Politics of Nhoor

Overview

Nhoor is a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch plays a mostly ceremonial role. The country has had Kings (and one ruling Queen) as its head of state since the founding of the Dominion, but the throne was vacant between the death of the childless King Armhad V in 2017, which left the Cenharruc branch without heirs, and the accession of King Elerha Maximus, of the distantly related Havallandic House of Wolf, on 29 February 2020.

Politically, Nhoor is a bottom-up democracy with complete separation of powers. The current political system has been in place since 1978. The people elect the parliaments of the municipalities (parlament li garhinili) and the parliaments of the provinces (parlament li vōqhinili) of Nhoor, the latter of which in turn elect the parliament the nation (parlament li rhwsali). The parliament of the nation is commonly known as Conast (‘The Floor’). The chairperson of the nation’s parliament was de facto head of state of Nhoor between the death of King Armhad V in 2017 and the accession of King Elerha Maximus in 2020. The incumbent chairwoman has been Her Relevancy Leymhī Arcarany-Ƨach since December 2019.

Legislative

Seat division since December 2019

The legislative powers consist of the aforementioned parliaments. The national parliament of Nhoor is a unicameral institution. It has 199 members who are elected by the members of the provincial parliaments for a four year term. Each province elects a certain amount of seats the number of which is based on its number of inhabitants; before each election the amount of seats represented by a province is recalculated. The members of the provincial parlements elect the members of the national parliament using a system of proportional representation (following the Sainte-Lagüe method), except for the province of Sīron-Onharh, which uses a Single Transferable Vote system.

Under the current constitution, national elections took place in 1977, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2019. Usually they take place on the first Sunday of April, with the new parliament being inaugurated on the first Monday of May of the same year. The elections of 2019 took place on 1 December; these early elections were necessary following the proposal to invite Prince Maximus of Havalland to become the next King of Nhoor. The next elections will take place on Sunday 2 April 2023 at the latest.

Executive

Since 1978, the executive powers of each level are (mostly) self-regulating institutions, which means that the incumbent alderpeople (pɵvar, municipal level), councillors (nhāsɵlteƨy, provincial level), and ministers (munusta, national level) decide for themselves who will leave and who will join them, although the respective legislative institutions can issue binding advise on the appointment or removal of executive members if they consider this in the nation’s interest. The chairperson of the Council of Ministers is the head of government, currently Prime Minister Orumha Cany-Jwchmiqen, since the Council reshuffle of 24 February 2021. Before 2019, the Prime Minister was internationally known as the First Minister. Before 1978, the First Minister was appointed directly by the King. First/Prime Ministers have been since 1845:

Council of Ministers

The members of the Council of Ministers have decided on their own staff changes since 1978, although parliament may issue binding advice on appointments and dismissals. In the table below, colours indicate if a minister has the same portfolio since the last change, has a different portfolio since the last change, or has joined the Council of Ministers since the last change.

Judiciary

Main article: Judiciary of Nhoor

The members of the judiciary are appointed by citizens who have a law degree; citizens with a law degree cannot vote in the elections for the legislative parliaments. Members of the judiciary do not necessarily have to be citizens of Nhoor, but they will have to have a proven knowledge of the Nhoor constitution and the Nhoor Civil and Penal codes, and master the Nhoor language.