Chancellor of Sanctaria
| Prime Minister of the Divine Republic of Sanctaria | |
|---|---|
 Sanctarian Coat of Arms | |
| Style |
|
| Member of |
|
| Reports to | Parliament |
| Seat | Government Manor, Sanctus, Sanctaria |
| Appointer | President of Sanctaria by convention, based on appointee's ability to command confidence in the House of Deputies. |
| Term length | None While they command confidence in the House of Deputies. No term limits are imposed on the office. |
| Formation | 19 November 1974 |
| First holder | Eric Childerson |
| Deputy | Deputy Prime Minister of Sanctaria |
| Salary | S£375,000 |
| Website | pm.gov.sct |
The Prime Minister of the Divine Republic, also known as the Prime Minister of Sanctaria, is the chief executive and head of government of Sanctaria. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of Sanctaria upon the nomination of the House of Deputies, the lower house of the Sanctarian parliament, and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the House of Deputies; this individual is typically the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber.
The incumbent Prime Minister of Sanctaria is the Democratic Left Party's Charlene Hendry, who was appointed by President Marion Woodstrom following her nomination by the House of Deputies on 31 January 2018; her party having achieved an overall majority in the House in the 2018 General Election.
Overview
Under the Constitution of Sanctaria, the Prime Minister is nominated by a simple majority of the House of Deputies from among its members. He/she is then formally appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the House designates, without the option of declining to make the appointment. For this reason, it is often said that the Prime Minister is "elected" by parliament.
If the Prime Minister loses the support of a majority in the House of Deputies, he/she is not automatically removed from office but, rather, is compelled either to resign or to persuade the President to dissolve the House. The President may refuse to grant a dissolution and, in effect, force the Prime Minister to resign; to date, no president has exercised this prerogative. The Prime Minister may lose the support of the House by the passage of a vote of no confidence, or implicitly through the failure of a vote of confidence; or alternatively, the House may refuse supply. In the event of the Prime Minister's resignation, he/she continues to exercise the duties and functions of his/her office until the appointment of a successor.
The Prime Minister nominates the remaining members of the Government, i.e. his.her Cabinet, who are then, with the consent of the Senate (the lower house of Parliament), appointed by the President. The Prime Minister also has authority to advise the President to dismiss cabinet ministers from office, advice the President is required to follow by convention.
The Department of the Prime Minister is the government department which supports and advises the Prime Minister in carrying out his/her various duties.
Role and powers
The office of Prime Minister was established by the 1974 Constitution of Sanctaria and is the most powerful role in Sanctarian politics. The executive power of the state is vested in the government, and since the Prime Minister is the head of government, and may remove ministers at will, many of the powers specified, in law or the constitution, to be exercised by the government as a collective body, are in reality at the will of the Prime Minister whom the cabinet will back in most major decisions. Nevertheless the need for collective decision making on paper acts as a safeguard against an unwise decision made by the Prime Minister.
He/she can both advise the President to dismiss ministers and dissolve Parliament on his/her own authority - advice that the President is almost always required to follow by convention. His/her role is greatly enhanced because under the Constitution, he/she is both de jure and de facto chief executive. In typical parliamentary democracies, the head of state is usually the nominal chief executive, while being bound by convention to act on the advice of the cabinet. In Sanctaria, however, executive power is explicitly vested in the Government, of which the Prime Minister is the leader.
Privileges
Compensation
The Prime Minister's salary is established in statue and may be revised at any time by the government. Since December 2013, the Prime Minister's annual salary has been S£375,000. The Prime Minister is also allowed up to S£157,160 in annual expenses - this includes the S£57,160 annual unvouched expenses that all members of the Sanctarian Parliament are permitted. In addition, all members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, are entitled to have their health insurance subsidised in full for the duration of their time in office.
Security
The Sanctarian Police Force provide constant personal security for the Prime Minister, his/her spouse, his/her (underage) children, and up to five other designated persons; in recent years, Prime Ministers have used these additional security details for individuals such as their parents or any grown children that they may have.
When travelling abroad, members of the Diplomatic Security Bureau, a branch of the Sanctarian Department of Foreign Affairs provide security detail for the Prime Minister and all members of his/her entourage.
Retired Prime Ministers are entitled to a reduced security detail for life; the individual has a choice of this detail being provided by either the Sanctarian Police Force or a private security firm. It further only extends to covering themselves, their spouse, and any underage children.
Residence
When in office, Prime Ministers and their immediate family have the option of staying in the generous apartments attached to Government Manor, the official place of work of the Prime Minister. The Manor, an 18th Century detached townhouse located in the of Sanctus city centre, is over four stories high and has round-the-clock security; to date, no Prime Minister has declined to use the Manor as their place of resident during their tenure.
Transportation
While in office, the Prime Minister has use of two private jets - one designated for the Government of Sanctaria, and one for the use of the Prime Minister's office itself. Prime Ministers also have both drivers and state cars provided to them, as well as the use of any military aircraft, such as helicopters, when the need arises.
List of office holders
Since the established of the office under the 1974 Constitution, no Prime Minister has ever served more than one parliamentary term; until constitutional changes in 2012, the standard parliamentary term was seven years, this has now been reduced to five.
Prime Ministers of the Divine Republic | |||||||
| Colour key |
| ||||||
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Government | Deputy | ||
| 1 | 
|
Rev. Eric Childerson (1914–1998) |
19 November 1974 |
03 November 1981 |
1st | Xander Dylans | |
| 2 | 
|
Richard Hammersley (1920–2003) |
06 December 1981 |
17 October 1986 |
2nd | Jacob Williams | |
| 3 | 
|
Eli Taylor (b. 1933) |
29 November 1986 |
06 November 1993 |
3rd | Andrew Burham | |
| 4 | 
|
Glen Cox (b. 1947) |
12 December 1993 |
08 November 2000 |
4th | Stuart Payne | |
| 5 | 
|
Charles Dawson (b. 1951) |
01 December 2000 |
04 November 2007 |
5th | Audrey Bennet | |
| 6 | 
|
Joshua Turner (b. 1962) |
13 December 2007 |
02 February 2013 |
6th | Robert Smyth | |
| Andrew Silk | |||||||
| 7 | 
|
Mark Kindle (b. 1969) |
01 March 2013 |
12 January 2018 |
7th | Jason Reid | |
| 8 | 
|
Charlene Hendry (b. 1960) |
31 January 2018 |
Incumbent | 8th | Niamh Winters | |