime ministers of Shingō
10. ↑ Amendment 4, Article 114 of the Constitution of Shingō
11. ↑ Chapter 4, Article 69 of the Constitution of Shingō
12. ↑ Chapter 6, Article 80 of the Constitution of Shingō