AHC: Directly-Elected Prime Minister in Monarchy

Green Painting · Dec 26, 2013

It seems in all constitutional monarchies, cabinet/PM is produced by a Majority party or coalition in Parliament, and never by direct elections.

Is it possible to have a directly-elected prime Minister in a Monarchy?

The Monarch is still the head of state, but the Prime Minister is produced in a manner similar to Presidents in OTL US or 5th-Republic France: by majority/plurality in popular elections, not through parliamentary processes.

Richthofen · Dec 26, 2013

It would only work with a first-past-the-post system. Once you enact PR, it's gonna be hell when coalitions start crumbling.

Plumber · Dec 26, 2013

Richthofen said:
It would only work with a first-past-the-post system. Once you enact PR, it's gonna be hell when coalitions start crumbling.

And yet, Israel elected prime ministers directly in the past.
It didn't go too well.

I could see Thailand implementing this. Have a popular yellow shirt run for PM, because they sure as hell can't win otherwise.

Green Painting · Dec 26, 2013

To phrase it the other way:

Have a Presidential Republic working under a ceremonial King.
The key is that the heat of government is separate from the legislative body.

Although it's post-1900, you can try to have a 19th century occurrence.

Green Painting · Dec 26, 2013

Richthofen said:
It would only work with a first-past-the-post system. Once you enact PR, it's gonna be hell when coalitions start crumbling.

I would prefer a French-style two-round voting for both parliament and PM: people can vote as they like in the first round but strategically in the second.

Richthofen · Dec 27, 2013

Green Painting said:
I would prefer a French-style two-round voting for both parliament and PM: people can vote as they like in the first round but strategically in the second.

Could work in a post-1871 setting in France (and continuing into the 20th century) with a more reasonable count of Chambord, willing to accept a republican flag. The heavy monarchists get their Bourbon king back, the moderates get their constitutional monarchy and the republicans get their strong "president". Might be possible in Spain too, though given the inherent conflictual nature of a presidential system, it might actually break the country even further.

Nicola · Dec 27, 2013

Green Painting said:
To phrase it the other way:

Have a Presidential Republic working under a ceremonial King.
The key is that the heat of government is separate from the legislative body.

Although it's post-1900, you can try to have a 19th century occurrence.

a directly elected head of government is the presidential / head of State role - in a constitutional monarchy the HoS is the monarch ..

Dan1988 · Dec 27, 2013

Plumber said:
And yet, Israel elected prime ministers directly in the past.
It didn't go too well.

It's Israel. Had it been any other country, it would have worked out fine (such as, well, South Africa).

Starkad · Dec 27, 2013

I can think of two ways this could work, at least for a while:
- If there are no large parties (or party groups), but rather a host of regional, ethnic, confessional etc parties or many unattached members. But I wonder how long that would last...
- If one party (or party group) is so dominant that the elected PM is guaranteed a majority.
Japan in the LDP glory days would be the obvious example. Again that didn't last.

Otherwise it resembles what happened in some fledgling democracies in the late 19th century, where the crown would pick the PM, regardless of his support in parliament. Those systems either moved on to "parliament first" or had problems.

Dathi THorfinnsson · Jan 2, 2014

If you directly elect the PM, he could easily end up being from a party that cant build a majority in parliament, which would mean he'd be useless...

Unless you had a crazy hybrid system with a seperate executive branch that doesnt depend on the confidence of parliament.

Hmmmmm... if the US had a purely ceremonial monarchy, with otls president CALLED a PM, it might work. Why he'd be called a PM, Im sure I dont know.

Dan1988 · Jan 2, 2014

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
If you directly elect the PM, he could easily end up being from a party that cant build a majority in parliament, which would mean he'd be useless...

That's when coalitions come in handy.

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
Unless you had a crazy hybrid system with a seperate executive branch that doesnt depend on the confidence of parliament.

In that case, Switzerland can be viewed as a partial example. The Federal Council, IIRC, does not necessarily depend on Parliamentary support - which makes sense for a collegial system where the Cabinet is also the collective Head of State and Head of Government.