Ad'ihan (nation)

International Protectorate of Ad'ihan
Protectorat international d'Ad'ihan
Protectorat Ad'ihanais

National flag of Ad'ihan Protectorate flag of Ad'ihan
Motto: Peace, justice, freedom
Region	The Heartland
Capital	Ad'ihan
Largest city	N/A
Official Language(s)	English, Frencha, Ad'ihan Creolea
Government
- Chief of State	Michael Harley
- Governor (De facto head-of-state)	Simon Collins
- Chief Minister (Head of Government)	Alex Canning
- Largest party in Senate	Green Ad'ihan (Coalition leader)
Self-government
- Establishment of protectorate	1 October 2144
- Self-governance accorded	18 October 2144
Area
- Total	15.4 km2 (5.95 mi2)
- % water	0.00
Population	821,430
Currency	Tazo (ATAZ)
Timezone	PAX-0200
- Summer (DST)	Not observed
Internet TLD	.ai
Calling code	+082
ISO Code	ADHN
NS Sunset XML

This article is about the nation of Ad'ihan and its capital city, for the city in Liverpool England see Ad'ihan (city).

The International Protectorate of Ad'ihan (pronounced /ˈʌd.iːˌhʌn/; French: Protectorat international d'Ad'ihan, Ad'ihan Creole: Protectorat Ad'ihanais) is a small self-governing enclave within the city limits of Ad'ihan, Liverpool England.

History

The Outer Islands of Liverpool England were first discovered in 1967. People first settled on the Outer Islands in the late 2080s, and the first Liverpool England presence on the islands was in the early 2120s. By 2140 the islands had become an outer territory of the country.

A democratic revolt in 2144 by the Parti populaire ad'ihanais against the territorial minority government of the National Centrist Board resulted in the Federal Parliament hearing a bill to resolve the crisis, and it was suggested that a separate protectorate be formed. A referendum was held amongst residents of Ad'ihan, and passed with 71% of voters agreeing to a new protectorate, which was to come into effect 1 October 2144, originally to be governed directly from CCL with a view to later self-governance.

After fresh fighting broke out on 15 October, the Federal Government announced that it would let the protectorate become a fully self-governing nation, and this took effect three days later. In 2147, fighting on Île Grande led to suggestions that the protectorate might absorb the whole island and become fully independent in a bid to stem the violence. However, no such bill has yet been tabled in either the Senate nor the Liverpool England Federal Parliament.

The name Ad'ihan was chosen for the protectorate based on its location in the city of Ad'ihan, and the fact that the international airport on Île Grande was also named Ad'ihan International, thereby allowing the new protectorate to effectively claim it as its national airport. No considerations were made at the time as to the potential confusion of using the same name as the city. To make things worse, it was decided that the capital city of the protectorate would also be named Ad'ihan.

Government and politics

Ad'ihan is a self-governing protectorate of Liverpool England. In effect this means that Liverpool England has control over Ad'ihan's defence and foreign relations; everything else is controlled by the Ad'ihani authorities. As a protectorate of Liverpool England, Ad'ihan's de jure head of state (the Chief of State) is the head of state of Liverpool England, a role normally occupied by the head of government.

The Chief of State appoints a Governor of the International Protectorate to act as de facto head of state of the territory. The Chief of State technically has the right to dissolve Ad'ihan's Senate, sack the Chief Minister, or declare direct rule from CCL, while the Governor only has the right to sack the Chief Minister. However, this has never been exercised. The Governor can, however, in consultation with the Chief Minister, call for fresh elections. Otherwise, the Governor acts as a chief diplomatic officer, handling the foreign affairs of Ad'ihan under guidance from CCL.

The Chief Minister, or head of government, is appointed by the Governor, who can however in practice it is usually the leader of the biggest party in the Senate, or appointed leader of a coalition in the Senate.

The Chief Minister has his own Cabinet, sans the positions of Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs, as these two areas are handled by the Federal Government in CCL. The Cabinet is normally made up of politicians from within the Chief Minister's party or coalition, although it is not disallowed by law to select politicians from opposition to be part of the Cabinet.

The main parties in Ad'ihan are generally the same ones in the legislature of the Outer Islands, although the current largest party in the Senate, the Ad'ihan People's Party, resigned from the Outer Islands legislature when Ad'ihan achieved self-governance. There are four main parties in Ad'ihan, including the PPA – the Ad'ihan Freedom Movement, a pro-independence party that wants to see Ad'ihan expand to include more of the Outer Islands; the Federal Ad'ihan Front, a pro-CCL party with close ties to the ruling federal party; and the Conservateur Ad'ihan, a conservative party.

Government departments

The Ad'ihani government has seven government departments, all overseen by Senators who are selected by the Chief Minister to be his Cabinet.

• Ministry of Ad'ihan Affairs (interior ministry)
• Department of Environment, Food Safety and Agriculture
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Health
• Department of Legal Affairs and Justice
• Ministry of Finance
• Office of the Speaker of the Senate

All the departments are based in the same building due to the small size of Ad'ihan.

Senate

See also: Elections in Ad'ihan

The Ad'ihan Senate (French: Sénat d'Ad'ihan) is the only legislative body in Ad'ihan. It has undergone one change to its structure since it started. Currently, as of the July 2145 elections, the Senate has 62 seats. It requires a supermajority of 60% (38 votes) to pass legislation and a supermajority of 70% (44 votes) to nominate a Chief Minister or propose a constitutional change. Abstentions do not count as votes, and the majority margin is then lowered accordingly.

Of the 62 seats, four are reserved for the ruling Federal party in Liverpool England to fill. These "Federal Senators" have equal voting rights, but generally only vote if a tiebreaker is needed.

Election to Senate

The 15.4 km² area of Ad'ihan is divided into four regions, with each party naming a team of four candidates to stand in each region, whose elections are staggered one week apart from each other. The results of each of the four elections are released at the same time after all four elections to avoid voter intimidation. As of the 2144 elections, the winners of each of the four regional elections automatically gain a number seats in the Senate, filled by the winning candidates. The winning party in the region with the most people voting gets 4 seats, the winning party in the region with the second-most number of people voting gets 3, and the winning party in the other two regions gets 2 seats. The results of the regional elections are then added together, and the final vote percentage at a national level determines the makeup of the remaining 47 seats. These remaining Senators have no obligation to any voting region and are filled by party members by various means.

Most recent elections

See also: Elections in Ad'ihan#July 2145.

The snap elections of July 2145 were called by Alex Canning after he resigned his Cabinet to preempt a threatened vote of no-confidence in his government after he made controversial remarks over the appointment of Governor Simon Collins. His Green Ad'ihan party did better than expected, gaining ten new seats in the Senate and making it the joint-largest party in the Senate. Canning was renominated for a second term, and appointed on July 16, 2145, to his second term by Collins.

Current makeup of Senate

Law

Ad'ihan law is based on common law principles. In the protectorate, the highest court of law is the Justice Chamber, made up of Senators who are qualified lawyers. There are only three courts in the protectorate, all based in the same building. One is the Justice Chamber, which is effectively the Supreme Court of Ad'ihan and is the highest level of appeal for both criminal and civil cases; another handles criminal cases while the third handles civil cases.

International relations

Ad'ihan is a member of the World Cup Committee (and Emergency World Cup Committee, having hosted World Cup 37), a right it shares with Liverpool England. It is not a member of the NationStates United Nations. As external affairs are mostly dictated from CCL and not from within Ad'ihan, the protectorate has limited foreign relations, although it has appointed one Ambassador. More importantly, this Ambassador was to a country that had not had formal relations with Liverpool England, leading some to criticise the federal government of using Ad'ihan as a "middleman" in relations, although Governor Simon Collins stressed that at no point was the Federal Government involved in the talks, except to give its blessings.

Geography

Ad'ihan is located in the Northwest District of The Heartland. It is a small, 15.4 square kilometre (5.95 square mile) landlocked enclave within the city of Ad'ihan in the Outer Islands of Liverpool England. It has no territorial claims to the Great Mets Sea, although various sports stadia built in the sea and around the Outer Islands for World Cup 37 are technically Ad'ihani territory.

There are no hills or valleys in the small territory, its highest land point is just 15 m (50 ft) above sea level, while its lowest point is 3 m (10 ft) above sea level. There are no natural water sources like lakes or rivers within the protectorate either.

Climate

Ad'ihan is at a tropical latitude, with tropical midday showers common. The yearly temperature is from 18°C – 35°C (64°F – 95°F). Ad'ihan is geographically prone to tropical cyclones, but has never been directly affected by one. The record high temperature is 36.1°C (97.0°F), recorded in May 2063, while the lowest on record is 15.4°C (59.7°F), taken in November 2138. The highest 24-hour rainfall recorded in the territory was 230 mm (9.06 in).

City of Ad'ihan, Ad'ihan

The city of Ad'ihan, Ad'ihan is the capital of the Protectorate of Ad'ihan, and comprises the whole protectorate except for a 100-metre strip around the perimeter of the country marking a distance from the border with Liverpool England. It is the only city in Ad'ihan, with the remainder of the territory not having an official designation. Only about 4,000 people live within this strip of area outside the capital city.

Culture

Official language

The official language of Ad'ihan is English. French and Ad'ihan Creole are also spoken, and enjoy equal status as English in the country, but are not recognised as official languages. All signage in the country, where appropriate, are printed in all three languages.