Louisianne Government
From IBWiki
Louisianne is a largely decentralized Representative Republic. The populace votes for local representatives who serve in the People's House. A second house in each prefectures is the House of Lords, composed mostly of those granted political appointment by ancestral nobility, or, more and more frequently, a political appointment by the prefectoral Prefet, or Prefect (Often mistranslated President by the world press.) approved by the People's House.
Together these Houses elect the Prefect who is the executive leader of the prefectures, subject to a vote-of-no-confidence. The Prefect represents his or her respective prefectures on a national level in the Council.
The Council is presided over by the First President, popularly elected by the people of Louisianne. The Seven Presidents vote on legislation that is forwarded to them from the National Assembly, which is comprised of Senators elected by the prefectoral parliaments. A majority vote of the Council of 4 to 3 minimum is all that is required to pass a National Bill into law. It must be known, however, that most times of the year there is very little legislation passed directly by the Council. Most legislation takes place on the level of the Prefectures.
The Prefects and First President meet for three to six months in the Late Winter/Early Spring of the year to discuss, prepare and ratify national legislation. Otherwise, the Prefects are located in their prefectures and handle local events.
The Prefects are elected to an automatic term of seven years, each offset so that there is only one major election taking place each year, in theory. Each Prefect and the First President are subject to a vote of no-confidence.
The job of the First President is, as a popularly elected official, to answer directly to the people. The First President maintains a staff of nearly 1500 secretaries and statisticians who collate the messages of the people into a cohesive whole so that the First President can truly vote the will of the people, or what he deems to be best for the people.
Should the First President die, be incapacitated, or resign from office, a popular election is held to immediately fill the remainder of the term. By precedent those who run for the position already hold a seat upon the Council.
Although the government is decentralized, it is established in such a way as to allow sweeping legislation from the council to be passed to the nation at large, with a 2/3 majority of all parliamental representatives consent. The need for this has proven heretofore rare, however, it is not an uncommon occurrence once a decade.
The world at large often questions the nomenclature of Lousiannan government. This can be explained simply. Prefects are the leaders of Prefectures. The First President is the leader of the Republic, and at the behest of the people. He presides the ship of state and is only the first among Louisiannans.
