NationStates

Contests of strength or of ballots, the right of prophecy or of blood, under the rule of law or in the throes of revolution, by happenstance or the culmination of a lifetime's scheming, there's a story behind every leader's ascension. In this thread, though, we don't care about that. Here I ask you to explore a topic less covered, yet just as important, for all (those of you whose nations are ruled by the omnipotent and immortal aside) who rise to rule will someday leave their station behind and give way to the next, and the next, and the next. This is a question not about beginnings, but about endings.

How do your nation's leaders end their reign? Do they let go of power only as it slips through their lifeless fingers- and if so are they old and infirm, or do they meet a more violent end? Do they choose to stand down, leave because the law says they must, or are they driven out? If their regime meets its fate at the ballot box, is it the will of the people or a shadowy hand which sealed it?

Feel free to answer the question in a way that works for the number of leaders your nation has gone through. If it's a short list get specific! If there are too many to count feel free to generalize, but give an interesting example or two. If you haven't lost a leader yet, how do you foresee it going down- and how does your leader hope/fear it will end? If your leader is omnipotent and immortal... well, I can't really help you there.

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In the early days of Old Xanthal, leaders tended to stick around until they died, or at least until they were too old and tired to manage- the nation's founder famously served for over forty years. Kawikani Hohki lived to walk away from the ruins of his regime only to die as a common citizen in the violence of the civil war which followed. Fina Liu, the first and last Empress of Xanthal, left her power and her life behind in spectacular fashion- shot by her own general, she fell through the window of her top floor office and had several seconds to contemplate what had led her to this before the pavement ended what a pistol began. After the dust had settled in the Empire's wake Xanthal began to elect its leaders, but power remained centralized and without term limits Presidents mostly left when they wished to leave, or when forces within their own government pushed them out.

During the Age of Disunion an orderly succession was the exception- most of the territories that once made up Xanthal were ruled by the right of might, and a leader who miscalculated or chose the wrong moment to be off his guard could be considered fortunate if his position were all that he lost.


Modern Xanthal is a functioning Republic, and its Triumvirate of executives are selected by the public every six years on a single ballot from which the top three take office, but of the ten who have come and gone since the current Constitution went into effect more than half have chosen their time to leave rather than wait to be voted out. After shepherding an orderly transition from the provisional government, Fredrick Dahy decided to enjoy his twilight years out of the public square. Yatzil Omsai saved the right wing from a likely shutout by dropping out of the 2364 election to avoid splitting the vote three ways. Eiko Oishi took a creative approach to prolong her legacy: after handily winning re-election she simply declined to take office, appointing a hand-picked successor to serve the term in her stead, effectively giving her protégé the advantage of incumbency without the bother of needing to first win on her own. The tactic was so effective that Marcus Woessner emulated it in the very next election, deciding to burn out rather than fade away by reversing a shutout of the very sort Omsai had prevented the previous election. In the face of falling support and failing health, Teanin Kisnash decided that four terms was enough. Mia Libby, for her part, took the high road and declined to seek her party's nomination to avert a power struggle following a political merger.

Four Triumvirs have lost a vote. The tide of unionist sentiment which rose in the wake of terrorism did not last long enough to purchase a third term for Hail To Glory, who finished solidly fourth in 2352. Regina Arai's defeat was less dignified: having taken office on the back of a deeply unpopular compromise and held it with the dead albatross of a rapidly failing party around her neck, she limped to a sixth place finish in 2388 and promptly retired from political life. Carrie Anders struggled to a fourth place finish in the contentious election of 2382- the victim of hardening attitudes which favored her more authoritarian challengers- but like the Phoenix rose again and reclaimed her office six years later, becoming the first in Xanthalian history to serve non-consecutive terms in the executive branch. Her comeback was short-lived: after another fourth-place finish in the next election, she decided to find more reliable employment. Yukari Mizushima was voted out not by the people, but by her own caucus: after three terms and with the Federation expanding rapidly, she and her supporters ultimately failed to convince her party that experience was preferable to fresh blood and they selected Tossej Zusv to represent them in the 2394 election instead.

Heavenly Emperor Tianshi will lose his right to the throne when he dies. He does, however, have a contingency in case he goes missing after a certain period of time. If that happens before the Heavenly Prince or Heavenly Princess turns 14, the Heavenly Empresses will be their regent.

There are only three ways that an Archduke can lose his position death, resignation or being replaced by the council of 7 by a unanimous (6 out of 7) vote. For the individual dukes things get more interesting as the ducal families play a big role in politics in a clanish sort of way and can influence and pressure them to step down if they are seen as inadequate.

In the earliest unified government of Gandoor, the Gandoor Grand Council, there wasn't really any way for the leader to lose power. This was due to the simple fact that, for the sixteen years the Grand Council existed, there wasn't a single leader to lose power. Gandoor was governed by a council of 100 who were elected by anyone who could be seated on the council (land-owning males aged 30 or older) and there were no limits as to how long a Grand Council had to exist before a new election nor were there any limits to how many years one could sit on the Council.

During the period of the monarchy, as one would expect our nation's leader losing power came with their death. This held true for both the 282 years as an absolute monarchy and the 17 years as a constitutional monarchy (albeit one where the monarch remained the official head of government)

Of course, there was an exception to this - William II, the last Nzard of Gandoor, abdicated and dissolved the throne of Gandoor on 9 September 1902, exactly 13 years and 4 days after taking the throne following the death of his father, Alexander III. William abdicated as a result of the Gandoor Revolution, which had begun in 1900, and negotiations with the revolutionaries, which began in November 1901, although William was originally adamant in preserving the monarchy, even if only as a symbol of the nation with no political power.

In the modern Democratic Republic, there exist multiple ways for the Prime Minister to lose power, although only four types have ever actually occurred:
- Losing elections - While the Prime Minister themselves are NOT directly elected, their political party has to maintain control of the Forum following a National Election. The most recent Prime Minister to lose power as a result of their party losing control of the Forum was Nikolai Olanovich Semenov of the New Democratic Party, who's party lost control of the Forum in this year's elections to the Gandoor Communist Party.
- Term limits - Unlike in most parliamentary systems, where the Prime Minister can serve for as long as their party controls the legislature and they maintain the confidence of the legislature, the Prime Minister of Gandoor can only serve for two terms of six years, as of 1957. Prior to this, there existed no limit to the number of terms a Prime Minister could serve for. The most recent Prime Minister to lose power due to term limits was Reginald D. McFatton, Jr., who served as Prime Minister from 2006 until 2018.
- Losing a motion of no-confidence - The Forum can call for a motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister once every three months. If the motion passes (which requires a simple majority of 501 votes), then the Prime Minister and their cabinet must immediately resign and the Head of the Forum becomes the new Prime Minister to finish their predecessor's term. As of 2024, no motion of no-confidence has ever been called by the Forum against a Prime Minister
- Choosing to not stand for reelection - As stated above, while the Prime Minister is NOT directly elected, but they can choose to not stand for reelection as their party's nominee. This is most commonly done by resigning as party leader, as tradition dictates that the party leader serves as the nominee for Prime Minister. (This is NOT required by law, which only dictates that a nominee from a party either be the incumbent Prime Minister OR a Member of the Forum at the time of election) The most recent Prime Minister to choose to not stand for reelection was Akane Sasaki, who served as Prime Minister from 2000 until 2006, and resigned as leader of the Gandoor Communist Party in 2005.
- Death - Probably the most universal way of losing power. If the Prime Minister were to die in office, then they lose power and the Head of the Forum finishes their term (and can serve for one or two more terms of their own, depending on how many years their predecessor had left. If they were more than halfway through a term, then the new Prime Minister can serve for two full terms, if they were less than halfway, then they can only serve for one additional term). Only one Prime Minister has died in office, Alexei Petrikov, who died in 1951 at the age of 63, and served as Prime Minister from 1940 until 1951. Petrikov is considered the most infamous Prime Minister and effectively ruled Gandoor as a dictatorship and his sudden death is considered the only reason why Gandoor remains a democracy to this day, as Petrikov had not yet fully realized his plans to transition Gandoor to a complete single-party state, regardless of the crimes he committed against the Gandoorese people and nation.

The only way that the current Emperor (Mortheus Valixor) can lose power is if enough of his multidimensional AI systems are destroyed to make him stop working, which is a nearly impossible task as that would involve going through every Cosmician superweapon, all of which would most likely stop any aspiring attacker long before they had even planned the attack. If the Emperor was killed though, either the Emperor's designated heir would become Emperor, or in case no heir is available, the Head of the Imperial Council would become the acting emperor until a heir could be found, possibly coinciding with a decades long civil war.

According to the prophesies of the Astro Imperialis, Phoenix Arcanum slowly begins to exercise his power less and less after getting married and having children. He spends most of his time with his wife and kids. Eventually, Arcanum is nothing more than a figurehead.

His reign actually ends after the "First Phoenix" dies/regenerates after suffering "psyfulgerite poisoning" at the age of 700 (having the appearance of a 65 year old man) while saving his "companions". After regenerating, the caustic "Second Phoenix" (somehow darker and edgier than his predecessor) completely eschews the position of Lord Emperor and is rarely seen by the Victoran Empire.

Serenity Arcanum, one of Phoenix's daughters (from his First Incarnation), succeeds her Father as Monarch. She reigns for more than 1,000 years.

The Empereur-Roi can only lose power in three ways. The first and most obvious, as he is a monarch, is death. When he dies he would then be succeeded by the first in the line of succession. Another way that the Empereur-Roi can lose power is through abdication, in which due to whatever reason he is forced to step down, be it from order of the council and senate to his own volition. His successor is usually the first in the line of succession or whoever appointed to succeeded by the order of abdication.

The word way is literally just a coup. These have happened a few times in the history of the Imperium.

A reigning Tsar can only be removed by death, Recall, or voluntary abdication. Recalls can be initiated directly by the people, by the individual Parishes, by the Congressional Duma, or the Grand Boyar Council.

Prior to the Second Constitution of TurtleShroom and before the reinstatement of the monarchy, both accused Chancellors died in office during a rapidly advancing Recall process, in 1993 AD.

A recalled Tsar is put to the people for a vote; if a majority votes accordingly, he is forced to abdicate to a heir... and he is executed for desecrating the TurtleShroomian throne. No recall of a head of state has ever been successful.

Even in death, I shall not lose power, for I have many spare bodies and saved mind-states from which I can return and exterminate whoever caused me the unfortunate circumstance of temporary deactivation! ~Leader Megatron

In technically correct terms, this means that not only would someone have to manage to kill Megatron's running instance, which is all but impossible due to his huge amount of onboard armor and firepower, they will first have to find and destroy every single spare body AND every single save so that he doesn't just respawn himself (or get respawned by a loyalist). All of those backups are hidden in different places, there are over 1,000 of each type, and no one knows the location of more than one or two of them. Some spare body locations, especially those that are out of official Decepticon territories, are known only to Megatron himself.

So, while acknowledging that anything is theoretically possible - for practical purposes, he doesn't lose power.

Only in death does duty end, so says the inscription over the door of the Sultans office... there are however several instances of suspected regicide in our history.

The Imperial monarch can only lose their position in three ways: death (obviously), voluntary abdication, and deposition by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. In all cases, including deposition, the title passes to the monarch's immediate successor; the deposed or deceased monarch does not technically have their title stripped but is instead acknowledged as a former Emperor or Empress.

The Emperor or Empress of Aikoland (who functionally retains no more executive or political power, beyond what is ceremonially required of them) can only lose power by death, abdication, or by being deposed. Most monarchs reign until their death, with the most recent abdication being the abdication of Emperor Édouard IV, who abdicated in favour of his eldest daughter (and present Empress) Élisabeth in 1992 due to 'long held feelings that he didn't belong on the throne'. Only one monarch has been deposed, that being Emperor Auguste II, who was deposed in 1812 following the invasion and integration of Aikoland into the French Empire. After the restoration of the Aikolandais Royal Dynasty in 1815, Auguste II opted not to return to the throne due to his advanced age (he was 82 years of age at the time) and instead the throne was taken by his eldest daughter, Élisabeth (Auguste II had no sons).

The Prime Minister of Aikoland can lose power due to:
- Their party losing control of the Chamber of Deputies (while under the Constitution, the Prime Minister could come from either chamber of Parliament, it has become tradition that they come from the Chamber of Deputies and not the Senate, with the last Senator being appointed Prime Minister in 1896). The most recent Prime Minister to have their party lose control of the Chamber of Deputies was Philippe Chaney, in office from 2003 until 2015. His party, the Conservative Party, lost control of the Chamber of Deputies in 2015 to the Social Democratic Party
- Resigning as party leader: The Prime Minister can choose to resign as party leader (and by extension the office of Prime Minister, once a new leader has been elected) at any time. The most recent Prime Minister to lose power by resignation was Léonard Trudeau, in office from 1971 until 1980, who resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party in 1980
- Losing a leadership election: It is possible for members of a political party to call for a leadership election against the incumbent party leader (this is regardless of any other offices they may hold). If the incumbent party leader (in this scenario also the Prime Minister) loses the election, then they also lose the office of Prime Minister. To date, no Prime Minister has been removed from office due to a leadership election
- Being removed due to a motion of no-confidence: If a motion of no-confidence passes, then the Prime Minister (and the rest of Her Majesty's Government) may have to resign and a new government must be formed. HOWEVER, it is also possible that the Chamber of Deputies instead dissolves itself and a new election occurs within three months of the motion of no-confidence, which could result in the current majority party remaining the majority party. To date, no Prime Minister has been removed due to a motion of no-confidence
- Dying in office: The only one that doesn't need an explanation. The only Prime Minister to die in office was Mathieu Bruneau, in office from 1859 until 1867. Bruneau died at the age of 52 due to influenza.

Either through term limits or failing to win re-election. And in rarer cases, death or impeachment.

The King can only lose power through death or abdication. Given the 43 years of age ol' Patrick is, the former might come any day now.

Simply he served the max number of terms allowed, and therefore was not able to run again.

If he or she is voted out or dies in office. The current ruler, the sapient pony ruler Clever One, is rumoured to be planning a dictatorship.

President Fish could be defeated in the next election, if anybody runs against him. The motto of the Fishist Party (of which he is not a member and whose policies he does not endorse) is, "Don't Mess With the Fish," so some people may be intimidated to vote against him. Between elections, there is a good chance that he will be accidentally killed and secretly replaced - but that isn't really "losing" power.

Prime Minister Schuyler Marmish can be voted out by Parliament at any time. Usually, the Prime Minister is a member of the party with the most seats, so byelections tend change the balance of power frequently.

General Marie-Louise Castro-Stalina, like all officers in the Army, must be approved from both above and below. Hypothetically, the Council of Generals could withdraw their support for her but there is no obvious candidate to replace her with the necessary expertise in air-mobile warfare. Also hypothetically, the troops she commands could remove her by referendum; that is also extremely unlikely since she is wildly popular, not only among the troops under her command but among the Army in general and among civilians too.

Alphonse is Alphonse and can never be replaced. Even though he is estimated to be about four years old, he has been an integral part of Fatatatutian society for generations. Rumors that he has been accidentally killed and secretly replaced have not been substantiated.

Death, this happens more often than one would think. Court intrigue and all.

The Monarch can be removed in the following ways:

• Senate Vote of No Confidence: The Senate can call a Vote of No Confidence against the sitting King or Queen for crimes or just for poor job performance. This has never happened, and it is seen only as a measure against tyranny, not a political tool. If a Vote of No Confidence is called, the Monarch has the opportunity to speak before the Senate before the vote. Unlike most nations, a 3/4 majority is necessary in the Senate to remove a sitting Monarch. When a No Confidence motion passes, the Monarch is immediately removed, and the Senate President becomes the Acting Monarch (but is not given the title "King" or "Queen").
  
• Resignation: This has never happened, but if it does, the Monarch is asked to submit notice 21 days in advance, to allow the Senate adequate time to line up a new Monarch.
  
• Senate Vote of Exclusion: The Senate can vote to exclude a Monarch (again by 3/4 majority) from service, either temporarily or permanently. In temporary removal, the Monarch is removed for a designated amount of time no greater than 90 days, and the Senate President acts as the acting Monarch. Temporary exclusion is used for sudden incapacitation (such as when a Monarch experiences a medical emergency), or for a serious mental health issue (such as a substance use disorder).
  
  Permanent exclusion would only occur if the Monarch has a permanent neurological disorder, such as dementia, that renders them unfit to serve. It also requires a 3/4 majority vote. It works exactly like a Motion of No Confidence, except it allows the Monarch to leave with dignity.
  
• Death: If a Monarch dies while in office, the Senate President immediately assumes the role of Acting Monarch (if not available, the chain of succession is followed). After a mourning period lasting 24 hours, the Senate meets and urgently works to find a new Monarch.

As Coconut Palm Island is relatively new and only on our second Monarch, there isn't a huge sample size. Our first King, King Robert, died by suicide, so that is the only experience our nation has with a Monarch permanently loosing power (temporary exclusions happen all the time, however-- for example, Robert was temporarily excluded for 30 days to deal with a depressive episode). After King Robert's death, the Senate (it should be noted that the Senate has the power to appoint, as well as remove, Monarchs) banded together and made Robert's son, Alexander, the second Monarch. While the nation is a non-hereditary Monarchy, Alexander followed Robert's libertarian-socialist ideology very closely. After Robert died by suicide, the nation was in absolute shock and was not ready for his administration, which had a 80% approval rating, to end, so they appointed his son.

Regardless of the method of transfer of power, the power over who occupies the position of Monarch is granted solely to the Senate, who can fill or clear the office as they see fit. This ensures the peaceful transfer of power. Any party that uses violence during a transition period would be universally hated.

There are many ways that the president can be removed from office:

No-Confidence Vote: The most straight forward way. While there is no term limit for the President, there is something referred to as the "Performance Review" witch is a national vote held every five years to gauge the approval of the president. If the president can not obtain at least a 45% approval, then he or she is removed and the traditional campaigning season can begin. A temporary acting president is appointed by Congress to serve while the campaign is underway. The campaign lasts 3 months. The former president can not run again for at least 15 years.

Resignation: The president can, at any moment, resign from office, at witch point, the congress would follow the same producer as above.

A Transferal or "Soft Resignation" Do to a quirk in the constitution, the President can transfer the office to anybody he wants, so long as he or she has the approval of congress. It is considered a "soft resignation" as, while the actual president is gone, someone else with his or her same polices still holds the office. It is worth noting that, while this is technically possible, no one has actually tried it do to it inevitably leading to a failed performance review.

Death: If the President dies, his designated successor would take the office. The designated successor identity is kept hidden until needed to protect them. The president can designate up to 20 successors, in the event that the majority die in some horrific way. While the identities are secret, many believe that they are his cabinet members, or other high ranking officials in the government.

Referendum: Congress has the power to call for a national Referendum for anything they may want. Referendums require a 60% approval to pass however, though, given that they can do anything (as long as it doesn't violate the Constitution), they could be, theoretically, used to remove the President as the Constitution grants congress oversight on the President. This has never been done before however, as Referendums are very rare to begin with and are only really used when congress knows they will get passed, mostly to solidify them, as a referendum passed law is harder to undo then a traditional one.

Impeachment: As mentioned above, Congress has oversight on the President. Now, in practice, this is mostly used for fines, and the power is mostly delegated to the courts, or the New Yorkshire police force however, part of the oversight does allow them to Impeach the President. Now, when I say congress, I am really only talking about the Council (Our Upper House of Congress) as they are the ones responsible for Oversight of not just the President, but all elected officials. The process simply requires a unanimous vote by the whole council, and then he or she is Impeached. Impeached does not mean removed yet however. It simply means that the Council believe that the president committed a crime more serious then one deserving of just a fine. When an Impeachment happens, the President is arrested and brought before the General Assembly (Our Lower House of Congress) who then vote to decide what should happen. It requires a 2/3 majority to remove him or her.

At the current time the President can only lose power by being voted out of office by the will of the people, death, impeachment, term limits, and resignation. Impeachment and removal can only happen when 2/3rds of the National Assembly votes for impeachment and 1/2+1 of the senators vote for removal after a trial. The president has a limit on the number of terms allowed to serve, 4 terms of 6 years or 24 years in office. No president has made it to that date yet with the majority leaving office after two terms or 12 years

The Prime Minister can lose power by being:

voted out of office

The Prime Minister is an elected member of the National Assembly, failure to get elected to the National Assembly while being Prime Minister results in a loss of power.

Death

As of 2020 no Prime Minister has died in office.

Losing a Vote of No Confidence

If the current Prime Minister loses a vote of no confidence they lose power. Only one Prime Minister has been successfully removed from office this way; Morgan Fæns who served as Prime Minister for all of a month in 1910.

Resignation

Any Prime Minister may offer their resignation and step down from the post. At which point the Deputy Prime Minister would take over as acting Prime Minister.

National Assembly is Dissolved

A Prime Minister can lose power if the President dissolves the National Assembly and calls for new elections. This has only happened twice in history.

Prior to the National Republic the leadership of the Thermodolia lost power for all sorts of reasons from old age to death in battle to being murdered by your wife.

There are currently four ways in which a Charellian Chief Executor can lose power. The most common is simply for them to step aside at the end of their term and not seek re-election. Voluntary resignation is actually more common than the second option, which is to lose an election, since Charellians tend to value stability in the executive branch. These are the normal methods of removing a Chief Executor. The other two are utilized in special circumstances.

The third method is called Emergency Succession. This option is used if some circumstance (including death or mid-term resignation) prevents the Chief Executor from carrying out their duties. In this case, the Council of State appoints an interim successor from the Chief Executor's cabinet to carry out the role until the Chief Executor can return to duty or an election can be held. Since 1940, it has been standard practice for the Chief Executor to appoint a Deputy Chief Executor who is ready to step into the role at any time. If the Chief Executor cannot return to duty, the National Council decides whether to hold a snap election or allow the Acting Chief Executor to serve out his/her predecessor's term.

The final method is called Misgovernance, and it is similar to impeachment, although the threshold is much lower. If two-thirds of the National Council believe that the Chief Executor has acted dishonourably in the discharge of his/her duties, they can issue of charge of Misgovernance, allowing the Head of Council to assume the role of Acting Chief Executor until a snap election can be called.

Voluntary resignation, death, internal coup within the Islaevian Socialist Party, or the opposition somehow winning tightly controlled elections.

If a cyclone manages to take out several power lines in Arcesius and couldn't be fixed before the generators lose fuel.

Death or resignation.

Theoretically, a Federal President in Lillorainen is appointed by the Meritocratic Council (and approved by the Chamber of States) without limit, thus, until death; similar practices are known in monarchies. Practically, the current President Silas Flemming, who has been in office since 2002, broke the record by far; Rudolph Nieweiler made the second place with six years in office.
There are four possibilities of how a President can lose power:

Only being the Vice President. In the young history, two Presidents were decided to only serve temporarily - Dragutin Mukačić (1984 to 1987) stepped in as an interim president following the sudden resignation of his predecessor Siegfried Heiderich, and General Rikkert Thorgau (1994 to 1996) stepped in when his predecessor Marie Seelscheid got assassinated. The practice of letting the VP rule for a considerable time is limited to emergencies - in a normal case, VPs only rule for a few months. Hence, not everytime a change of power occurs in Lillorainen, a VP automatically becomes President.
Losing a Vote of No Confidence. While this has not happened in the Federation's young history yet, the Constitution leaves the possibility for the MC, the CoS, or a popular vote to have a President removed from office.
Death. So far, two out of seven Presidents died in office; the aforementioned President Marie Seelscheid got assassinated in 1994 after five years of rule, and President Rudolph Nieweiler died of natural death in 2002 at the age of 71.
Resignation. So far, two Presidents have voluntarily resigned - Siegfried Heiderich, in 1984, due to health concerns, and Henriette Rostrup in 1989 due to 'private reasons' (what these private reasons might have been looked like has never been made clear).