Politics of Kpwahele & Nɣurumba
Kpwahele & Nɣurumba is a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament of 23 seats.
rights of president and parliament
Both president and parliament have the right of initiative, but the vast majority of law proposals are drafted by the president. "President" needs to be understood broadly here: the rest of the government (ministers) are formally nothing but assistants or advisers of the president and are appointed by him (or hypothetically, her), and any proposal by a minister is thus formally a proposal by the president. The president can veto a law approved by the parliament. Subsequently, the parliament can dismiss the president, but only by simultaneously dissolving itself. This cancels both the presidential veto and the parliamentary adoption of the law, which therefore, becomes proposal again, to be decided upon by the new parliament (and president). (The parliament can also dismiss the president after serious misconduct, but this requires two thirds of the votes. In this case too, the parliament is dissolved.)
Both president and members of parliament are elected for 4 years with no limit to the number of terms.
political parties
Until 1994 only one party was allowed in Kpwahele & Nɣurumba:
After the 1994 political reforms other parties were allowed provided that they are not 'unconstitutional' (which is decided by the Court of Justice the members of which are appointed by the president).
Since then, the following parties have been represented in the parliament and/or district council(s):
- National Democratic Union for Progress (NDUP): pro-Western, pro-foreign investment, pro-economic liberalization, and pro-civil liberties.
- African Democratic Convention (ADC): a moderately African nationalist, social democratic party (ideologically indistinguishable from RANU) with its roots in the Makonde minority (and to a lesser extent also other African minorities).
- New Party for Tradition and Development (NPTD): a somewhat culturally conservative party favoring economic liberalization and 'appropriate' foreign investment, rooted strongly in the Arab minority.
In addition to these, there are several smaller parties that never won a seat in national or district elections (or even passed the election thresholds of 3% or 5% respectively). The most important of these are the following:
- Communist Party of Kpwahele and Nɣurumba (CPKN): split off from RANU after that party denounced Marxism in 2003; main critic of RANU on the left.
- Social-Democratic Union (SDU): split off from NDUP in 1997 in response to the gradual (and continuing) movement to the right of that party; ideologically closer to RANU than to NDUP with regards to economic issues, but pro-Western and pro-civil liberties.
- African Muslim Brotherhood (ABM): very conservative Islamic party; illegal until 2009.
Both CPKN and SDU usually get close to 3% of the votes. ABM got slightly less than 1% in the elections in which it participated. No other party ever got more than 0.5% of the votes. A few smaller parties have never participated in elections, but support larger parties and sometimes even have overlapping membership. Best known of these is the Christian Democratic Party (CDP), which is effectively part of NDUP. It seems likely that a regional party for Nɣurumba district would be sufficiently successful to pass the election thresholds (and even win seats), but thus far no such party has been allowed by the Court of Justice on the grounds that such a party would be "secessionist and therefore unconstitutional".
National Council (parliament)
The parliament of Kpwahele & Nɣurumba is called "National Council" ("Revolutionary Council" until 1994). It has 23 seats which (since 1994) are divided among parties that pass the 3% election threshold by a system of proportional distribution, remaining seats divided by highest remainders. Until 1994 it was a one-party state and all seats where occupied by RANU.
National Council elections
| 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2003* | 2007 | 2009* | 2013 | |
| RANU | 12 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 10 |
| NDUP | 8 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| ADC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| NPTD | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| CPKN | 1 | ||||||
| SDU | 1 |
note (*): After dissolution of parliament. See below.
president
All three presidents in the history of the country have been members of the largest party, RANU.
| period | (re-)elected | |
| Joseph-Nmawu Nkweza | 1982-98 | 1982, 86, 90, 94 |
| Dzulagba Mbuƨu | 1998-2009 | 1998, 2002, 03*, 08 |
| Muhanda-Ngene Kɣamu | 2009- | 2009**, 13 |
notes:
* : President Mbuƨu was dismissed (and the parliament dissolved) in 2003 after he vetoed a NDUP law proposal (supported by NPTD) for a decrease of taxes and government spending. He won the consequent presidential elections (and RANU won the parliamentary elections). The NDUP proposal was rejected by the new parliament.
** : President Mbuƨu was again dismissed (and the parliament dissolved) in 2009 after he vetoed a RANU law proposal about labor conditions in foreign companies. He did not run in the consequent presidential election, which was won by Muhanda-Ngene Kɣamu. The law proposal was accepted by the new parliament, albeit in a slightly weaker form (probably because some foreign investors were threatening to leave).
mayors and district councils
Kpwahele & Nɣurumba is made of two districts, Kpwahele district and Nɣurumba district. Both are governed by a mayor appointed by the president after consultation of the District Council. Thus far all mayors have been RANU members. The District Councils of the two districts have 15 and 9 seats respectively, and are elected every 4 years (by the same system as the National Council, except that the election threshold is 5%). District Councils cannot be disbanded, nor disband themselves.
district council elections
Kpwahele district
| 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | |
| RANU | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| NDUP | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| ADC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| NPTD | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Nɣurumba district
| 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | |
| RANU/ADC | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| NDUP | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| NPTD | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Note: ADC did participate separately in the elections of 1996 and 2000, but since 2004 RANU and ADC participate in the elections as a single block. (ADC did not get any seats alone, and is not likely to get any either because the Makonde minority, the main support base of ADC, is too small on Nɣurumba. Through their cooperation with RANU they can, nevertheless, have at least some influence on policy, while the additional votes for RANU may help in the competition for remainder seats.)