President of Tumbra

The president of Tumbra, officially the President of the Federal Republic of Tumbra, is the head of state of the Federal Republic of Tumbra. Under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Tumbra, Tumbra has a parliamentary system where the Prime Minister acts as the head of the government. Executive power is nominally vested in the President, but in practice the Prime Minister and their Cabinet exercise power on a day-to-day basis. Regardless, the President still wields significant power and acts as the guarantor of the Constitution itself. Since March 3, 2020, the incumbent President has been Kelia Campbell of the Labour Party.

History of the role
When the office of President was first promulgated in the 1864 Constitution, the post provided for a more powerful Presidency, akin to a semi-presidential system with more powers with regards to national security and foreign policy. There was also no limit on the number of terms a President could serve, and they were elected by a plurality of votes. However, the President had to be nonpartisan.

With no restriction on the origin of the President, General of the Armies Gordon Hamilton was elected in the election held that same year, albeit reluctantly. With special dispensation from the Federal Parliament, he continued in his role in the Armed Forces, returning to Straton only twice or thrice a year. Most of his responsibilities he delegated to the Vice President, Ralph Davidson, whom he instructed to allow the Prime Minister full rein over issues that would normally fall under Presidential responsibilities, and not to intefere in the workings of the new government. This established the convention that the President lies above politics. While dispensation was given for the President to attend meetings of Cabinet, throughout his six year Presidency neither Hamilton nor Davidson attended a single meeting of Cabinet.

Hamilton was re-elected to the post of President in 1870, after facing down a challenge from former Senator Benjamin Gladstone, who campaigned on being a more active President. While even more reluctant to run for re-election, he had been convinced by both Prime Minister Richard Barker and Leader of the Opposition James Pearce to run, as they did not see any alternative that could unite the country as well as Hamilton had done. Privately, Hamilton held the same views, but wished to devote more time to his military campaigns. Despite not campaigning in the election, Hamilton still won more than three-quarters of the vote.

Hamilton in his second term would utilise his powers more, but refrain from interfering in the business of the country, as an injury to him in early 1872 saw him resign his commission as General of the Army.

The issue that dominated Hamilton's second term, after the chaos of his first term, was the issue of state governance. Unable to come to a consensus on how individual states would be governed, the framers of the original Constitution (Hamilton included) had left it to Parliament to decide on how individual states were governed. Initially, Parliament (under control of the Federalists) had put into place a Governorship system - where a single Governor was elected via popular vote every six years (similar to the President) to function has both head of state and head of government in the provinces, with the legislative branch elected independently of the Governor. This system had a complex series of checks and balances, and by 1872 had proven quite unpopular.

Hamilton's 1876 address on the matter to the Federal Parliament - advocating a system of parliamentarism in the states, similar to the federal level, gave the matter impetus and made it a national priority.. While the requisite legislation would not be passed until 1881 (due to the Federalists blocking all legislation on the matter), his support (and that of his successor, Michael Turner's) for the solution ultimately would pass through both houses of Parliament.

When hostilities ceased in 1875, Hamilton would be the chief signatory to the Treaty which ended the war, formally established the Republic as the sole national polity in Tumbra and which ended the monarchy.

After Hamilton left office in 1876, the incumbent Vice President, Michael Turner, was elected as President. To further solidify these conventions that Hamilton had formed, he acted in a similar manner to his predecessor, only speaking out on the implementation of term limits, the run-off election for the position and the restriction on members of the Armed Forces serving as President, all of which were quickly passed by the government which took office later that year. An additional proposition to remove the requirement of the President being nonpartisan was also passed, despite not being supported by Turner. Turner, however, still approved these changes to the office, forming the modern office of President.

Powers and responsibilities
The President has wide-ranging ceremonial powers, but is also empowered by the Constitution to act on matters of state when required, being the guarantor of the legitimacy of the State. To facilitate this, reserve powers are empowered to them, such as the ability to dissolve the lower house of Parliament. The President represents the country in matters of diplomacy, signs treaties with foreign entities and accredits diplomats. All federal laws and political appointees (including judges) must also be approved by the President - routinely, they do so, only vetoing a law if they believe it to be unconstitutional, at which point it is referred to the Constitutional Court; should the Court find it to be constitutional, then the President is expected to approve the law.

Further responsibilities of the President include appointing the Prime Minister (which occurs during a swearing-in ceremony), the power of pardon, convening the House of Representatives, awarding honours, commissioning military officers, and representing the country abroad.

The President represents the unity and legitimacy of the state itself, and protects the Constitution. As the head of state, they enjoy higher rankings at official events than any other Tumbran official. By convention, the President does not interfere in the daily workings of the government, and does not offer comment often on issues in the news. This allows them to act as a relatively impartial source of information, as well as to influence public debate, or make suggestions on certain issues that they deem to be of great importance. A Presidential address to the nation - either directly from the Office of the President, or through a session of Parliament, is therefore considered with great importance and their suggestions oft end up being coalesced around.

While the President is allowed to be a member of a political party, they are widely expected to suspend their membership for the duration of their post. Before the 1882 presidential election, candidates were required to be non-partisan, but several constitutional amendments in 1877 allowed partisanship in the post. Despite this change, however, the President still acts above party politics.

Presidential privileges and entitlements
While in office, the President is immune from prosecution. They earn a salary of TM$300,000 annually, and is entitled to the usage of an office in the Presidential Palace in Straton, which also serves as the Presidential residence. To assist them in their duties, the Office of the President, a federal authority, was established. This authority also assists in co-ordination of the President with the other branches of government. The office is also responsible for carrying out and disseminating the instructions of the President, relaying them to other governments when necessary.

The President is entitled to the use of a car, helicopter and airplane, all operated by the Federal Police.

All former Presidents were entitled to a pension, until the Presidential Pensions Act 1996 ceased the practice.

Election and Qualifications
Under the original Constitution, the President was elected for six years with no term limits in a single-round election. This was changed to a single six-year term during the raft of constitutional amendments in 1877, and was a position held by the first two Presidents of the Federal Republic, Gordon Hamilton and Michael Turner. A run-off election was also enacted should the top candidate not reach 50% of the vote.

The first round of the Presidential election (along with the Senate, which is elected for a six-year term alongside the President) occurs in the first Friday of February, which is a public holiday. The run-off election, should there be one, will be held one week later, with the winner being inaugurated on March 2 of the same year.

The Presidency is open to all Tumbrans aged thirty and above who do not have a criminal record, and who are not currently serving in the Armed Forces. Prospective candidates must be able to garner at least 500 signatures supporting their candidacy for their nomination to be accepted. While theoretically all citizens may run, most Presidents have served in Parliament in some capacity, with the majority having served in the Senate. Furthermore, most presidential tickets now originate from political parties with large amounts of resources, meaning that independent candidacies are now rare.

Succession
Should the office of the President fall vacant through death, resignation or impeachment, or declared as incapacitated by either the President themself or the Prime Minister and their Cabinet, the Vice President assumes all the powers and roles of the President and completes their term, with their first act of business to appoint a new Vice President subject to Senate approval. The new President is eligible to run for a full term in office.

Should both the offices of President and Vice-President fall vacant, the order of succession would then be the President pro Tempore of the Senate (the longest serving Senator of the party currently forming government, currently Senator James Powell of Thornton), then the Speaker of the House of Representatives (currently Robert Croft, MP for Dorival North East). The Governors of each of the twenty-five states, according to when the State first ascended to the Federal Republic, would then take office. Failing that, a Joint Session of Parliament would be called to nominate a new President to serve the remainder of the old President's term.

Impeachment and Removal
It is not possible for the President to be recalled or removed from office unless they are impeached by Parliament for breaking Tumbran law. Should the impeachment - requiring three-fifths of the members of either House to vote for it - proceed, the case will be referred to the Federal Constitutional Court of Tumbra, who has the power to remove the President from office.