Politics of the Totzkan Union

The Totzkan Union is a federation, composed of 13 states, governed under the framework of a constitutional republic. National power is divided between the 13 state governments and the federal government. Power in the federal government is separated into five branches; the executive, the legislative, the judiciary, the administrative and the ethnographic.

Executive power of federal government is wielded by the Conselho Supremo, chaired and nominated by the popularly elected President-Executor. Excluding the president, the Conselho Supremo is currently comprised of ten directors who each oversee an area of the federal government’s jurisdiction through the Federal Executive, the administrative branch of government. The State-Presidents also sit on the Conselho Supremo to advise the directors and the President-Executor.
Each state of the Union is divided into twenty single-member constituencies which elect a representative, called a commissioner, every three years. The total 260 commissioners go on to form the Comissão Popular, the legislature of the Totzkan Union. The Comissão Popular acts as a check on the power of the federal government by exercising two important powers: Adjudication and Appraisal. A motion of Adjudication can be called to see if any action taking by the government (this includes the implementation of legislation, the appointment of individuals to the executive government or the ratification of treaties) has the support of the Comissão Popular. If it does not the action is prevented. Motions of appraisal are similar but levied against past acts of governments, enabling the Comissão Popular to repeal laws and remove individuals from government.

Each state manages and structures its own criminal, civil, industrial, financial, administrative and appeal courts. The federal government manages the two highest courts of appeal, the Federal Tribunal of Criminal Offences and the State Judicial Tribunal, which, along with the Constitutional Tribunal, make up the Supreme Tribunal of the Union. The federal court also manages the military courts. Totzka has one of the oldest traditions of common law with precedents dating back to the Oza Covenant in the 2nd century BCE. As Totzkan culture generally emphasises judicial subjectivism the Union has an exceptional small civil code.

The Federal Executive, the administrative branch of the federal government, is responsible for the implementations of the policies made by the Conselho Supremo. The Federal Executive is comprised of 10 executive sections which oversee different responsibilities. The Federal Executive is supposedly kept separate from the executive branch (the Conselho Supremo) through the principles of impartiality, permanence and meritocracy.

The United Totzkan Cultures Agency (ACTU) is considered the fifth branch of government created to enforce the constitution’s mandate “to protect the culture and identity of its constituent nations”. ACTU essentially oversees sensitive matters relating Totzka’s many cultural groups, ethnounions, tribes and clans. It operates along the similar principles of the Federal Executive of impartiality, permanence and meritocracy to ensure its separation from the other branches of government however it does not implement policies created by the executive branch. Instead ACTU’s power lies in the creation of ‘Impositions’, legally binding proclamations relating to inter-ethnic relations and the cultural practices of Totzka’s many peoples. These impositions can be overturned by the state and federal government.

The state governments have enormous variety to how they are structured. The only constitutional requirement as that each state government must have the support of the state’s respective twenty commissioners. As such some state governments (such as those located in Pamilya region) act more as parliamentary democracies, with the State-President being a member of the Comissão Popular. The Constitution and statue law set out what powers are reserved by the federal and state governments. Some states maintain separate chambers, such as the Vitzkai in Cas Vilsti, or the People’s Senate in the Osyante-Apayo which formerly held legislative powers but are now purely advisory or ceremonial.

The Constitution of the Totzkan Union
The Constitution of the Totzkan Union provides the framework to how the Totzkan Union is governed. It was written by the victorious factions of the Totzkan Revolution, collectively referred to as the Victors, primarily by Amitabh Sanjiv who led the Transitional Government of the Republic of South Totzka from 1974 to 1979 and Suraj Chirapati, leader of the Socialist-Separatist Alliance. They would both serve as the first and second president of the Totzkan Union respectively. The Constitution has been amended eighteen times since it was ratified in 1979. The seventh, eighth and fourteenth amendments all massively extended the power of the president and were nullified by subsequent amendments. The most significant recent change to the constitution has been the overhaul of the judiciary in 2018.

The Comissão Popular and the Comissão Estaduals
The Comissão Popular is the sovereign, unicameral legislative body of the Totzkan Union: sovereign because it’s powers of Adjudication and Appraisal can prevent or reverse any action taken by either the federal or the state governments forcing these governments to retain the support of the Comissão to enact their will and unicameral because, despite the Union’s federal nature, the commissioners of the Comissão Popular are the only constitutionally empowered legislatures in the entire nation. The Comissão Popular also contains a series of committees which serve to scrutinise the functions of the governments.

Each state within the Totzkan Union is divided into twenty ‘commissions’ (constituencies). The population of a commission can vary wildly; the largest being Estado Parazina’s 7th Commission with an electorate of over 120,000 while the smallest is Terra De Osho’s 16th Commission with an electorate of just under 920. Each Commission elects a commissioner to the Comissão Popular at the Comissão elections, held every three years, and, if required, at by-elections. Although the Comissão Popular is unicameral each commissioner sits in two chambers: the Comissão Estadual, where they join the other nineteen commissioners from their state in voting on matters that concern only their state, and the Comissão Popular, where all 260 commissioners sit to vote on matters concerning the nation as a whole. The Comissão Estaduals generally meet more often than the Comissão Popular, in 2017 each of the Comissão Estaduals fully assembled an average of 37.5 times while the Comissão Popular only fully assembled 11 times. Act of Government 7-10-1993 (Use of Delegates in C-P) allowed commissioners to send delegates to the Comissão Popular and instruct how to vote, preventing a conflict of timetabling between the two chambers.

The Comissão Popular is led by the Comissário do Povo. The Comissário do Povo is responsible for arranging the business of the Comissão Popular along with presenting the decisions made by the Comissão Popular to the Conselho Supremo. The Comissário do Povo also has the unique power to invoke the constitution.

In both the Comissão Popular and the Comissão Estaduals each commissioner has right to call for motions of Adjudication and Appraisal against any Act of Government (these include the implementation of legislation, the appointment of individuals to the executive government, the providing of funds or the ratification of treaties). If a motion of Adjudication has the support of a minimum of five commissioners, the entire chamber shall vote on whether or not veto the Act. A majority (161 in the Comissão Popular and 11 in the Comissão Estadual) is required to have the act rejected. Motions of Appraisal operate in a similar fashion but are used against Acts of Government which have already been passed. The original constitution actually required thirty commissioners in the Comissão Popular or ten in the Comissão Estaduals to support a motion of Appraisal for it to be called but this was reduced to just ten and five respectively in 1995 and then just five in all chambers in 2015. Motions of Appraisal cannot be called against previously ratified treaties.

If no motion of Adjudication is called against an Act of Government, it becomes law without ever being voted on by the Comissãos. Because of this the Comissãos are often regarded as a policy-intervening chambers. Neither the Comissão Popular or the Comissão Estaduals have any formal powers to propose or amend legislation, however several committees exist to research and advise the executive branch on the policies it implements. Other committees exist to scrutinise the executive branch.

The Conselho Supremo
The Conselho Supremo is the supreme decision-making body of the Federal Government and is responsible for making policy and directing the Federal Executive in the implementation of said policy. The Conselho Supremo is composed of the President-Executor and, currently, ten directors, who each oversee an ‘Section’ (e.g. Section 2, the Federal Treasury) of government. The Comissário do Povo and the sixteen state presidents also play a large role in advising the Conselho Supremo.
The President-Executor is the most senior member of the Conselho Supremo and has the power to “appoint and dismiss directors at their own discretion” (clause 4, article 3 of the Totzkan Constitution), assuming the Comissão Popular does not intervene. Despite this it is electoral convention for presidential candidates to announce which individuals would sit on their Conselho Supremo should they win, during their election campaign. The president can also create or abolish an executive section, given them power over how the executive and administrative branches are structured. The constitution gives the president the power of Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces of Totzka with “ultimate authority over [their] direction and deployment.” (Article 3 of the Totzkan Constitution).
Presidential elections are held every six years and any Totzkan citizen over the age of 18 can stand for election. The president is indirectly elected by the Totzkan electorate via the Comissão Popular. According to Clause 2, Article 3 of the Totzkan Constitution “A poll shall be held in which the citizens of the Union shall vote for their preferred candidate. The Comissão Popular shall assemble and elect a president, each commissioner must vote for the candidate the majority of their state expressed support for. The candidate with the support of the most provinces shall be inaugurated as president.” There are no limits on how many terms a president can serve for with the longest serving president, Rohan Amrit Korrapati, serving thirteen years (until the 9th amendment to the Totzkan constitution was invoked in 2014 by the Comissão Popular, removing him from office) however the legality of his elections is generally disregarded. In the 39 years of the Totzkan Union’s existence only three presidential elections are regarded to have been fair by international standards (1989, 1995, and 2001).
Currently executive power is delegated to 10 directors, who each manage an Executive Section (a department within the Federal Executive) responsible for a particular portfolio of the federal government. These directors can create and oversee the implementation of policy within their particular portfolio. The ten directors and executive sections are:

• Section 1: The Interior Bureau – led by Rashmi Richa Uttara

  • Responsible for the coordination of emergency management, registration, conduct of elections and public administration across the states. Also responsible for national security and immigration.

• Section 2: The Federal Treasury – led by Manas Chandra Choudhary

  • Largely responsible for financial policy, included the raising of taxes and the distribution of funds. Also controls monetary policy and has power over the setting of interest rates. Section 2 may refer individuals or corporations to the financial courts.

• Section 3: Federal Justice Executive - Iago Chaudhari

  • Responsible for the federal criminal law and the coordination of criminal law between states where disputes may arise.

• Section 4: The Bureau of Foreign Affairs – led by Matea Zdenka

  • Responsible for establishing and maintaining diplomatic relations with other nations, providing international representation for Totzka and assisting Totzkan citizens abroad.

• Section 5: Federal Security Central Headquarters – led by Govind Sarvesh

  • Responsible for coordinating state police forces, monitoring and investigating potentially criminal activity, making arrests, correspond with communities about local concerns and respond to emergencies.

• Section 6: National Armed Forces Supreme Command – led by Sekhar Cardoso

  • Responsible for the national defence and security of Totzka from foreign or domestic threats.

• Section 7: Council of National Resources – chaired by Anupam Santana

  • Coordinates federal government policy in regard to industry.

• Section 8: Executive of Labour and Citizen’s Affairs - Severina Sara Abreu

  • Responsible for the protection of citizens from ill-health, injury or industrial malpractice and provides federal welfare to citizens in need. Also coordinates state welfare programmes.

• Section 9: Executive for Domestic Security – led by Yuuta Hummel

  • Identifying and neutralising potential threats (both internal and now external) to the Union.

The State Judiciary and the Supremo Tribunal da União
Much of the judicial process occurs on the state level with each state having its own hierarchy of courts. Act of Government 17-10-1985 (Establishment of Court Standards) began to partially standardise the judiciary across the states, mandating each state provides the following courts:
• Civil: deals with non-criminal cases between individuals
• Criminal: Deals with criminal cases.
• Industrial: Deals non-criminal cases involving corporate entities.
• Financial: Deals with non-criminal but contentious cases involving financial practices. Responsible for the referral of individuals to state Insolvency Centres
• Administrative: Deals with cases involving the exercise of public power.

Each state operates at least one Appeals Court, which will typical deal with successfully appealed court judgements coming from each type of court.

The Federal government only operates three civilian courts which are collectively referred to as the Supremo Tribunal da União. The Federal Tribunal of Criminal Offences deals with criminal cases where judgements made in the appropriate state court of appeals have been successfully appealed. The Federal Tribunal of Criminal Offences also deals with criminal cases that involve multiple states where the appropriate state-level authorities involved have not been able to reach an agreement. The State Judicial Tribunal acts in a similar manner but in regard to administrative law. It also deals with cases concerning the actions of the federal government, in particular those concerning abuse of power and conflict of interest. Both the Federal Tribunal of Criminal Offences and the State Judicial Tribunal are composed of five judges, called Conselheiros, who can serve for a maximum of 15 years on the courts. When vacancies on the courts arise each state government nominates an individual (who must have ten years’ experience as a qualifying legal practitioner and have served two years in ‘high judicial office’) to serve as a Conselheiro. The nominees are questioned both by a Comissão Popular subcommittee and then by a full session of the Comissão Popular. Afterwards the Comissão Popular vote on which nominee shall be fill the vacancy.

The Constitutional Tribunal is third court that makes up the Supremo Tribunal da União. Cases brought before the Constitutional Tribunal concern whether or not legislation enacting by either the state of federal governments contravenes the constitution of the Totzkan Union. 16 Conselheiros, one from each state, sit on the Constitutional Tribunal. In the event of an 8:8 tie the Comissão Popular votes on the outcome.

The right to a jury trial in criminal cases is enshrined in the constitutions of four states (Estado Parazina, Estado Nirapanza, Estado Sao Tiago and Cas Vilsti) and is guaranteed through state legislation in Di’ Marches and Faixa Oeste. In south Totzka jury trials play a major role in the local legal culture and juries are used throughout the legal process in these states, both for determining guilt and punishment. Historically judgements have often been decided based on the context of the case rather than on codified law or precedents.

Serviços Executivos Federais
The SEF (or Federal Executive) is the administrative branch of the Federal Government responsible for implementing legislation. It is generally considered to be an independent branch of government, rather than an extension of the executive branch, due to its impartiality, the permanence of its staff regardless of the incumbent government and the meritocratic and non-political nature of its recruitment process. However, while the directors of the Conselho Supremo cannot hire or dismiss (most) members of the SEF they can choose how to ‘structure’ the departments beneath their jurisdiction, including creating more departments beneath them. The Comissão Popular can choose to call a motion of adjudication on any restructuring however.

The SEF is composed of 74 departments, offices and agencies, each placed under the overview of one of the nine Sections of the Conselho Supremo. Most international ambassadors and members of the armed or security forces are not considered to be part of the SEF.

The SEF’s state level counterparts are collectively referred to as the Serviços Executivos Estaduais (or State Executives/SEEs). Coordination between the SEF and SEEs occurs through the Office of Federal Affairs.

Agência de Culturas Totzkan Unida
(Ethnicity in Totzka is a generic term referring to a division below the state level; this includes religious, linguistic, racial and other cultural divisions along with the assortment of clans and ‘Konas” in Terras das Picos and Yhaiva respectively)

Although ACTU was originally envisioned as part of the SEF it is now considered to be fifth independent branch of the federal government. During the 1995 Totzkan presidential election Desideria Lorena Sharma ran with the promise to create a service that would provide “a direct line of communication between local separate ethno-cultural groups and the governments of Totzka free from time-wasting bureaucracy and interference from authorities that favour only some peoples in our nation.” ACTU was created only four months after her election through Act of Government 10-2-1996 (Formation of United Totzkan Cultures Agency) as a service that would be “co-operative with but independent from both the state and federal government” with the goal of “co-ordinating government policy with ethnic concerns [and] overseeing inter-ethnic relations”.

The ACTU takes on a similar administrative role to the SEF and SEEs, focusing on laws that will specifically affect an ethnicity such as the regulating of a cultural practice or a change in the legal status of lands belonging to a specific group. ACTU also works to improve economic opportunities for certain groups along with preserving the heritage and culture of ethnicities.

Like the SEF individuals working for ACTU are not elected however, unlike the SEF, ACTU is not directly controlled by any elected body. ACTU is led by its own internal executive council, the Directing Committee, which consults its own in-house assembly, the Cultural Assembly. Individuals wishing to work for ACTU are reviewed and hired by an internal recruiting organisation. When hiring, ACTU tries to ensure it’s generally representative of the Totzkan population.

ACTU has also ‘found’ the power to issue ‘impositions’, orders that target members of a specific ethnicity within Totzka. The actual legality of these Impositions and ACTU’s ability to enforce these impositions remain disputed and have varied depending on decisions taken by courts, governments and the Comissão Popular. ACTU vs Osyante-Apayo Comissão Estadual (2000) established that ACTU’s impositions are subject to motions of Adjudication by the Comissão Popular and Comissão Estaduals.

The States of the Union
The Totzkan Union is composed of 13 states. The origin of the states, and Totzkan federalism, lie in pre-revolutions perceptions about Totzka. Since the collapse of the Ozaki Covenant in the 2nd century AD Totzka was traditionally considered to have made up of five nations; Pamilya, Yhaiva, Cas Vilsti, Terras Das Picos and South Totzka (often referred to by its Portuguese name Rio de Ouro). Following the conclusion of the Totzkan revolution in 1979 South Totzka, Pamilya, Terras Das Picos and Cas Vilsti united to form the Totzkan Union, with Yhaiva joining the Union in 1981. The constitution mandated that South Totzka, Pamilya, Yhaiva and Terras Das Picos were each split in 3 states each. Cas Vilsti remained a single state due to its small highly concentrated population.

The functions and powers are set out in Article 5 of the Totzkan Constitution. Each state has its own executive (always led by a State-President) and judiciary and forms a Comissão Estadual out of the twenty commissioners it sends to the Comissão Popular. Each state has enormous power over how they structure their own executive branch with the only constitutional mandate that the state governments must retain the confidence of their Comissão Estadual, or face removal from power. This has led to a large amount of variety between the states in regard to how they are run. In the South Totzkan states, governments are run similar to the federal government with separate elections and branches for the Comissão and the members of the state executive branch. When the State Government’s term in power ends, or it loses the confidence of its Comissão Estadual, a new state-presidential election is held. States in former Pamilya run on a more parliamentary model with the executive being formed from the Comissão Estadual and the State-President operating more like a Prime Minister. Due to instability in Yhaiva the federal government nominates an executive for the three Yhai states which is then voted on by the Comissão Estaduals. The formation of the executive in Cas Vilsti is marked by backroom deals between members of the Comissão Estadual and the members of the city’s traditional and influential yet unempowered legislature, the Vitzkai. There is no consistent structure for the formation of the executive in the states of Terras Das Picos. Di’marches and Faixa Oeste are different, following South Totzka’s presidential system and Pamilya’s Parliamentarian system respectively while Território Leste abandoned its previous parliamentarian model in 1994 to pursue a ‘Picoan’ system which annually rotates control of the executive branch between different ethic-political factions in the state, similar to Ado’Rosmakona Iagano’s original proposal for the how the President-Executor would operate.

The Constitution originally defined which powers would be granted to the Federal Government and which would be granted to the States. New or disputed powers are granted by the Comissão Popular. The original powers granted to states included:
• Raise and lower taxes (concurrent with Federal Government)
• Provide for Public Welfare (Concurrent)
• Borrow or lend money (Concurrent)
• Provide and maintain Infrastructure (Concurrent)
• Regulate internal cultural practices (Concurrent)
• Make law (Concurrent)
• Enforce law and security (Concurrent)
• Oversee elections
• Establish and confirm State-Executives
• Establish an internal judiciary
• Regulate internal trade
• Charter corporations
• Succeed from the union via referendum (must occur simultaneously with the other two states to reform the ‘nation’ said-states originally belonged to).

Political Parties

Although Totzka operates a multi-party system, following the 2018 November Comissão elections saw the majority of political parties form two major factions: the Populist Coalition and the Constitutionalist Alliance (not to be confused with its constituent Constitucionalista party). The current political parties (as of the election results of the 2018 Comissão elections) present in the Comissão Popular are:

• Partido Socialista do Povo – 103 Seats

  • Leader: Artur Patrico

  • Ideology: Socialism, Social Democracy,

  • Political Alignment: Far-Left

  • Supports Government

• Frente Para A Nação Yhai - 57

  • Leader: Ado'Osho Kimba

  • Ideology: Yhai Nationalism

  • Political Alignment: Centre

  • Supports Government

• Constitucionalista – 43 Seats

  • Leader: Raje Pinho Garcia

  • Ideology: Christian Democracy

  • Political Alignment: Centre-Right

  • Opposes Government

• Partido da Aliança - 32 Seats

  • Leader: President Francisco Amero

  • Ideology: Authoritarian Populism

  • Political Alignment: Centre-Left

  • Incumbent Party in Government

• Partido de Libertação Unido -23 Seats

  • Leader: Maia Vemulakonda

  • Ideology: Neo-Liberalism, Civic Nationalism

  • Political Alignment: Centre

  • Opposes Government

• Coalizão bipartidária – 3 Seats

  • Leader: Kanta Asim Rocha

  • Ideology: Classic Liberalism

  • Political Alignment: Centre

  • Opposes Government