Lieutenant Delegate of Taijitu

Lieutenant Delegate of Taijitu
Formation	Constitution of Taijitu June 20, 2010
Inaugural holder	St Oz June 28, 2010
Incumbent	Inglo-Scotia since July 10, 2012
Selection	Elected on the same ticket as the Delegate
Term length	Seven weeks, unlimited renewable
Succession	First
Executive forums

The Lieutenant Delegate of Taijitu (originally Vice Delegate) is a member of the executive branch of Taijitu's government. They are elected every seven weeks on the same ticket as the candidate for Delegate who selected them. The office's only formal constitutional duty is to assume the office of Delegate in the event that the current Delegate can no longer serve for any reason. In practice, many Lieutenant Delegates have gone beyond these this and served as general, high ranking members of the Cabinet, assisting the Delegate in their executive responsibilities.

History

The first constitution of Taijitu established a similar office of Vice Delegate. Like the current office, their only explicit responsibility was taking over the Delegate's duties if they were unable to attend to them. However, the Vice Delegate under this first constitution would never assume the office proper, only assuming this powers for as long as it took to conclude a special election for Delegate.

This system was put to the test when on June 14, 2007 the incumbent Delegate The G Rebellion resigned and his Vice Delegate PoD Gunner assumed his duties. The necessity of holding another election rather than allowing the duly elected PoD Gunner to serve as Delegate for the remainder of the term was soon met with skepticism. The constitution could not be amended in time to prevent the need for an election, but PoD Gunner was formally elected to replace The G Rebellion anyway. Soon afterward, on July 20, 2007, the Senate amended the constitution to allow the Vice Delegate to serve out the remainder of the replaced Delegate's term.

The office of Vice Delegate was abolished on March 27, when a new constitution was established by Sovereign Dixie as part of a coup. The new constitution was short lived, and replaced by one which closely resembled its predecessor. The office of Vice Delegate, however, was not revived along with the Senate. Instead, election dates were not fixed, there was simply a maximum length of time that could pass before a new election was required. If a Delegate left office prematurely, a Minister would serve while a new election was held. The winner was then free to serve out a full term. Regional inactivity meant that this system, while legally in place for years, was never actually used.

When a new constitution was drafted in 2010, the original proposal retained this system. This proposal was dropped and replaced with one which restored the office of Vice Delegate when a broader constitutional convention voted to do so. On June 20, 2010, the constitution was formally ratified, reestablishing the office of Vice Delegate.

On May 6, 2012, the office of Vice Delegate was renamed to Lieutenant Delegate, finally removing the long ridiculed acronym of VD from Taijitu's political lexicon.

Powers

The Lieutenant Delegate has no proper constitutional powers. Instead, they are required only to assume the office of the Delegate if for some reason the current one. can no longer perform their duties. The lack of any other explicit duties has never, however, been interpreted to mean that the Lieutenant Delegate can do nothing else. Many Lieutenant Delegates have played an active role in government as a member of the Delegate's cabinet, essentially functioning as a Minister without any specific domain. This is not always the case, and some Lieutenant Delegates have stuck solely to their sole constitutional duty of standing by in case they are needed.

Election and recall

Candidates for the office of Delegate are required by the Constitution to publicly select a candidate for Lieutenant Delegate. If they are then elected as Delegate in the election, their candidate for Lieutenant Delegate is elected with them. As an elected official, the Lieutenant Delegate can like the Delegate be recalled from office by a two-thirds majority vote in a popular referendum. Unlike the Delegate they may not be impeached by the Senate and subsequently removed from office by a simple majority in a referendum.