Prime Minister of the Oan Isles

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Prime Minister of the Oan Isles of Council of Ministers of the Oan Isles
Pirimia o Nga Moutere Oa
Royal coat of arms of the Oan Isles
Flag of the Oan Isles
Incumbent
Maui Uye-Ahua
since July 15, 2017; 6 years ago (2017-07-15)
StyleThe Esteemed (Ko te Mea Utu)
TypeHead of government
StatusActive
AbbreviationPM
Member ofCouncil of Ministers of the Oan Isles and the Council of the People of the Oan Isles
Reports toCouncil of the People of the Oan Isles
ResidencePalace of the Blue Macaw
SeatTokapa
AppointerEmperor of Polynesia
Term lengthAt His Serene Majesty's Pleasure
Constituting instrumentConstitution of the Oan Isles
First holderLord Azriel Makemutu
DeputyNone
Salary3 million KRB

The Prime Minister of the Oan Isles (Oan: Pirimia o Nga Motuere Oa) is the head of government of the Oan Isles. The current Prime Minister is Maui Uye-Ahua. The role of the Prime Minister is based on the Prime Minister of Great Morstaybishlia because the Oan Isles adopted the Kalmington system of government based on the influence of Great Morstaybishlia. Nevertheless native heritage influenced the office in that it existed to some degree as the head of the royal court and most senior adviser to the head of state, but through democratic reforms under Emperor Mikaere, the post became the center of the country's political leadership.

Tenure

According to the Constitution of the Oan Isles, the Emperor of Polynesia appoints the Prime Minister at His Serene Majesty's Pleasure. This means that the Prime Minister serves for as long as the Emperor of Polynesia deems fit and the Emperor is allowed to arbitrarily remove him from office. However, the Prime Minister must enjoy the confidence of the National Assembly to enforce his legislative agenda.

Thus, the Emperor appoints the person most likely to enjoy the confidence of the National Assembly. In practice, the Council of the People wields most of the legislative power and political clout of the National Assembly. Thus, the Prime Minister must draw his support from the Council of the People. Therefore, the Emperor consults with the Chairperson of the Council of the People on the composition of the Council of the People. Based on this, the Emperor invited the leader of the largest party to form a government. This means that the person invited must be able to assure the monarch that they can command the confidence of the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are required to either resign from their positions or to advise the Emperor to dissolve the National Assembly and call for new elections if the National Assembly refuses to pass the budget or passes a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. In practice, the Prime Minister's term last for as long as their party either holds a majority of the seats of the Council of the People. If the Prime Minister is removed as the head of their political party, this does not automatically remove them from government. In practice, it is impossible for an unseated leader to control the Council of the People or have any reasonable prospect of forming a government, thus the Prime Minister will usually resign if he is removed by internal party processes.

Duties and powers

The Emperor requires the advice of the Prime Minister to appoint members of the Council of Ministers. Thus, the Prime Minister has the power to control the composition of the Council of Ministers. This also means that the Prime Minister has the power to appoint and reshuffle members of the Cabinet.

The Emperor requires the advice of the to sign bills into laws. Thus, the Prime Minister has the power to send laws back to the National Assembly. This is unlikely to happen because the Council of the People is controlled by the Party led by the Prime Minister. Therefore, it is unlikely that the legislative and political objectives of the National Assembly and Prime Minister do not align. This tool may be used by a Prime Minister to strengthen his position on issues that he might disagree with his party on. However, this rarely happens as it is embarrassing for the Prime Minister and majority party. They would prefer to avoid overt public conflicts on legislation.

The Emperor requires the advice of the Prime Minister to declare war, make peace and conclude treaties. This gives the Prime Minister control over warfare and foreign affairs. Taken together with his influence over the Department of Defence via the Minister of Defence as well as influence over the Council of the People (which must approve deployments, appropriations and composition of military structures), the Prime Minister is the de facto Supreme head of the armed forces. The Prime Minister is able to negotiate treaties and relations with foreign nations. However despite both this and his influence over the Department of Foreign Affairs via the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly retains the power to ratify treaties making them binding over the Oan Isles.

The Prime Minister chairs meetings of the Council of Ministers, determines their agenda and calls and prorogues them. Because the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible for the executive branch, the Prime Minister requires the support and compliance of Ministers to effectively exercise power. Thus, there are contraints on the Prime Minister's control over policy and the work of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister has the duty to meet with the Emperor once a week to discuss matters of state. Although the Emperor cannot exert influence over the Prime Minister in these sessions, the Prime Minister may draw on the Emperor for wisdom.

Remuneration

The Prime Minister is paid as a member of the Council of the People, as the Chair of the Council of Ministers and as a Minister of the Crown. This gives him a total yearly salary of 3 million KRB. The Prime Minister uses the Palace of the Blue Macaw in Tokapa as his principal office and residence. The Prime Minister is provided with servants, security and other perks such as transport by the state. This means that the staff and facilities he uses in the exercise of his duties are fully paid for by the state.

See also