3.1 Internal Politics

3.1 Internal Politics

The highest authority is the President of the state. Currently Frits Labberlot. The President is elected by the people of Liga every 4 years. Next election is scheduled on 22 april 2015. Formaly the President can only serve two terms, but the People Representation and the Senate (United Representation) can grant the President extra terms.
The president can reject laws that are approved by the People’s Representation, if they are approved by less then 67 % of the votes.
The legislative body is the United Representation. It consists of two houses :
1. THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVES
This house is elected directly by all the people of Liga that are at least 18 years old and consists of 50 representatives. Representatives are elected on personal capacity. Political parties exist, but are not relevant for the formation of the house. Elections are held each 2 years. After the poll stations are closed, votes are counted and the candidates are listed on the order of the number of votes they gathered. The first 50 candidates on that list are the new members of the house. The members of the house choose a chairman. His or her titel is “First Representative”. This chairman is a member of the special Presidium.
2. THE SENATE
This house is the representation of the Regions (see below). Each Region delegates three representatives to the Senate that also has a session of 2 years. The Senate has limited powers. It is a advisory body for new bills. When the People’s Representatives has to vote about a new bill, an advice of the Senate is required. The advise is non-committal. The Senate has the Right of Consent if the People’s Representatives have approved a new bill that is about specific regional interests and the bill is approved by the People’s Representatives with less then 67 % of the votes. If the Senate rejects or approve such a bill, the President of the State can overrule it and still approve or reject it.
The members of the Senate choose a chairman, who also serves as Vice-President of the State. He or she is also member of the Presidium.

UNITED REPRESENTATION
The People’s Representatives and the Senate form the United Representation. In some cases they come together in joined session to take decisions. That is the case when the country has an crisis or when the President of the State is elected for a 3th term. There are more, but very rare occasions to hold a United session. The First Representative is chairman of the United Representation.
THE COUNCIL OF STATE
The Council of State is the government of Liga. It consists of State Councilors who can have special tasks like :

• Treasury
  
• Social & Healthcare
  
• Science and Education
  
• Defence
  
• General Affairs
  
• Foreign Affairs
  
• State Affairs
  

The Council has a chairman who is the Secretary of State. He or she is appointed by the People’s Representatives after nomination by the President. The Secretary of State is member of the Presidium.
As per 2014 the Council of State is represented by:

Department	Office
Secretary of State	Rudolphe C. D'Enfant
Councilor of the Treasury	Jan T. Gierich
Councilor of Science & Treasury	miss Mary C. Wiseacre
Councilor of Social & Healthcare	Robin Waster
Councilor of Defence	Frederick Th. Fjogter
Councilor of General Affairs	Peter-John Ovencake
Councilor of Foreign Affairs	miss Cornelia Jaunt
Councilor of State Affairs	George Besich

THE PRESIDIUM
The Presidium consists of the President, the Vice President, the First Representative, the Secretary of State, the President of the General Court and the Commander of the Forces. The Presidium is usually inactive. However, it can govern the country in times of trouble. The United Representation can give a decree that hands over all the State power to the Presidium. This “rule-by-decree” turns all the state institutions into “non-active” until the United Representatives repeal the decree. The President is chairman of the Presidium.
REGIONS
Liga is divided into 5 regions. The regions have limited powers for self-government for financial matters, education and environment. The regions are governed by a one-house body, the House of the Region. The number of representatives depends of the population of the region. They are not elected directly, butdelegated by the cities of the region. The House chooses 3 tot 5 executives to form the Regional Commission. This Commission is chaired by the Region Governor, who is elected by the people of the Region directly.
CITIES AND TOWNSHIPS
Townships are small cities up to 20.000 people. They are governed by a town-council that is elected by the people directly. The council chooses 3 to 5 town-secretaries who take care of the town. One of them is the chairman of the secretaries.
Cities are larger townships with more than 20.000 people. They are governed by the city-council that is elected by the people directly. The council chooses 5 to 9 city-secretaries who take care or the town. The people of the city vote for the City-Mayor who is the head of the executive body of the city. He or she is also Mayor of the townships in the area of the city.