Part of the bulletin series of articles.
Summary
- Vekllei has no single executive authority; federal power is distributed across commissioned State Secretaries, ministerial parliaments and the Mandatory Ecclesia.
- The principles of consensus are built into the structure of government, since no institution may act without the agreement of others.
- Private disagreement within deliberative bodies is expected; public consensus in the result is demanded.
Although policy is fought over within deliberative bodies in Vekllei, the principle of consensus is that results should be respected and the government present a unified front. This principle runs deep in the country’s character: a federation of 83 republics cannot hold together if majorities routinely ignore minority positions, and the postwar constitution was designed to make governance impossible without broad agreement.
The government has no single executive. State Secretaries are commissioned for specific purposes and expire on completion. Ministerial parliaments govern their professional domains through internal elections that weigh professional expertise against citizen representation. The Mandatory Ecclesia, comprising one delegate from each republic, confirms appointments and arbitrates constitutional questions by majority. The Consilia presides over the Ecclesia but does not vote.
The consequence is that every significant decision in the federal government requires the agreement of parties with different interests. A State Secretary needs the Ecclesia’s confirmation and draws authority from a petition cascade that has ascended through municipal, republic and regional levels. A ministerial parliament that loses the confidence of its industries and service users faces formal dissolution by constitutional referendum. The Consilia that cannot maintain the Ecclesia’s confidence creates a condition the constitution regards as requiring remedy.
In practice, disagreement happens in private and consensus is presented in public. The Mandatory Ecclesia delegates may represent their First Secretaries’ competing positions in session, but the decisions they reach bind all. A ministerial parliament may have vigorous internal disagreement among its elected professionals, sortition members and Commissioned Secretaries, but legislation it passes is the parliament’s position, not any faction’s.
The Consilia are the clearest expression of this principle. Elected jointly as an undivided pair, they cannot act independently of one another. A Consilia that cannot reach internal agreement cannot act at all, and their presiding function over the Ecclesia depends on the chamber’s continuing confidence. They hold no executive power to exert – only the authority that consensus extends to them.