Now is it legally possible to hold political office in two countries at the same time?

Question

For example, are there two or more countries where there is no requirement on a head of government to give up dual citizenship? If so, the technical possibility of becoming the head of two countries (in today's context, not in a historical colonial context) would be very funny.

But I'm also asking as regards other kinds of political office.

Answer 1

If you are the British monarch, you are ruler of 15 countries

King Charles III, and before him his mother Queen Elizabeth II, were monarchs of 15 countries, and as such technically the power behind the government. To become the British monarch, you have to be in the line of succession and everyone in front of you has to die.

If you are the Norwegian or Swedish monarch, wait for the House of Windsor to die out

The Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Netherlands monarchs are in the British line of succession.

It does not work the other way around due to various inheritance laws:

• The Norwegian line of succession is trimmed whenever a king ascends. Only descendants and siblings of the king can inherit.
• The Swedish throne demands the monarch to be brought up in Sweden and Lutheran.
• The Danish line of succession requires the current Danish monarch to approve of all marriages of anyone who might inherit the throne down the line. Without approval, they are cut out of the line. As a result, other country's monarchs couldn't easily inherit the Danish throne.

Why are they all eligible to inherit? To say it short: Victoria I and her children.

• Harald V, King of Norway, is the great-grandson of King Edward VII through his daughter, Queen Maud of Norway. As such, he is around the 60th in line of succession.
• Carl Gustaf, King of Sweden, was a relative of Victoria I, Queen of England, and as there was no law disclaiming him, and thus his line is still eligible to inherit should Victoria's line die out. Victoria's line rebranded as Windsors with George V, and is a branch of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. In that rebranding, several German princes were cut out of the inheritance line, but not the Swedes or Schleswig-Holstein. Currently, HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the, great-grandson of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, Victoria's third son would be the first eligible Swede, and should be somewhere around the 186th in the line of succession.
• While the Swedish throne can't fall to the Danish royal family, the British throne could. They are around spot 210 in the line of succession, based on Queen Margrethe of Denmark being the eldest daughter of Queen Ingrid of Denmark, the only daughter of Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and Margaret of Connaught.
• The Netherlands start around spot 835 with the justification of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands being the 6-times-great-granddaughter of Princess Augusta Charlotte, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttell - who's descendants were not stripped of their place in the line of succession.

Answer 2

new-zealand

is it legally possible to hold political office in two countries at the same time?

One of such two countries could be New Zealand if a second one is found.

Members of Parliament automatically lose their seats (s 55(1) Electoral Act 1993) if:

(b) if he or she takes an oath or makes a declaration or acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign State, foreign Head of State, or foreign Power, whether required on appointment to an office or otherwise; or

(c) if he or she does or concurs in or adopts any act whereby he or she may become a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, or entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power; or

However, as per s 55AA, they do not lose their seats if:

(a) becoming a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, or entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, by reason only of the member’s—

(i) country or place of birth; or

(ii) descent; or

(b) renewing a passport or travel document that was issued to him or her by a foreign State or Power before the member took office.

So, if a NZ citizen who was born elsewhere becomes an MP (or even PM) and his motherland country does not mind making him an MP as well — profit.

Answer 3

It is possible to serve in the national legislatures of the UK and Ireland at the same time, although only one person has actually done it. Several other people have been in both, but not simultaneously. The overlapper is Benjamin Guinness, the third Earl of Iveagh, who was chairman of the well-known beverage company. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1967 until his death in 1992, by virtue of his peerage title. He was also a member of the 13th Seanad Éireann (1973-1977), nominated by the then Taoiseach.

There are some differences in the rules relating to the different chambers in both countries, and to subnational legislatures like the Northern Ireland Assembly. As to the UK, for example, someone is disqualified from the House of Commons if they are a member of another country's legislative body - unless that country is Ireland or a Commonwealth country. And Ireland is the most likely other country to be involved since there are many dual citizens and it is physically closest; being a UK and NZ double-MP would be inconvenient.

Being a dual citizen does not disqualify you from being a UK minister. Recently, Boris Johnson was a US citizen (as well as a UK one) while Foreign Secretary. If he were elected to office in the USA then he would have been disqualified from his Commons seat. There is no such legal bar in the UK if he had been appointed to some important American job, such as being Secretary of Commerce - assuming US law allowed that. It just becomes extremely politically unlikely that this sort of thing would happen.

Although not a political office, it is also possible for senior judges to hold office in more than one country. Until recently, Lord Reid and Lord Hodge were on the UK Supreme Court as well as the Court of Final Appeal for Hong Kong. Several other CFA judges are also current members of the UK House of Lords. Previously, Lord Cooke was a New Zealand judge who also sat as a judge in the Lords (prior to the Law Lords being split off into the Supreme Court), as well as on the CFA and other courts of Pacific nations.