Sierra Prefecture

Sierra Prefecture (/sɪˈɛrə/; Spanish for "mountain range", abbreviated as SA and commonly known as the Sierra) is a landlocked prefecture in northeastern Enderron. It is bordered by Greenberg Prefecture to the north, Longshan Prefecture and Kaigan Prefecture to the west, Miranda Prefecture to the south and the Batavian Republic to the east. Its capital and largest city is Los Prados.

Sierra is known for its rural culture and geography consisting of prairies in the west and mountains in the east. As such, its economy is highly dependent on agriculture and ore mining. About half of Sierrans live in the capital Los Prados, the only major urban area in the prefecture. Sierra is the second-least populous prefecture, with a population of just over a quarter of a million, and is the least densely populated prefecture, with a population density of 14.7/km². It is the only prefecture without any motorway-grade roads.

Additionally, Sierra is home to Enderron's largest Spanish-speaking community, with 12.2 percent of Sierrans identifying as Hispanic and another 3.6 percent as Spanish. This largely stems from Sierra's past status as a Spanish-settled territory, leased from the British from 1712 to 1797, although many new immigrants from Latin America often choose to settle in Sierra as well.

History
TBA

Government
Sierra has a semi-presidential political system, with the Governor of Sierra Prefecture (currently Danielle Kinsey of the Liberal Party of Enderron) as the head of state, and the Premier of Sierra Prefecture (currently Cathy Rathburn of the Social Democratic Party of Enderron) as the head of government. Its unicameral parliament consists of the 25-member Sierra Prefectural Assembly, with elections held every four years, using full preferential voting.

Federal representation
Sierra elects a single Member of Parliament to the Enderronian Parliament.

Political culture
Sierra has three major political parties: the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Sierra, the centre-right agrarian Sierra National Party, and the centrist Liberal Party of Sierra. In addition, there are numerous smaller parties, most notably the localist Sierra Party.

Sierran politics is noticeably less partisan and more consensus-based. Minority governments are the norm; all but two elections since 1968 have resulted in a hung parliament (those two being 1976 and 2012, both coinciding with changes in government). Independent MPs are also very common in the Sierra Prefectural Assembly. Sierrans have traditionally voted according to the platforms of individual candidates rather than the political party they are affiliated with. This "local" nature of Sierran politics is a result of the prefecture's low population.

For much of the latter half of the 20th century, Sierra had a dominant-party system; the United Party controlled the prefectural government for all but one year between 1946 and 1992.

Demographics
Sierra's population as of October 2018 is 259,354, making it the second-least populous prefecture in Enderron, after neighbouring Greenberg Prefecture. Sierra is the least densely populated prefecture.