Happy Year Day, Dear Asgardians!
Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, the Founder of Asgardia and its Head of Nation, congratulates the Space Nation on its national holiday, summarises the past year with its outstanding events, announces what Asgardia is waiting for in the near future, and what contribution every Asgardian can make.
Dear Asgardians!
I wish you all a happy National Holiday of Asgardia - the Year Day!
Let me briefly recap some of the past year's results; outline the key directions of our nation's development for the coming year, and the intended ways of implementing those.
First of all, I would like to note that the past year was marked by events that are directly related to the democratic structure of Asgardia.
Fully in line with our Constitution, which was amended by popular Referendum in 0006 (2022), and the Act on Acts, in 2023, the First Parliament of Asgardia completed its term of office and stepped down. Next, there was an election for the Second Parliament. Mr Lembit Öpik was elected Chairman of Parliament again by a majority vote. It should be noted that the First Parliament of Asgardia delivered good results. Eighty (80) members of the First Parliament were re-elected to the new Parliament and joined by seventy (70) new AMPs. The Parliament started its work promptly and with confidence, picking up the dynamic, well-defined rhythm set by its predecessors.
Also pursuant to the Constitution of Asgardia and the Asgardia Government Act, the Cabinet of Ministers of Asgardia resigned due to the end of the parliamentary term. As a result, the previous Prime Minister, Mrs Lena De Winne, was reappointed to this position for the next term. All the 11 ministerial candidates she proposed, who had already served in the previous Government, were approved by Parliament.
With the end of the five-year term of the Supreme Justice of Asgardia, I reappointed Mr Yun Zhao to a new five-year term by my Decree. The Court of Asgardia, consisting of four Justices, continues its service, and their powers will be revised at the end of the five-year term of office, as per the Constitution of Asgardia and the Asgardia Judiciary Act.
Thus, this year saw the constitutional reformatting of all the three branches of power, which was finalised at the Third Executives' Congress in the history of Asgardia held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
This was the first major physical meeting since the end of the COVID isolation. I believe that it was not only timely, but also meaningful in a human way, as we had not seen each other since the end of November of 2019, when we met in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. For some of us, it was an old friends' reunion; for others, those who were newly elected, it was the first personal acquaintance with those who within a short period of time had already become an important part of Asgardia, and with whom we are now all building our Space Nation together.
Our well-developed mechanisms of interaction between colleagues in different countries and different time zones of planet Earth, which have been in place since the moment our country was founded, made it possible for us to conduct this historic meeting efficiently in a mixed face-to-face and digital mode, to hear the reports of the leaders of our branches of power, and to answer the questions of our colleagues present both in the conference room and in Zoom.
The Constitution of Asgardia defines the structure of our nation as a classical democratic system with three independent branches of power. Thus, the Executives are the heads of these branches: the Chair of Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Supreme Justice, chairpersons of Parliamentary Committees, Ministers, Justices, as well as the Head of my Administration and the Senior Advisors of Administration.
I swore in all the Asgardian Executives on the original Constitution of Asgardia, and they received their Asgardia civil servant IDs, leadership insignia, and commemorative Congress medals.
I am convinced that this meeting was a worthy step for our