Presidential Government: The flaws of our current system
Day 879, 10:36
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Published in Netherlands 
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by
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by DanielB1989
Dear Friends of the eUnited Netherlands,
I am writing you again, there were a lot of comments and there was a lot of discussion about my previous article about changing our political system to a
www.erepublik.com/en/article/presidential-governing-why-not--1301852/1/20">Presidential Government!
I was, and still am very happy by the large number of comments on the matter; this means that this topic is very much alive! I have spoken with many people about this, and got some very interesting insights about other people’s opinions, and from the most people their view on why they think this change would be important. To get a better understanding of the need for this change, I am writing this article.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
©J.F. Kenedy
I explained in my previous article already how a government is picked currently. I will summarize it quickly again here:
- 25th Congressional Elections
- 26th PP of largest party will become the formateur, also known as the former of the government
He will talk with various parties to see whether he can get a coalition (21 seats or more) with other parties.
- After he found parties with whom the formateur likes to work with together they will discuss their party programs and come with a common program for the coming period.
- After the party presidents agreed on a common program, the formateur is going to look for people he thinks are good for a Minister post.
- When the formateur gets all the Minister posts occupied, and everyone agreed on the program, the new government is implemented.
Democracy
This process usually takes up to 7 days to 10 days. The flaws of this system are that the formateur more or less, decides on the government on his own, together with the Party Presidents of the other coalition parties.
So can it be that you as LP voter, who strongly opposes to state companies, can see your party coming back in the new government which is supportive towards state companies.
Also the power of the formateur is so big; that he without being chosen by the people can decide on who will run the country and what will happen.
I think both of those points mentioned above are not very democratic. On the contrary when using the http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/presidential-governing-why-not--1301852/1/20">Presidential Government system you will vote for your head of state, the ones running the country and the goals the country will pursuit.
Time consuming
Like you could before it takes a long time before the new government is installed, people say that the old government will continue their work, but as you know, old ministers who are not coming back in the new government, won’t have any reason to continue their work properly. With half of the government not doing their work, the country is not/meagerly governed for 5 to 10 days, depending on how long the formation takes. Over a period of a total of 30 days this is an extremely long time, in my opinion unacceptable.
Inefficiency
The third major flaw of the current system is that it is inefficient; we miss the needed cooperation between government members, and people from the government work past each other instead of together. So 1+1 = 2 instead of 1+1 = 3. A cause of this is that you are put with people in a government, not because of their quality but because of the party the origin from. Let’s put it this way, we talk lots but we achieve not so much.
Conclusion
So the three major flaws are that in the current system the Formateur holds all the power, the process of getting a new government takes extremely long, which makes the country very weak, and third the government consisting of people who won’t(or aren’t) work together will not benefit the country in the best possible way.
I have heard foreign heads of states saying that we have a rather strange system, where there is a lot of talk but not much achieved, and they pity that.
I started with a quote of Kennedy, and I will end by saying that I agree, that we should look forward and put the past with inefficient governments behind us, let’s give it a chance!
Another famous quote would be:
“Change! Yes We Can!”
If you would like to discuss with me, I am quite often available on IRC, or you can always send me a PM.
Regards,
DanielB1989
I am writing you again, there were a lot of comments and there was a lot of discussion about my previous article about changing our political system to a
www.erepublik.com/en/article/presidential-governing-why-not--1301852/1/20">Presidential Government!
I was, and still am very happy by the large number of comments on the matter; this means that this topic is very much alive! I have spoken with many people about this, and got some very interesting insights about other people’s opinions, and from the most people their view on why they think this change would be important. To get a better understanding of the need for this change, I am writing this article.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
©J.F. Kenedy
I explained in my previous article already how a government is picked currently. I will summarize it quickly again here:
- 25th Congressional Elections
- 26th PP of largest party will become the formateur, also known as the former of the government
He will talk with various parties to see whether he can get a coalition (21 seats or more) with other parties.
- After he found parties with whom the formateur likes to work with together they will discuss their party programs and come with a common program for the coming period.
- After the party presidents agreed on a common program, the formateur is going to look for people he thinks are good for a Minister post.
- When the formateur gets all the Minister posts occupied, and everyone agreed on the program, the new government is implemented.
Democracy
This process usually takes up to 7 days to 10 days. The flaws of this system are that the formateur more or less, decides on the government on his own, together with the Party Presidents of the other coalition parties.
So can it be that you as LP voter, who strongly opposes to state companies, can see your party coming back in the new government which is supportive towards state companies.
Also the power of the formateur is so big; that he without being chosen by the people can decide on who will run the country and what will happen.
I think both of those points mentioned above are not very democratic. On the contrary when using the http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/presidential-governing-why-not--1301852/1/20">Presidential Government system you will vote for your head of state, the ones running the country and the goals the country will pursuit.
Time consuming
Like you could before it takes a long time before the new government is installed, people say that the old government will continue their work, but as you know, old ministers who are not coming back in the new government, won’t have any reason to continue their work properly. With half of the government not doing their work, the country is not/meagerly governed for 5 to 10 days, depending on how long the formation takes. Over a period of a total of 30 days this is an extremely long time, in my opinion unacceptable.
Inefficiency
The third major flaw of the current system is that it is inefficient; we miss the needed cooperation between government members, and people from the government work past each other instead of together. So 1+1 = 2 instead of 1+1 = 3. A cause of this is that you are put with people in a government, not because of their quality but because of the party the origin from. Let’s put it this way, we talk lots but we achieve not so much.
Conclusion
So the three major flaws are that in the current system the Formateur holds all the power, the process of getting a new government takes extremely long, which makes the country very weak, and third the government consisting of people who won’t(or aren’t) work together will not benefit the country in the best possible way.
I have heard foreign heads of states saying that we have a rather strange system, where there is a lot of talk but not much achieved, and they pity that.
I started with a quote of Kennedy, and I will end by saying that I agree, that we should look forward and put the past with inefficient governments behind us, let’s give it a chance!
Another famous quote would be:
“Change! Yes We Can!”
If you would like to discuss with me, I am quite often available on IRC, or you can always send me a PM.
Regards,
DanielB1989
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Comments
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PERTAMAXXXXX!
vote.
Tactical voting in congress is not a democratic representation of what the people want. A party with 30 votes can get more congress seats than a party with 50 votes, thanks to tactical voting. Democracy increases when everyone has a free choice to vote on a president, the plans and a government.
+1 Wonder
+1 Howard
And where are my credits for your coding 😛
Voted.
You state it is less democratic to have a coalition government instead of a presidential government. But you forget 1 thing, the president will be able to form "his" government, mostly this are people who also have a seat in congress, therefore it will be unlikely that the congress would ever impeach a president (if government/policy really sucks hypothetically) which means to send the government to home. I would not call this very democratic. Besides a formateur always have to seek for concensus between party lines, this is a good system and is the most democratic one.
I dont see how the impeaching procedure would be different, the chances of someone being impeached, when necessary greatly increase,, as the president is above the party-politics. Right now a lot of ministers are in congress as well, and I think it won't be any different than it is right now, so it is not a valid point against the presidential government system.
a president has to seek consensus as well (everyone in a leadership position), and is chosen in the contrary to a formateur. If the president doesn't come with a program the majority of congress, would approve on, he will be impeached so it is of the greatest importance for the president to come with a program, many parties could agree on.
very good addition dionysus, and thanks frerk😛
Im in doubt actually. What of a member of party Y will not join a government of candidate-president from party X, just to create leverage to have people vote on the candidate from party Y?
This would severely jeopardize our countries political infrastructure and make parties rule a country by themselves. We do not have enough able bodies in any single party at the moment.
I agree that the current set-up causes impeachment to almost never occur. If the president fails to create a government that would be a good reason to use the impeachment procedure.
A chosen formateur has to be more democratic, than one that is appointed.
@Garmr: I'd expect that the formateur, in this case being the president will have to make concessions to get a government. He cannot keep on acting as a member of party X, but has to be above the parties in a way. If members of party Y do not want to have a say (so no concessions in their direction) than that is their problem...
You all say, making a government costs us too much time, but what if the old government just stays untill a new one is formed. That way, the country won't be without government for a week, and also might speed up the negotiations of PPs as they want to replace the old government ASAP
Good luck Daniel!
@djirtsdew; exactly!
@ Shrubbery; I would like to point you to the Time Consuming chapter of my article which says:
that 'old' government members don't have any interest to continue to do their job, if they do not return to the government, and with a government cutted in half, everything will be very inefficient, and no policies are made, just the regular things are kept track of(only by ministers who think they will stay as Minister).
Until now, it doesn't seem that negotiations ever sped up (maybe once, but then the biggest party had to assume they would get the majority together with another party)
@ Djirtsdew;
That is not a satisfying answer;
If parties start a policy of only supporting governments from their own presidential candidate we are at an impasse which would become quite hard to break.
Voted, I strongly agree on a presidential government. 🙂
Shakerr sai😛
"it will be unlikely that the congress would ever impeach a president (if government/policy really sucks hypothetically) which means to send the government to home."
This also means the runner up will come into office, with the government he already ran with, so there will always be a back up. The great upside to this all, is that the potential government (and programme) is decided on before the elections, thus making it crystal clear what people are voting for, and possibly, impeaching for.