The Crotenian Political System
Form: Constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary democracy
Current head of state: King Bernard Aleksandar I of Crotenia
Current head of government: Prime Minister Marko Prodan
The Monarch
I. Constitutionally, the monarch is head of state and has a role in the formation of government and in the legislative process. He has to co-sign every law to make it valid. The ministers, and not the monarch, are responsible for the acts of the government, and the ministers are accountable to Parliament for what he says and does. The ministers, who together make up the cabinet, are responsible for decision-making.
House of Representatives & Senate
II. There are 75 seats in the Senate and 150 in the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives & Senate (Parliament) together form the General-States of Crotenia.
Crotenian elections for the House of Representatives are held every four years under a system of open party list proportional representation. For example: A political party that wins 10% of the votes, will win 10% of the seats in parliament and a party that wins 20% of the vote, will win 20% of the seats.
The 75 Senators are elected every four years by the members of the General-States Of Crotenia of the country's 3 provinces. The Senate’s seats are distributed in one nationwide constituency using party-list proportional representation. Remainder seats are distributed using the highest averages method.
III. The House of Representatives: Is mainly engaged in day-to-day politics. As such, it calls ministers to account, holds debates on new policy and undertakes detailed examination of bills. The 150 members of The House of Representatives are directly elected by Crotenian voters every four years.
IV. The Senate: Has a revising role in relation to draft legislation. Its members do not have the right to amend bills. They can only vote on them and either accept or reject them.
V. Legislation can only come into force after it has been passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
VI. The House of Representatives and the Senate meet in joint session once a year, at the opening of the parliamentary year, when the King/queen gives his/her speech from the throne on Monarch Day, which is the birthday of the ruling king or queen. The rest of the time they meet separately.
Council of ministers
VII. The Government of Crotenia constitutionally consists of the King and the cabinet ministers.
The Council of Ministers is the executive council of Crotenian government, formed by all the ministers including the Deputy Prime Ministers.
The Cabinet is composed of all government ministers. Its job is to take decisions on overall government policy and promote the coherence of policy.
Electoral system
VIII. Crotenia has a multi-party system, with numerous parties, in which usually no one party ever secures an overall majority of votes, so that several parties must cooperate to form a coalition government.
Cabinet forming: The formation of a Crotenian cabinet is the process of negotiating an agreement that will get majority support in parliament for the appointment of the council of ministers and gives sufficient confidence that agreed policies will be supported by parliament.
Crotenian provincial governments
IX. Each of the 3 provinces in Crotenia has its own regional government, with executive power in the hands of the King’s provincial governor. The King’s governor is appointed by the Cabinet and is responsible to the province’s legislature.
X. The 3 provinces are divided in municipalities. Every municipality has it’s own mayor. Mayors are elected every 5 years in the form of local elections. Inhabitants can only vote for a mayor in the municipality they live in.
XI. Overview
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