Elyran Government and Politics
Elyran Government Structure
The Serene Republic of Elyra is a federal parliamentary republic with its head of government in the Prime Minister. Unique to Elyra is how its government handles the Head of State. Symbolically, General Abd Al-Hamid serves as a posthumous Head of State for the Republic even centuries past his death as a symbol of respect towards the ever-continuing Elyran revolution that freed the nation from its Solarian colonial rule. The Prime Minister is elected when their party is able to obtain a majority in the Serene Republican Assembly, Elyra’s legislature, or when their party can lead a coalition there. Their responsibilities include leading legislation in the Assembly, appointing cabinet ministers, as well as overseeing Elyran foreign and economic policy with the assistance of their cabinet.
The Republican Assembly is the sole legislative body of the Republic of Elyra and has 900 members as of 2463. The number of Elyran Members of Parliament per constituency, typically a planet or moon, is proportional to that constituency’s population relative to the rest of the republic, and is subject to review every 10 years when the Elyran Census is taken. Anyone can run for parliament in Elyra so long as they are affiliated with a political party and this political party has been approved to run by the Elyran Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some have protested these requirements as they believe they lock many out of participating in Elyran politics if the state finds their beliefs inconvenient; however, Elyran Internal Affairs has asserted that its reasoning is to only allow the most qualified of individuals to make decisions for the serene Republic on a professional level. A secondary reason they also cite is to prevent populism or impulsive political trends. There are no term limits for members of the Republican Assembly. The voting age in Elyra is 18 and only those with Elyran citizenship may vote.
Each Elyran region also elects a governor for itself with the exception of Damascus II, which elects its Damascene Captain, and the New Suez Free Trade Zone, which has a High Commissioner appointed by the Minister of Economics, Revenue, and Commerce. Similarly to the Assembly, every governor candidate must be a member of a political party approved by the Elyran Ministry of Internal Affairs. Planetary and lunar governors have the responsibility of legislating local policy for their respective planets or moons as well as maintaining public order in their constituencies and working towards the best interests of their citizens. Every Elyran region also has its own unique legislature, and while many contain elements of the four main parties of Elyran national politics, local parties are also very common as well.
The Republic of Elyra has two supreme courts. The first is the Supreme Constitutional Court of the Serene Republic of Elyra, an independent judiciary that reviews the constitutionality of the various laws enacted by the Elyran Republican Assembly and hears cases by which those laws are challenged on the basis of their constitutionality. The second is the High Revolutionary Court, a functionary of the Elyran Ministry of Justice which serves as the highest level to which criminal and civil cases can be appealed to in the Elyran Republic. It also functions as the court in which high-level members of the Elyran state or military are tried if sued for criminal action by the Elyran Ministry of Justice. Elyran courts do not have juries and are instead most often run in a tribunal-esque fashion with anywhere from one toseven judges presiding over any given case, typically odd in number. Rulings made by either of these courts are final and absolute unless they themselves overturn their own respective verdicts in retrospect.
The Elyran Defense Forces have a central role in the nation’s politics, and while usually uninvolved in the affairs of the parliament and restricted from intruding unless in the case of an emergency, their influence is still present in may ways. Many view the EDF as the last line of defense in the protection of the Elyran political system. In the event where the Prime Minister or Republican Assembly as a whole violate principles of liberty, local planetary rule, or fall victim to populism or tyranny, the Elyran Defense Forces have a constitutional responsibility to depose the current Prime Minister, disband the Republican Assembly, and then set new elections for a new Republican Assembly within two years while conducting a provisional military government.
The current Prime Minister of the Serene Republic of Elyra is Rashid Nouzari at age 58. He is a Persepolian by birth and has been active in the politics of the Republican Revolutionary Society since his mid-twenties. His political career began with being elected as a local representative of the 37th district of Uthma. Afterwards, he garnered enough popularity to rise to a city councilman position, and by his mid 30’s he’d become the mayor of Elyra’s largest city. Nouzari’s political ambitions were not stopped there, and when able, he ran for election as the Governor of the planet of Persepolis, cinching the position after a hotly contested election. He lost this position in the next race, but afterwards seeked greater involvement with Elyran national politics and was elected to a representative position in the Elyran national assembly and quickly became one of the more active and notable Constitutionalist politicians. When long-serving Constitutionalist prime minister Majedah Al-Haddad decided to step down from the office after having continuously occupied it for 28 years, citing old age and health as her reasoning, Nouzari was the politician chosen by the RRS to run for the position in the ensuing election. He was victorious and has held the Prime Ministership since 2456. He has generally remained a popular PM since his election despite the various crises that the Serene Republic has experienced since his election. He has a wife, named Ceren, and two daughters.
Elyran Government Ministries
The Republic of Elyra’s government is host to numerous ministries which handle its various affairs and processes.
The Ministry of Justice (MJ) - The Ministry of Justice is the premier legal authority in the Elyran Republic and is responsible for the prosecution of criminals and upholding of laws within the Republic, handling almost all law enforcement aside from incidents of terrorism and internal piracy. All police departments in Elyra, be they of the Persepolian Capital of Uthma or a small department on a far-flung colony world with officer numbers in the single digits, are extensions of the Ministry of Justice and work on a pyramidal structure of hierarchy, with various districts, precincts, departments, regions, and planets leading up the Justice High Office. Whether it is a felony or misdemeanor, local or interstellar, all crimes are prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry also oversees all court proceedings in Elyra, aside from the Supreme Constitutional Court, and its minister can appoint and dismiss high-level judges as they please. The current Minister of Justice is Haniya al-Abed, a career lawyer from Persepolis and former chief prosecutor of the Urum local branch of the ministry. She is also the current Deputy Prime Minister.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) - Colloquially referred to as “The Kitchen Sink” by many Elyrans due to the sheer variety of areas it covers, the Elyran Ministry of Internal Affairs is the largest ministry by number of employees and wields a nearly unrivaled level of influence over Elyran society. Primarily the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a focus on internal security and social services such as the Elyran public healthcare system. The MoIA has its own internal intelligence and law enforcement agency separate from the Ministry of Justice, the Special Threat Section (STS), which is specialised in combating domestic instances of terrorism and piracy. The STS has also recently been made the de facto organization responsible for the domestic security and protection of Elyra’s vast phoron reserves since their classification as assets key to national security by the Elyran Government at the onset of the recent phoron scarcity. The STS operates a division dedicated to policing rogue shells, enforcing proper tagging and registration methods among Elrya’s IPC citizens, and hunting fugitive synthetics similar to the Sol-based Ceres Lance called the Internal Synthetic Constabulary.
The Ministry of the Internal Affairs is also the primary emergency management and natural disaster relief agency in the Republic and the authority on the monitoring of extraterrestrial weather patterns and solar activity. Importantly, the Kitchen Sink is in charge of monitoring and providing what little services the large population of non-citizens in the Republic of Elyra are entitled to as well as issuing passports and other forms of identification for Elyran citizens. The MoIA oversees all elections that occur in Elyra and certifies new political parties, allowing their participation in Elyran politics, monitors the activities of Elyran local and planetary/lunar governments to ensure that they do not exceed their powers, and enforces Elyran media content censorship regulations. To many, the Elyran Minister of Internal Affairs is the 3rd most powerful person in the country, the first two being the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The current Minister of Internal Affairs is Istemihan Gul, a career politician from Damascus II and former Damascene Captain.
The Ministry of Economics, Revenue, and Commerce (MERC) - The Ministry of Economics, Revenue, and Commerce, or simply the Ministry of Economics, is the organization in the Republic responsible for the regulation of local, interstellar, and international commerce both in Elyra and between other nations. The ministry also manages a large number of Elyran state-owned corporations and oversees the allotment of labor and employment to both citizens and non-citizens. Notably, the Ministry of Economics operates the National Corporate Commission (NCC), the national body which monitors and regulates the operations of foreign megacorporations in the Elyran Republic and arranges partnerships between them and Elyran firms. This ministry also appoints the High Commissioner of the New Suez Free Trade Zone and oversees the administration of the zone. The MERC is also the primary tax collection force in the Republic of Elyra and has revenue offices on both local and national levels devoted to the collection of taxes from the Elyran citizenry. The current Minister of Economics, Revenue, and Commerce is Amir Reza Momeni, an economist from Medina and former dean of the economics faculty at the Harun Al-Rashid University of Economics and Humanities.
The Ministry of Defense and Warfare (MDW) - The Ministry of Defense and Warfare oversees the coordination and equipment of the Elyran Defense Forces. Along with managing Elyran military strategy and securing the procurement of equipment and resources for the EDF, the MDW is responsible for the creation of the annual budget for the EDF and its presentation to the Republican Assembly for approval. The MDW is also the parent organization of the Revolutionary Interstellar Intelligence Service (RIIS), Elyra’s foreign and military intelligence agency, though little is publicly known about them. If the EDF is moved by their constitutional responsibility to depose the Elyran Prime Minister and temporarily resolve the parliament, the Minister of Defense and Warfare becomes the de facto head of government for the republic. The current defense minister is Admiral Zubair el-Yamin, a Busran, and formerly the commander of the 4th Bursan Rapid Response Flotilla.
The Ministry of Phoron Management (MPM) - The Ministry of Phoron Management is responsible for directing all phoron extraction, transport, refinement, and research operations in the Republic of Elyra under the great state-owned phoron corporation of Elco. Because of the disproportionate importance that the phoronics industry has on the Elyran economy and influence it has on nearly every facet of Elyran life, from being a key component in Elyran hovertech, to being an energy source for almost every major Elyran planet and moon, to being an integral element of Elyran military strategy due to its use in plasma weaponry, the Ministry of Phoron Management is one of the most important ministries in the entire Republic. Recently the ministry has come under great scrutiny from the Elyran public due to the economic hardships that Elyra has been experiencing due to the ramifications of the recent phoron shortage. Elyra itself has suffered no such shortage, however the Prime Minister, along with the MPM, halted all phoron sales to foreign countries and corporations resulting in many Elyran firms losing revenue. The current Minister of Phoron Management is Melika Saheni, fomer Chief Operations Officer of Elco and native of Aemaq.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection (MAEP) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, or just Ministry of Agriculture, as the name implies, oversees and regulates all food production and distribution in the Republic of Elyra, but also has other functions. The MA provides subsidies to Elyran farmers to ensure that they can continue farming even though importing foreign food is cheaper for the republic, and the ministry also finances many research projects dedicated to advancing agricultural science. All nature reserves, game preserves, and national parks in the Republic are administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, and perhaps most uniquely, the Ministry of Agriculture is charged with the responsibility of protecting Elyran extra-terrestrial phoron reserves, typically in asteroid belts, from the phoron-eating black trident worm. The ministry tracks the movements of the xenofauna using advanced deep space monitoring equipment specialized in detecting organic matter and often shares its findings with the Elyran Defense Forces. The MAEP also closely monitors the state of the climate of all planets in Elyra so as to advise local planetary governments on how to best avoid contributing to greenhouse effects and other adverse artificial environmental phenomena. The Ministry of Agriculture is also unique among the other Elyran ministries in that it is the only ministry not headquartered on Persepolis, instead having its head offices on the agriculturally important planet of Damascus II. The current Minister of Agriculture is Arkadas Oz, an economist from Damascus II and former chairman of the Elyran Agricultural Accord.
The Ministry of Tourism and External Affairs (MTEA) - The Ministry of Tourism and External Affairs is the means by which the Elyran Republic conducts diplomacy with other nations throughout the Orion Spur. It maintains embassies, consulates in numerous cities in foreign countries, and is the parent body of the Elyran Foreign Office, the organization which maintains consulars and ambassadors in other countries. The MTEA is the customs enforcement agency of the Elryran Republic as well, and any items or people, citizen or non-citizen, entering the country must be approved to do so by the ministry. Because of its foreign presence, it is uniquely equipped to invite and provide services for foreign tourists wishing to see Elyra in person and operates a number of hotels and resorts in part with Elyran firms to accommodate these visitors and is the issuing agency for tourist visas. The MTEA is also responsible for coordinating the annual mass transit of Elyran Muslims to Earth for their Hajj to Mecca. The current Minister of External Affairs and Tourism is Aisha al-Kamara, a career civil servant from Persepolis and former Elyran ambassador to the Empire of Dominia.
Elyran Political Parties
In Elyran politics there are four major national political parties, along with numerous smaller parties that rarely gain seats in the Republican Assembly, and smaller local political parties that operate on a planetary or lunar scale. The major parties of Elyran national politics, colloquially referred to as “The Four Faces of Elyran Politics,” or simply the Four Faces.
The Republican Revolutionary Society (RRS - “The Constitutionalists”) - The oldest and largest political party in Elyra is the Republican Revolutionary Society, established shortly after the independence of Elyra from the Solarian Alliance. Its advocacy for the preservation and continuation of the Elyran Revolutionary spirit has long influenced Elyran politics and culture for centuries and has primarily manifested itself in an isolationist foreign and economic policy devoted to protecting Elyran society from foreign threats and influence. It is also the party to which many who drafted the Elyran constitution belonged, giving the party its nickname. The Republican Revolutionary Society also greatly contributed to funding Elyran phoron procurement and research projects and has largely taken credit for the current state of Elyran technology and standard of life for its citizenry. The RRS has a standoffish position to the large number of non-citizens in the country and has repeatedly defeated legislation which attempts to make the process of becoming an Elyran citizen easier for all but the most qualified or wealthy of immigrants. Despite this, it has been supportive of expanding some government programs to provide limited benefits to all non-citizens living in Elyra, especially in the fields of healthcare and legal representation. The RRS supports upholding citizenship for Integrative Positronic Chassis in Elyra, so long as the IPCs were made and programmed in Elyra, and recently is beginning to contest the League of United Republicans’ dominance over the IPC vote in the country. Many speculate this is due to the RRS funding of IPC development as part of its new initiative to revitalize the Elyran economy in light of the recent phoron shortage. The party is supportive of the Suez Protocol of 2381 and does not support any modifications to it, even continuously implementing protectionist measures to ensure that Elyran corporations remain competitive with their foreign counterparts in Elyra. While isolationist, the RRS has been instrumental in organizing anti-piracy intelligence sharing agreements with both the Coalition of Colonies and the Republic of Biesel, and similarly, the RRS believes in moderate defense spending and a focus on defensive and peacekeeping applications for the Elyran Defense Forces along with strong early-warning systems to detect any foreign invaders such as the Lii'dra. For the past few years, the Revolutionary Society has also been working to ease tensions with their neighbours the Izweski Nation, something that has for the most part been successful. The party has seen some challenges recently though as the decision made by the RSS to stop selling phoron to foreign countries and companies has led to an economic slowdown in Elyra, though the party is currently attempting to remedy this by investing massive amounts of government funds into areas of the economy aside from just the phoron industry in an attempt to diversify the Elyran economy and make it less vulnerable to changes in the phoron market. Whether these efforts will be successful is yet to be seen. The RRS currently holds a majority of 492 seats in the Republican Assembly and as is the party currently maintaining government. The current prime minister and former planetary governor of Persepolis, Rashid Nouzari, is its leader. Their party colours are orange and yellow and their slogan is, “The Revolution continues with us!”
The League of United Republicans (LUR - “The League”) - The League of United Republicans, founded in the mid-2370’s as a response to the threat of an economic recession, is the second largest Elyran political party and currently the largest opposition party. The LUR believes in lessening economic restrictions on foreign megacorporations, increasing Elyran economic and political involvement with the rest of the Orion Spur to broaden the influence of the Elyran Republic abroad, and has been harshly critical of the Republican Revolutionary Society’s decision to halt phoron sales to foreigners. They believe in the liberal usage of phoron-based technology and phoron itself as a means for Elyra to become economically involved with and compete against the economies of the Republic of Biesel, Sol Alliance, Coalition of Colonies, and the Nralakk Federation on a larger scale. Because of this, the LUR supports revisions to the Suez Protocol of 2381, a document that the party itself created, and is the only Elyran political party that has attempted to broaden the influence of foreign megacorporations in the Elyran republic. The LUR also asserts a need for more defense spending and a broadening of the EDF’s offensive capabilities to better accommodate a more active Elyran State and so as to preemptively avoid another attack from a foreign force like the Lii’dra. They have also advocated in the past for an easing in restrictions on obtaining Elyran citizenship for foreign humans that have valuable skills or large monetary assets and broadening the classification for who may be desirable. The LUR asserts that they still want to maintain citizenship restrictions for a majority of migrant laborers that come to the Elryan Republic to find work. The party has also extended this to foreign-made IPCs, believing that they should also be allowed to earn citizenship in Elyra. This is not new for the League however, as it was this party that gave IPCs the rights to citizenship in the late 2420’s with goals of creating a reliable voting bloc and has been the most successful in capturing the IPC vote in the country due to its continued status as the party most supportive of synthetic rights in Elyra. Unique to itself, the LUR believes in a policy of rapprochement and deepening of economic relations with the Sol Alliance and Izweski Nation along with the establishment of a state of detente with the Empire of Dominia in order to further prevent any skirmishes or greater conflict from breaking out between the nations. Domestically, the LUR has supported calls for an expansion of social programs to all citizens as well as the abolition of capital punishment in Elyra for citizens and non-citizens alike. The party currently has 241 seats in the Republican Assembly and is led by Azer Saban, a former lawyer for the Elyran Ministry of Economics, and the only current female head of a Four Faces political party. Their party colors are light red and orange and their slogan is, “A better future through a United Elyra!”
The Muslim Democratic Conference (MDC - “The Green Conference”) - The second oldest, established shortly after the Republican Revolutionary Society, and currently the third largest of the Elyran Political Parties, the Muslim Democratic Conference is a party that defies traditional political classification due to its founding tenets of being an inherently religious political party in a secular state. The MDC believes in helping lead Elyran Society with Elyran revolutionary principles alongside Muslim values and morals, such as a focus on the family unit in society, a rejection of drugs and alcohol on a legal level, religious freedom for all faiths, and a strong focus on charity and humanitarianism. The MDC possesses a moderate Islamist doctrine and does not believe in the implementation of Sharia in Elyran society. The Green Conference styles itself as a religious party that is respectful of secular institutions. The MDC believes in maintaining the Suez Protocol of 2381 and believes that a controlled partnership of Elyran corporations with foreign companies is the best way to obtain Elyran economic prosperity— for the time being. The party has advocated for an expanding of the defense budget for the EDF in the past and believes being able to protect the Elyran people from foreign threats should be one of, if not the top priority of, the Elyran government since it failed to do so during the Lii’dra incursion. However, it also believes that the Elyran military has no business in the affairs of other nations. The MDC is in favor of loosening restrictions for obtaining Elyran citizenship and some members of the party have even gone as far as to propose the allowance of citizenship to aliens (aside from Vaurca), citing the reasoning of “all living things are God’s children.” The MDC does not however accept that positronics are alive and states IPCs should be barred from citizenship in Elyra; as a result, gets little to no votes from IPCs in the country. The party has also consistently supported the expansion of social programs to non-citizens of Elyra, especially to families with young children and households with one parent, so long as those receiving benefits can maintain behavior in-line with what the Conference considers to be moral. Conference MP’s have been known to vote both with the LUR and RRS depending on the issue at hand. The party has 108 seats in the Republican Assembly, and its current leader is Dr. Saamir al-Vohra, a former professor of theology at the Harun Al-Rashid University of Humanities on Damascus II. Their party colours are green and white and their slogan is, “Faith, family, and fortune for all!”
The Elyran People’s Party (EPP - “The Hawks”) - The smallest and newest of the Elyran political parties at only nine years old, the Elyran People’s Party is an Elyran nationalist political party that has built its base on advocating for an aggressive foreign policy and saw a massive jump in popularity after the Lii’dra incursion. The EPP believes in not just the protection of the Elyran Revolution, but an expansion of it to other peoples’ in the Orion Spur and has actively promoted the idea of Elyran territorial expansion into the human frontier surrounding the Republic’s current borders. It believes in a militantly self-sufficient economic policy, wishes to abolish the Suez Protocol of 2381 altogether, and outright ban any involvement from foreign megacorporations in the country as to protect Elyran businesses, workers, and economic prosperity. Because of these goals, the EPP has also been the proponent of expansions to the defense budget of the Elyran Defense Forces whenever the topic has been discussed in the national assembly. The Hawks have even gone to the lengths to propose legislation for a formal defensive alliance between Elyra and the Coalition of Colonies as the party views the CoC is a kindred nation to Elyra since it too threw off Solarian rule for its creation. The EPP has a more liberal stance towards citizenship restrictions that suggests easing the process for all foreigners and not only those with valuable skills, as the party asserts that every human can embody the Elyran revolutionary spirit, no matter their place of origin. The party is xenophobic towards other species however and maintains a policy of alien expulsion from any new territory that Elyra may obtain if they were in power. The party also believes in greater restrictions on the rights of foreign synthetic lifeforms in Elyra including a national registry of all foreign positronics in Elyra and the instatement of a lawing process in Elyran-made IPCs to ensure that they will not go rogue and potentially harm other citizens. As a result, they capture only a smidgen of the IPC vote in the country, though they have never proposed eliminating the citizenship of synthetics. The EPP works with all other parties depending on the issues at hand but is also somewhat infamous in Elyran politics for refusing to participate or otherwise abstaining from voting as a matter of protest at times. In particularly close votes, this has led to a breakdown in government due to no majorities or coalitions occurring, though other times it makes little difference due to the party’s small size. They currently hold 59 seats in the Republican Assembly and are led by Kambiz Arjman, a lieutenant general of the 2nd Busra Army Corps who retired after the Lii’dra Incursion to get involved with politics. Their party colours are royal blue and light blue and their slogan is, “The future is Elyran!”