How is Your Leader Chosen?

[Vallermoore]

The leader of the political party with the most votes is elected and there is a new election every 5 years.

[Fenritania]

In Fenritania, our Grand Duke appoints a heir to take over reign after his demise, after this position is a life-long one. This heir doesn´t necessarily have to be from the Grand Duke´s own family, but could be anyone, be it a military general or a politician. It is however a son or daughter of the last Duke most of the time.

And yes, even if we are seen as backwards by many other "modern" civilizations due to our beliefs and tech standards, there are female rulers too - The Grand Duchess of Fenritania, like the beloved late mother of our current Grand Duke for example.

[Wunderstrafanstalt]

In Wunderstrafanstalt, the President is officially chosen by scored runoff popular voting while the Chancellor (second to the President) and his cabinet is appointed by the President with parliamentary confidence.

In reality however, for the last 20 years each leader rose to power by a series of carefully managed plots. Thod Boreradin (SOZI, 1996) swarmed the cities with fascist paramilitary forces, Yukom Pyreksa (SOZI, 2002) launched an objective putsch, Wincesfal Scaris (CSVT, 2010) led a popular revolution against failing economy, Teufel Alptraum (CSVT, 2015) funded nationalist extremists to blow up Scaris, and Leovin Kirreau (FF, 2017) routed Alptraum's self-coup attempt to secure power for himself.

It does seems however that with the ascension of the current president (who sucessfully purged all militaristic and extremist officials from power), the democratic institutions of Wunderstrafanstalt can finally function properly again.

[Yan Dynasty]

The heir to the Dragon Throne is selected by the reigning Heavenly Dragon Emperor whenever and however he so chooses. Despite this freedom, though, all designated heirs are required to take part in and successfully complete the Dragon Hunt in order to officially take on the role as heir. This is done so as to demonstrate the heir's dominance over the most powerful creature in existence and establish the heir as one who has been granted the greatest of the blessings of Heaven.

[Lillorainen]

In Lillorainen, the President of the Federation is selected by the Meritocratic Council, which the candidate him-/herself must be a member of - same goes for the federal ministers, who are appointed by the President and require the Council's approval. The MC also can decide on the President's removal from office, should there be a valid reason, which has happened in the Federation's early years.
Since the appointment of the current President, Silas Flemming, the number of the MMCs always needs to be uneven, to prevent ties, leading to embarrassing choice methods like mud wrestling ...

[Victorious Decepticons]

This is a proper dictatorship, and Leader Megatron will live forever unless someone manages to kill him (including all of his spare bodies and mind saves), so it goes without saying that there is no custom, nor legal procedure, for choosing a new leader.

In practice, it would go like this:

- Someone actually manages to kill Megatron - who is immortal, but not truly invincible - and either destroy all of his 1,000+ hidden spare bodies or stop him from mind-transferring to them. This person will also need to find and destroy all of his save states (mind-saves), of which there are at least hundreds, or else a loyalist could reinstall him into a generic new body from one of those.

- The assassin declares himself the new leader, but this is meaningless in practice. In fact, the killer likely won't survive the entirety of the events that this sets in motion.

- Once word gets out that Megatron is well and truly dead, and confirmations begin to roll in, the civil wars begin. People who have lots of followers will rally them, and then all of the many factions will fight to put their leaders into power over the entire Empire.

- Unlike most biological species, Decepticons (in general) are not only willing to fight for their beliefs, but are willing to do so down to the last bot. This is for several reasons, the chief among them being the belief that an enemy that is allowed to live is one that'll try to rise up and kill you later (even if they agree to surrender for now). The other reason is that it only takes ONE Decepticon to rebuild the ENTIRE species, so we have no drive to preserve "X" number of individuals. This means that the wars will continue until one faction is the ONLY ONE LEFT - even if the final winner ends up being just one guy!

- Megatron's Empire dies as population numbers dwindle. The foreign planets we occupy start to declare independence, and there stops being enough Decepticon troops to do anything about it. Finally, only Planet Cybertron remains, and even that is with hardly anyone left on it. The few Decepticons who are still functional continue to fight.

- Eventually, there is just somewhere between one and a handful of functional Cybertronians left. They are all on the same side. All opposition has been killed.

- The leader of this group - or if there's just one, the sole survivor - becomes the unchallenged Leader of the Decepticons.

- To a human, this may seem like a weak victory, but it is actually a situation that is rife with opportunity.

- Now, there is no one to write Base Code that is in opposition to the ideals and drives of the survivors. In fact, every new Decepticon can be coded to have an instinct to agree with and follow the new leader! It is the ideal situation upon which to build a New Empire.

- Repopulation begins. High-speed factories are repaired or rebuilt, and the resources needed to run them are collected. Once just one factory is fully back online, 100,000 new Decepticons - all with Automatically Semi-Randomized Code Intended to be Sapient included - come off the lines every hour. These new bots quickly make more high-speed factories, and eventually, a peak national production speed of over 10,000,000 bots per hour is reached. This continues until we gain enough numbers to keep Cybertron secure, after which the new leader will decide whether to keep using the factories or switch to family-style coding, building, and raising (which tends to produce more individuality as well as a more-stable person overall, but is much slower than factory building).

- The new ruler is undisputed, and he is now supported by billions of zealous loyalists, who soon become sapient. Sapience greatly increases their effectiveness, for it brings motivation, drive, and creativity. The new ruler now leads the New Decepticon Nation to another Megatron-like era of raiding and expansionism. The biggest differences in his regime are domestic; the Decepticons are no less of a menace to outsiders than they ever were.

- He does not designate a successor.

[Darussalam]

Ordained by God Himself.

[Alinghi Federal-Democratic Republic]

The chancellor is elected with Instant-Runoff Voting every four years, and he can serve only two times on his entire life, and he/she can't be nominated confederal governor enter 4 years by the end of his last term

[Hammer Britannia]

Random Chance

The leader of Hammer Britannia is chosen after the previous leader's death via lottery. Whoever wants to be leader enters the lottery, and whoever wins becomes the leader.

Unfortunately, Pink is immortal, so there won't be one for a long... long time

[New Bremerton]

(OOC: My nation's government is modeled on a combination of both the British and American governments. One key difference is that proportional representation is used to elect legislators, while instant runoff voting is used for by-elections and single-office elections. The British and American governments mainly use first-past-the-post or plurality voting to elect their representatives and leaders.)

The Holy Republic of New Bremerton is a federal parliamentary republic. Both the federal and state governments operate in parallel with one another, and the state constitutions and systems of government resemble the federal constitution and government very closely.

Federal (and state) parliamentary elections are held at least once every five years. Federal House Representatives are elected to five-member electoral districts on a proportional basis (single transferable vote), and an independent election commission defines the boundaries of electoral districts, while voters in each state elect five Senators, also on a proportional basis. In the event of death, incapacity, resignation or recall, a by-election is held within six weeks to elect a replacement Representative or Senator through instant runoff voting. Because of the proportional nature of federal (and state) parliamentary elections, no single party wields an absolute majority in either house, and the largest party in the House of Representatives has the first shot at attempting to form a coalition government with several smaller parties, or negotiate a confidence-and-supply arrangement and form a minority government. The Prime Minister, the head of government and the country's actual leader, typically hails from the largest party currently in government. The Prime Minister and all Cabinet ministers must be drawn from among the ranks of either House of Parliament, but the government as a whole is determined by the political composition and inter-party alliances of the House of Representatives only. A vote of no-confidence in the House of Representatives, which has the power to approve the annual budget and the President's annual State of the Union address to the Senate (written by the government of the day), will result in the President dissolving both houses of Parliament and triggering a parliamentary election.

The President, the nation's symbolic head of state with reserve powers and limited discretion, much like a constitutional monarch, and Vice-President are elected on a joint ticket once every seven years through instant runoff voting. Both the President and Vice-President may serve for only one term. In the event of death, incapacity, resignation or impeachment, the Vice-President succeeds the President and serves out the remainder of his/her predecessor's term. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the third individual in the line of succession. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach the President or Vice-President with a two-thirds majority vote in favor, while the Senate has the power to convict the President or Vice-President with a two-thirds majority vote in favor, thereby removing him from office. The President is responsible for swearing in the Prime Minister as well as dissolving Parliament and triggering a parliamentary election by and with the advice and consent of the Prime Minister. The Vice-President fulfills the President's duties in the President's absence.

The nation's Supreme Court Justices, of whom there must always be nine, are nominated by an independent commission and approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. Neither the President nor the Prime Minister have any say in the nomination process, so as to avoid any political conflict of interest and preserve judicial independence.

State governments are permitted to hold legislative elections in their own time, but at least once every five years, although they are often held concurrently with the federal parliamentary elections. The Governor serves as the head of state in each state, while the Chief Minister serves as the head of government. States have discretion as to what form local government should take and when and how often local elections should be held, although the federal Constitution stipulates that local elections must be held at least once very five years. School boards, district magistrates and county sheriffs are appointed by the state governments to prevent a political conflict of interest and mob rule and to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and impartiality.

[Valentine Z]

Valentijn is the leader, simply because he is the founder of the nation.

And he too is immortal, so... yep, there's that. But he can still die along the way, so during the moments when he was dead and reviving in-progress, someone else would take over by votes. 59 of them are currently fit to lead.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=701792

[Harelia]

Hivekings rule by bloodline.

If a next of kin refuses to lead, then he is to be torn apart and devoured by the hive.

The position will then pass to the next blooded family member in line. Or, if there is no such blooded successor, the head of the strongest hiveclan is chosen by ritual combat to the death. Each Hiveclan leader is pitted against the other in an arena with nothing but a loincloth and a weapon of their choosing. From there, the last one standing is granted supreme rulership of the Hive. And his or her family becomes the new royal bloodline.

[Lanzio]

The President is directly elected by the people, while the Prime Minister is elected by the Assembly (in practice s/he is usually head of the largest party in the Assembly).

[New Periapsis]

Anyone that is a citizen of our nation has an equal chance to be randomly selected for the application process for being the Director should the need arise but they have to successfully pass screening and meet very strict standards that are forbidden to be changed for any reason. It's a method designed to put the most qualified people in charge and completely eliminate corruption.

[Hollibourn]

Normally leaders are legally elected. I got elected and then took power to myself

[Thermodolia]

In order to be eligible for the president one must be 30 years old, a citizen of Thermodolia and must currently reside in Thermodolia.

The president of Thermodolia is chosen by direct voting in a two round system. If a candidate gains 51% in the first round then they are the next president. If they get under 51% of the vote they go to the second round in which the top two candidates run. Said candidates get two more weeks go campaigning before the election. The candidate who gets 51% is the president.

If no candidate gets 51% in the second round then the National Assembly will vote for the president. A candidate must get 60% of the votes in the National Assembly in order to be president.

The president then has two weeks till they are sworn in. The term of office lasts for 6 years and can be renewed up to 4 times.

Since Thermodolia is a semi-Presidental Republic the prime minister is considered a leader as well. In order to be a Prime minister one must be at least 25, a citizen of Thermodolia, and have been elected to the National Assembly as a representative. Upon a new election, vote of confidence, resignation, or death the president will appoint a representative for prime minister this person must have the majority support of the National Assembly.

[Maichuko]

The Emperor/Empress is usually succeeded by one of their siblings or children, they will be chosen based on intelligence and loyalty to the founding principals of the Imperial constitution(No Imperial land shall ever be granted independence, The monarchy shall never be abolished etc).

The Prime Minister is chosen from the party with the most seats in the Imperial Assembly, some have an election amongst registered party members, or have agreed on a candidate ahead of time. The Monarch can veto their choice and request a new candidate, though this is rare.

[Isla de Flores]

The General Secretary is chosen at the party congress which are held every 10 years. The candidates for General Secretary are first approved by the central committee and then one candidate is chosen by the representatives to the party congress.

The President is chosen by a vote of the Congress of the People. Since 1991 the Office of the President and the General Secretary are held by the same person. Therefore the vote by the Congress of the People is a rubber stamp.

[Idoho]

The Central Election Committee approves of two candidates for the Office of President of which all Idoan, Male, Christians, who are members of the Christian Republicans or the Liberal Democrats vote for the President.

The election for president only occurrs when the current president is removed from office or dies.

[Polata City]

Polata City has two leaders the Monarch who is the ceremonial head of state and the Prime Minister who is the head of government.

The oldest child of the current monarch is the next in line for the crown and is called the Crown Prince or Crown Princess.

The prime minister must be 35 years of age, a citizen of Polata City, a resident of Polata City and an elected member of parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the monarch. It is customary however that the leader of the majority be appointed prime minister. The prime minster serves at the will of the monarch

[Shamblia]

In Shamblia, the tradition of passing on the throne is completed through battle between chosen heir and current empress

[Vedastia]

The monarch is chosen by agnatic primogeniture (eldest son in an almost exclusively male line of succession) descending from the first and current king, Þeauturikui I. After his male-line descendants, the succession goes to the male-line descendants of his elder brother, Rutkarui, the Hereditary Prince of Waterhouse (his younger brother, Lutuvikui, renounced his place in the succession due to his vows as a Catholic priest and likely would not have legitimate issue as a matter of course), then to the male junior lines of the Princes of Waterhouse. If this line is exhausted, the last dynastic female will inherit the crown, starting a new succession based on agnatic primogeniture.

The Prime Minister is chosen by the monarch and could be anyone he chooses in theory, but is traditionally the leader of the largest party/coalition in either house of Parliament.

[Carena]

Every 4 years every Type 1-A Carenian citizen votes in a ranked voting election to determine the President. In order to be eligible for Presidency, one must be born in Carena, at least 30 years of age, currently reside within Carena, and have either at least a bachelors degree in law, political science, or have previously held a government office at least city level.

[Luthorios]

Elections occur to elect the 111 MPs in the National Assembly, with another 4 additional Non-Elected MPs chosen after the election from the losing slate of candidates. Afterwards, the Prime Minister is voted on by the entire Assembly, and confirmed a second time by a vote in the unelected House of Lords. He is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly.

[Gandoor]

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Forum following a National Election, which occur every six years. By law, each party is required to put forward their nominee for the office, who is legally required to be a Member of the Forum at the time of the election. By tradition, the nominee from each party is the party leader.

After a National Election, the nominee from whichever party has the most seats in the Forum is appointed to the office of Prime Minister as the first act of the new Forum upon taking their seats.

However, if the current Prime Minister has either not fallen afoul of the current term limits for the office nor declared that they will not be the nominee for their party and their party has the majority of seats following the National Election, then the new Forum will simply begin their first session without appointing anyone to the office of Prime Minister.