President of Patraja

The Presidency of Patraja is an executive-of-state position, currently held by President Marija Marcella Torenvoa. It is the senior executive position of the Greater Patrajan Presidential Dual-Executive, a concept invented by political theorist Martin Torzhmann in 1995 during the redrafting of the Constitution of Patraja, merging the Head of State and Head of Government to become two positions occupied by one elected individual, enabling easier oversight, insight, and prosecution into the executive of the nation of Patraja. Since 2018, the Greater Patrajan Presidential Dual-Executive has been able to be voluntarily separated by the holder of the Presidency of Patraja, to alleviate presidential pressures and to grant head-of-government privileges to an Appointed Deputy-President of the Confederal Peoples Congress.

History
Initial Theory

The Presidency of the Confederated Republic of Patraja and Her Constituent Provinces was reformed from the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Patraja on March 11th, 1995, upon the adoption of the Confederal Constitution of Patraja. The concept of the Greater Patrajan Presidential Dual-Executive was theorized about before 1995, primarily by political theorist, essayist and speaker Martin Torzhmann and his politico-philosophical movement of Governmental Devolutionists. The base concept was introduced in his essay, "Delineating Power from the Executive through Oversight without lacking Presidential Executive Authority," published in 1989 as a think-piece on devolving the title of President to multiple, even dozens, of individual roles typically associated with an executive, all held by one person, but bureaucratically allowing for more oversight and more observation on the executive. In his 1990 follow-up essay, "Torzhmann's Republic of the Freed Executive," Torzhmann further elaborated that each of those positions could perhaps be separately taken, or impeached, from the President upon individual evidence of incompetence. Privately, he even believed that the executive should be allowed to voluntarily "give away" what he called Executive Responsibility Positions to create a complex executively-contained system of inter-presidential system. In 1992, during what scholars believe to be Torzhmann's "peak devolutionary years," he even believed that the Presidency should be a title of constant competition between holders of Executive Responsibility Positions, to create an isolated, responsible, and meritocratic system of competitive competence. During this time, he crafted his 24 Positions of the Executive.

In late 1994, Martin Torzhmann was invited by the Federal Republican Government to help draft a new constitution for Patraja.

1994-1995 Drafting Period and Revisions

Over 70 delegates, including Martin Torzhmann, and an estimated 312 staffers, were responsible for the drafting of the Confederal Constitution of Patraja. Torzhmann's devolutionary ideals were highly present in the first draft of the Presidential Quarter of the Constitution, but were toned down severely in the second, third, and the final fourth draft. The Presidency underwent a severe revision period between the second and third draft, being transformed from, first, a weak and delineated executive, and then from a stronger, almost presidentially-republican executive, towards a balance of both. Torzhmann's ideals were kept in place using the Head of State/Head of Government system first proposed by delegate, Professor of Economics at the Patraja University of Economic Studies, and future President, Leonid Analli.

Public Response

The public was largely ambivalent, or confused, about the role of the President upon the reveal and eventual institution of the Confederal Constitution. Most assumed that, by default, the new republic would have a single President in charge of both state and government representation, and notable few (37%, according to a Patraja Times poll taken in 2014) are aware of the distinction between the Presidency of Patraja and its sister-executive position, the Presidency of the Confederal Peoples Congress.