President-King

The President-King is the chief ruler and monarch of the nation of Telembria and all of its territories. The President-King has the same powers and responsibilities a typical constitutional monarch has, with numerous extra powers, including the power to adjourn the Telembrian Parliament, power to declare war, and multiple powers to imprison people and influence the courts, as well as being elected directly by the people, instead of being chosen by descent. The current President-King of Telembria is Delaness I, who was crowned on July 25th, 2010.

The President-King position was first created and defined by the Constitution of Telembria, which was ratified in 1649. Before that, the King of Telembria had absolute power in the nation. The President-King is required by law to be a man, a policy that has come under much criticism from other nations over the past centuries, however Telembrians have been, for the most part, adamant the clause stay.

History

Background and Creation

In 1600, the Telembrian Civil War started, after King of Telembria Garfield III sent a party of soldiers to the southwestern Telembria, to a town called New Faulksaunt. The soldiers began collecting taxes, and eventually got drunk and the town was burnt down. Although the King had the power to control the Telembrian military, some citizens were angered by the show of force, and assembled a force to attack the King's palace in Rathaleo. The war went on for nearly 30 years, and eventually peace was made after a stalemate had occurred. After 19 years, the two sides negotiated the Constitution of Telembria, which gave most power to the newly established President-King, however created the Telembrian Parliament to make laws, and insisted the President-King be elected by the people.

Expansion of Powers and Election of 1787

As Telembria grew into the 1700's, the President-King's powers stayed the same. However, in 1721, President-King Glaevum I was elected by the people. Glaevum was arguably the greatest President-King in history, winning the Senile War his father had started against Punctinaturalland, as well as starting and winning the Telembrian War of Wildlands from 1745-1760. Since Glaevum brought a time of prosperity and riches to the nation, Parliament voted in 1759 to permanently extend the President-King's powers to include controlling the military and having the ability to declare war, a power that had been taken away more than a century prior. Glaevum then proceeded to explore the Telembrian Wildlands further, until his death in late 1779.

Glaevum's act was a hard one to follow, and immediately in the next election, the President-Kingship was under question. As was tradition in Telembria, two candidates were selected, one from the Telembrian Nationalist Party, being Elsin I, and one from the Commonwealth Party, Anda Fallow. However, in this election a candidate from neither party threw his hat into the ring, independent Philip Petrus. While it was certainly a shocking turn of events for the President-King election, in 1782 after Elsin I had won two years prior, the Telembrian Parliament, at the President-King's urging, passed the Voter Rights Protection Act of 1782, attempting to make sure Petrus couldn't possibly run in the next election. In 1787, however, he did just that, running for President-King and in fact winning, quite illegally, on the write in vote. Parliament did not recognize the results, instead naming Fallow the winner and the new President-King.

Citizens of the nation were quite opposed to this declaration, and soon a rebellion against the nation had assembled, in support of Philip Petrus. After a long fight, the revolutionaries won, creating the new nation of the Republic of Megatridimensional Order in 1799. After the rebellion, the President-Kingship was never the same again. In 1802, the Telembrian Border War occurred, after the President-King at the time, Baleign II, declared war against the new MTO. Telembria lost badly, losing territory and starting a long decline into poverty and international irrelevance. As a result of this war, attempting to salvage some shred of dignity, the government worked together and in 1815, the President-King's power of unilaterally declaring war was taken away, as well as his control over the military. In 1843, possibly the most notorious President-King in history, Dagon III was elected, and two years later, Dagon declared the Parliament adjourned, and went on a power spree, executing nearly 200 people with the power of his personal guard, making a payment of close to $500,000 to the United States of Quentin, with a message reading, "Use this to destroy those Megatrines!," and paid millions for renovations to his palace, which were completed in 1850. That same year, an election took place, with nearly everyone voting for the Commonwealth candidate, Nathaniel Davaghe, however since Parliament was still adjourned, votes could not be officially counted. Although Dagon had done everything within his limits of power, in 1853 General of Telembria Wyatt Smithson raided the palace, and restored Parliament, to which he received the Telembrian Medal of Glaevum.

Contemporary History

After the reign of Dagon III, Parliament decided in 1864 to take away the President-King's control over his personal guard, instead giving Parliament control. President-Kings came and went until the Greater Venturian War, when the MTO invaded Telembria. Parliament was currently adjourned for holiday, and could not move the army against them. Neither could recently elected President-King, George VI. So after the war, the President-King was given the ability to declare war again, as well as control over the military. George VI turned out to be the longest reigning President-King in history, ruling from 1924-1996, when he died from cancer.

After George VI, Harrison IV ruled from 1996-2010, and in 2010, the current President-King, Delaness I, was crowned on July 25th, 2010. Although Telembria has lost much of the importance it once held in world affairs, and has a high rate of poverty as well as a poor economy and military, the President-King still holds a very honored position in the world, being one of the only true monarchs left in the world today.

Powers and Responsibilities

The President-King's powers come from the Constitution of Telembria, in Article I. One of the main responsibilities the President-King has is the responsibility to approve laws and decrees passed by the Telembrian Parliament. He can either veto them or approve them. If he approves them, the bill goes on to the Telembrian High Court for their approval, which is nearly always automatic because the President-King has the power to appoint all 7 members of the court, without vetting from Parliament. If he vetoes the bill, it goes back to Parliament, where they vote on it once more. If it passes again by majority, it is overruled, and the bill becomes a law, without ever going to the courts.