Federal government of Cartadania
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| Formation | 1618 |
|---|---|
| Founding document | Constitution of Cartadania |
| Website | www |
| Legislative branch | |
| Legislature | National Congress |
| Meeting place | Capitol |
| Executive branch | |
| Leader | President |
| Appointer | Direct majoritarian vote (two rounds if necessary) |
| Headquarters | Presidential Estate |
| Main organ | Cabinet |
| Departments | 15 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Seat | Supreme Court Building |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Cartadania |
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The federal government of Cartadania (Governo Federal) is the national government of the Federative Republic of Cartadania, a federal republic in Sarpedon, composed of 32 states, a city coterminous with a federal district, and five self-governing territories. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the Constitution of Cartadania in the Congress, the president and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of Cartadania and the federal government. It provides the framework for the organization of the Cartadanian government and for the relationship of the federal government to the states, to citizens, and to all people within Cartadania. The seat of the federal government, and all of its departments (except the Department of Defense), is Alahuela, more specifically the district of Giulia, and "Alahuela" is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government.
History
Executive
Cartadania is a federal presidential constitutional republic with executive power exercised by the executive, headed by the President, advised by a Cabinet of Secretaries who head each of the federal executive departments. The executive branch is established in the Cartadanian Constitution, which vests executive power in a president of Cartadania. The president serves as both Head of state and Head of government of the republic as well as the commander-in-chief of the Cartadanian Armed Forces. The nation is based primarily on a representative democracy model (although is a mixed democracy in practice), but the presidency and vice-presidency are subject to a two-round direct election. The president and vice-president typically are listed on a ballot together from the same party, however, with coalitions placing their most eligible candidate forward during elections, there have been instances of candidates within two different parties serving together via their coalitional elections (a phenomenon known as "decoupling" or "découplage" in Cartadania). The president of Cartadania serves for a term of four years and may be re-elected for a single consecutive term. This two-term limit, established after the Ano Roxo forced constitutional amendments, however, is not for life—a former president who has served for two consecutive terms may run for the presidency again after at least one term has elapsed.
The President appoints the Secretaries of each federal department (except Veteran Affairs, who is actually appointed by the Secretary of Defense), who assist in government. Since 1757, the party system has been dominated by the Social Democracy Party and the United Conservative Party, with occasional one-offs from the Progressistas Party or their respective coalition partners. So far every president since 1759 has been a member of one of these parties (the Partido Conservador was the predecessor to the UCP), though there are fourteen legally present in Cartadania.
Cabinet
Legislature
Legislative power is vested upon the National Congress, a two-chamber legislature comprising the Senate and the Chamber of Emissaries. In the case of the legislature, the people exercise their power through their elected representatives in the National Congress. It makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. The Cartadanian political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1710 constitutional revision, and all members of Congress have been directly elected since its introduction. Currently, federal law sets a minimum of three senators per state, while the number of Emissaries is dependent on the population. As of 2024, this number has been fixed at no more than 550, with 527 seats currently active. Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the Senate and the Chamber of Emissaries; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law, are valid in perpetuity. The legislative bodies in each political entity are the main source of law in Cartadania.
The Chamber of Emissaries is elected by voters who are eighteen or older. There are 527 emissaries, ten of which are elected in the six territories (including Alahuela). All voters who are twenty-five or older on election day are eligible to be emissaries of their respective jurisdiction. They serve four-year terms, while elections are held every two years.
The Senate is also elected by direct and universal suffrage by voters who are eighteen or older. There are 114 senators, eighteen of whom are elected in the territories. Each state and territory elects three senators to serve six-year terms, with an election being held every two years. One-third of the Senate, or approximately 38 seats, is up for re-election for each of those elections, and all voters who are thirty or older on election day are eligible to be senators.
Judiciary
The judiciary of Cartadania consists of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are now appointed by the incumbent bench with Senate and presidential approval. It interprets laws and overturns those it finds unconstitutional, like any other branch of government, but the degree of autonomy granted to the courts via judicial review has allowed the interpretation of the law to sometimes result in the courts acting more as a legislative body.
More specifically, the Supreme Court of Cartadania tries matters pertaining to the federal government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the Constitution of Cartadania, and, in general, can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating a precedent for future law and decisions. On more than one occurrence, the supreme court has ordered the other branches to comply with a decision its bench has made, and historically, it has very rarely been challenged (e.g., the 2027 strike down of the death penalty), thus the Supreme Court is often considered to be one of the most powerful in the world.
The organization of courts is quite strong, and the vast majority of federal and state actions are subject to judicial review. Individuals who wish to practice as federal judges follow a distinct career path. At the end of their legal education at university, all law students must pass a state examination before they can continue on to an apprenticeship that provides them with broad training in the legal profession over two years. They then must pass a second state examination that qualifies them to practice law. At that point, the individual can choose either to be a lawyer or to enter the judiciary. Judicial candidates start working at courts immediately. However, they are subjected to a probationary period of up to five years before being appointed as judges for life. Cartadania is common law jurisdiction, thus in cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a court typically looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts, even down to states, and synthesizes the principles of those past cases as applicable to the current facts.