Islamic Internet Republic
 | |
| Official language | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Capital | Brussel |
| Largest cities | Antwerpen, Gent, 's-Gravenhage, Utrecht |
| Website | Islamic Internet Republic website |
| Forum | Islamic Internet Republic forums |
| Number of citizens | 9 |
| Number of active citizens | 4 |
| Date founded |
January 20th, 2007 2007-2008 (Virtual United Provinces) 2008—2010 (Republic of the Netherlands) 2010- (Islamic Internet Republic) |
| Government | Islamic Republic |
| Current leader | Sadr Saladin |
| Currency | florijn (fl.) |
| National animal | Lion |
| National fruit/food | / |
| National drink | / |
| File:Islamicinternetrepublicmap.gif.png | |
| Map versions | 14.0.0-14.6.4 |
The Islamic Internet Republic (Islamitische Internetrepubliek) is the successor state of the Republic of the Nederlands (Republiek der Nederlanden), which in turn is the successor state of the Virtual United Provinces (Virtuele Verenigde Provinciën).
Government
The head of state is called Sadr, and is elected for a six months term. The first and current Sadr is Saladin.
The sadr appoints the Grand Vizier (Grootvizier), in whom executive power is vested, with the approval of the Majlis-al-Shoera. The Grand Vizier, then, appoints the other members of the executive, called viziers. Jef Vermussen is the first and current Grand Vizier.
Legislative power is vested in the Majlis-al-Shoera, an elected body, comprised of 100 members (or, more correctly: 100 votes, distributed amongst its members.) Its sessions are presided over by the Sadr.
However, laws can only pass if an advice has given by the Islamic Diwan, although this advice is non-binding. The Islamic Diwan is composed of ordinary members (apppointed by the Majlis-al-Shoera at the Sadr's proposal), extraordinary members (the former heads of state) and coopted members (chosen by the ordinary and extramordinary members). At least half of them need to be muslim.
Religion
The Islamic Internet Republic's official religion is islam. Article 1 of its constitution states that sovereignty belongs to Allah, and that the Republic 'governorship' (stadhouderschap), and art. 46 stipulates that the Quran is the highest law of the land, above any other, including the constitution.
However, all are regarded as equal before the law, regardless of creed, and freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed.
History
The Virtual United Provinces (Virtuele Verenigde Provinciën or VVP) were founded on January 20th, 2007 under the leadership of Frans, and were given their constitution a couple of days later, when both the Free State of Antwerp as well as the Free State of Ghent had signed the Union of Utrecht. It was a federal state, with three provinces with an active system of government: Antwerp, Ghent and the Federal Kingdom of New Batavia (Bondskoninkrijk Nieuw-Batavië). Those provinces which did not have a sufficient population level, were managed by the central authorities as generality lands (generaliteitslanden).
It had a bicameral legislature, the Lower House representing the provinces proportionate to their size, and the Upper House having one representative for each active province.
Executive power was vested in the Stadholder. Due to its short existance, it had only one Stadholder: Frans.
However, the federal system soon proved to be unworkable, largely due to the low levels of population of the provinces and generality lands, forcing the central authorities to assume more and more power. On June 11th, 2008, the country became a unitary state under the name of the Republic of the Netherlands (Republiek der Nederlanden), with a unitary legislature. The title of the head of state was changed to Voorzitter van de Republiek (President, or, more literally, Chairman of the Republic), who would appoint a Prime Minister as Head of Government.
Frans became Acting President until January 31th, 2009, when he was succeeded by Calvin Klein, who was in turn succeeded by Alejandro Gonzalez (from August 11th, 2009 on) and Nihill Romez (from February 17th, 2010 on).
Prime Ministers were (with date of appointment indicated between brackets): Floris V (June 14th, 2008), Alejandro Gonzalez (November 11th, 2008), Jeroen van Veen (December 31st, 2008), Frans (April 19th, 2009), Nihill Romez (June 1st, 2009), Max (January 4th, 2010), Jef Vermussen (February 2nd, 2010), and, finally Frans (May 24th, 2010).
The Republic was threatened by several existential crisis. Not only did Flemish president Hieronymus Erasmus issue a declaration of annexation, apparently without the backing of his government and with little seriousness, but more fundamentally there was the issue of the country's tendency towards inactivity. This has often been attributed to the countries lack of distinct identity viz-à-viz Flanders and Batavia.
There also grew other tensions, especially between Frans and Nihill Romez. Not only did Frans accuse Romez of neglecting the use of the country's national wiki, thereby abandoning, in Frans' view, the second founding principle of the country (besides federalism, which had already been abandoned previously), he considered the nation to be lacking seriousness and refered to it as a 'banana republic'.
In May 2010, the country witnessed something of a 'revolution': President Romez was apparently removed by a coup, with the coupists abusing forum powers, temporarilly prohibiting him from accession the country's forum. The allegations of this being a coup were denied by the islamist Saladin, a newcomer whom Romez believed to be the same person as Frans and whom he believed to have been behind the recent events. In any case, Romez' (forced) absence allowed for Prime Minister Vermussen to assume presidential powers, and call for new presidential and pariamentary elections, whereby Saladin became President and the new parliament was composed of Frans and Vermussen. This new parliament quickly discussed and approved a new constitution, which was subsequently approved by referendum, installing the current islamic republic.
