Consul of the Union of Piedmont

Consul of of the Union of Piedmont
Incumbent Presley Bartlett since 13 August 2019
Member of the Union Commission
Style	Mister / Mix / Madam Consul his / their / her excellency (diplomatic)
Residence	Consular residence, New Regent City, Oakdale
Term length	1 year, renewable 5 times
Constituting instrument	Constitutional Charter of the Union of Piedmont
Formation	27 October 2017
First holder	Presley Bartlett
Deputy	General Secretary of the Union of Piedmont

The Consul of the Union of Piedmont is the nominal head-of-state and head-of-government of the Union of Piedmont, sharing supreme executive power with the Union Commission - which the consul is a member of. The consul is the head of the executive branch of the Union Government, as well as commander-in-chief of the United Military service and chief diplomat of the Union. The Consul's primary responsibility is the operational administration of the Union Government by enforcing Union laws, issuing administrative orders to the various agencies of the Union Government, maintaining the Union's foreign relations, and cooperating with the Union Commission to make the nation's highest level executive decisions. Like all Piedmonti elected officials, the Consulship derives its power from its direct election by the citizens of the Union - referred to as the 'popular mandate.' With this mandate, the Consul utilizes Article 2 of the Constitutional Charter of the Union of Piedmont to exercise their power, as well as several laws subsequently passed by the National Assembly which solidify their role as the Union's administrator. Though unofficially, the consul also plays a large role as in leading the direction of national policy and legislation by working closely with the National Assembly and being a de facto leader of their respective party.

History

First Constitution

The Consulship arose from a multitude of predecessor offices that each shaped the role. A big influence were the dual heads-of-state of Mount Henadas: the Lord-Governor and the High Duke. These executives split the responsibilities typically held by a single head-of-state; the Lord-governor handles Mount Henadas' domestic politics and administration, and the High Duke served as commander-in-chief and took the lead in foreign affairs. This system is intended to ensure no one person can control all aspects of the Henatan government at any one time and, for the most part, has worked efficiently. This division of executive powers inspired the creation of the Union Commission - the real heads-of-state of the Union of Piedmont. Another big influence on the early consulship in particular were the Lord-Protector and Prime Ministership of the Kingdom of Japoninca before it became one of the Union's founding provinces. These introduced the parliamentary concept that the Consulship would adopt under the first constitution.

When the Union of Piedmont was founded on 9 October 2017 by the Conference for the Status of eastern Henatan Holdings, they formed a provisional government tasked with drafting a constitution for the new nation. the Constitutional Order of the Union of Piedmont (AKA the first constitution) that they produced went into effect on 27 October, and while it established the foundation of the Piedmonti government - it was quite different from the Union's current constitution The then Lord-Protector of Japoninca and former High Duke of Mount Henadas, Presley Bartlett, was appointed President of this provisional government and would play a major role in the formulation of the Consulship. The Union held its first elections on 26 October 2017, and Bartlett was elected the Union's first Consul. Under the first constitution, the consul was a serving member of the National Assembly, but was not elected by said assembly, instead being directly elected by popular vote. This semi-parliamentary intended for the Consul would be answerable to both the populace and the National Assembly, but in practice it produced confusion and conflicting interests for the executive branch. A good example of this the fact that Bartlett served as Senator from Japoninca during her first term as Consul, but was typically so distracted by her job as Consul that she could rarely make it to the Senate chamber to cast her vote. During this first term, Bartlett's administration made several attempts to solidify the Consul's position and powers. She pushed through the Effective Order Act in December 2017 which established the bedrock of the Union's bureaucracy to properly administrate the Union and enforce Union laws; and in June 2018 she championed an amendment to the first constitution that reformed the way Consul's were elected. The first and only amendment to the Constitutional Order permitted those who were not members of the National Assembly to run for Consul, given said person was simultaneously elected to a seat in the National Assembly. This naturally birthed the question: what if someone wins the Consulship, but not a seat in the National Assembly? This question would never be answered.

In late summer 2018, Bartlett announced that she did not intend on running for a second term, wishing to pass the office to a successor. A multitude of a factors went into this decision but what's important for this topic is that she privately approached her Secretary of Science, Ryder Causey, to run in her stead. Causey put the new amendment to the test, as he needed to gain a seat on the National Assembly to properly succeed Bartlett. Thankfully for Causey, his Delegate to the Hall of Delegates chose to step out of their race and allow Causey to take their place - giving him an easy victory. On 9 October 2018 Ryder Causey was inaugurated as the second Consul of the Union and as the Delegate from the Department of Winston-Pallet. Causey desired his administration to be a continuation of what Bartlett had started, even keeping on nearly all of her appointed officials, but the systematic flaws of the first constitution would begin to show in earnest. Though Causey was reasonably popular, he lacked the all-encompassing political influence that Bartlett had wielded - and this weakness was seized upon by the First woman of the Assembly, KL, and her cohorts. The ensuing year-long power struggle is now known as the Senate Crisis, which exposed the glaring problems with the first constitution. Nearly everyone of Causey's legislatives objectives were shot down by KL and the Senate, even when Causey allied himself with the lower house, the Hall of Delegates, to pass some minor electoral reform. All progress towards nation building and effective administration was brought to a halt, and the Senate began to enact their own will - circumventing the rest of the Union Government. The growing power of the Senate, and their disregard for constitutional process, greatly concerned many Piedmontis - especially Causey. As the year went on, and approaching the end of his term, Causey joined a popular movement calling for Presley Bartlett to return to serve as Consul again. Causey feared the Senate would destroy the Union if he failed to resolve the crisis, and he knew no other person who could do it in his stead other than Bartlett.

Second Constitution

Presley Bartlett heeded the words her successor and of the Piedmonti people, and returned to the Union of Piedmont in early August, 2019. It took less than two weeks for her to organize a constitutional convention in the Solarian capital of Somerton. Bartlett had observed the events of Causey's term, and believed the only way to solve the issue and prevent it from happening again was to rewrite the Piedmonti constitution. Members of the Union Government, and leaders from the various provinces, gathered in Somerton and collectively drafted the Constitutional Charter of the Union of Piedmont (aka the second constitution) and it went into effect not long after its completion on 13 August 2019. The second constitution reformed nearly the entire Union Government, but most relevantly - it radically changed the role of the Consul.

List of Consuls

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth)	Party	Elected	Term in office			Prior experience	General Secretary
1		Presley Bartlett (1999)	Piedmonti Green Party	2017	27 Oct. 2017	9 Oct. 2018	11 months & 12 days	Provisional President of the Piedmonti Provisional Government (2017) High Duke of Mount Henadas (2015–2017)	Isaac Hoyle
2		Ryder Causey (2004)	Piedmonti Green Party	2018	9 Oct. 2018	13 Aug. 2019	10 months & 10 days	Secretary of Science (2017–2018)
3		Presley Bartlett (1999)	Piedmonti Green Party (until 2020)	2019 2020 2021 2022	13 Aug. 2019	incumbent		Lord-Governor of Mount Henadas (2019) Consul of the Union of Piedmont (2017–2018)
			Maquis Socialist Coalition (since 2020)						Jocelyn Ferguson (since 2020)