Secretary General of Darnussia

The Secretary General (Darnus: Sekretar-General; Narik: Secretaris-Generaal) was the head of state of the Darnussian First Republic. The post was abolished when Darnussia adopted a semi-presidential system of government in 2027.

The Secretary General was an indirectly elected office, elected for a seven-year term in a three-way vote by the Parliament, the Assembly of Nobles and the Church of Darnussia, who each got one-third of the vote. There was no term limit for the Secretary General; however nobody served for more than two terms.

Role
While the Secretary General was the head of state, and he was also the joint head-of-government alongside the Governor General, as per the constitution and chaired the cabinet alongside the Governor General in an equal capacity. However, in practice the Secretary General rarely played an active role in politics and was in fact a more ceremonial role. Parliament allowed the continued election of nobles to the position of Secretary General on the condition that they did not actively resist government policy.

Only on rare occasions did disagreements occur; due to the fact the NLP was the ruling party since 1966 and usually always held a parliamentary majority, the Secretary General was almost always closely aligned politically to the sitting Government anyway.

The election of Eric Van Haldon proved ultimately to be the demise of the post of Secretary General and indeed the entire First Republic, due to his active refusal to work alongside the new Socialist government. This forced the government to completely alter the constitution in order to pass even the most basic legislation.

Eligibility and election
Any citizen of the Darnussian Republic over the age of 30 could be elected as Secretary General; in practice it was always a member of the Assembly of Nobles who was usually unanimously selected by the Assembly and then presented for approval by Parliament and the Church.

Only once, in 1994, was the Secretary General not elected unanimously by all three bodies. Otto, Duke of Alkavon, was narrowly rejected by Parliament following objections by both the Socialists and the TJP, who instead opted for Henry Van Dijks. However, the Assembly of Nobles and the Church both voted for Alkavon, thus electing him as Secretary General. In the brief constitutional crisis that followed, Alkavon agreed to play a highly limited role in Government, and he was not elected for a second term.

Relationship with the republic
Despite being a noble, when in office the Secretary General used their personal, non-aristocratic name for all official business due to Darnussia's official status as a republic. Thus the last Secretary General was the 6th Baron Haldon, and before his election he was solely referred to as such. Upon his elevation to Secretary General however, he was exclusively known by his personal name of Eric Van Haldon. Upon his retirement, he once again adopted his aristocratic title.