Federal Parliament of Excelsior
Federal Parliament of Excelsior | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the Parliament | |
 Wordmark of the Parliament | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Federal Senate, Federal Assembly |
| History | |
| Preceded by | Senate of Excelsior |
| Leadership | |
Speaker | |
Dean | |
| Structure | |
 | |
Federal Assembly political groups | Democratic Party: 8 seats Worker's Party: 5 seats Communist Party of Dave: 1 seat Vacant: 1 seat |
| Meeting place | |
| Federal Parliament Hall of Excelsior | |
The Federal Parliament of Excelsior is the bicameral legislature of the United Federation of the Terra Excelsior Republic. The Parliament is semi-direct democratic and is organized in a "congressional" system. The Parliament is composed of two houses, the Federal Parliament as the lower house and the Federal Assembly as the higher house. Parliament is presided upon by the Speaker of the Parliament, currently Connor Hetner, as well as two Deans, being President Silas Wurnbash and Chancellor Nicolas Caiazzo. The Federal Senate is direct democratic and any citizen may vote or motion within the Senate, while the Federal assembly is elected using a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines first-past-the-post elected seats with a proportional party list.
Members of the Federal Assembly serve for renewable 4-month terms, after which they are elected by the Excelsioran people. motions are proposed by any citizen in the Federal Senate and are voted on and debated on in both houses. Motions passed by both houses are considered to be passed by the Parliament and must them be approved by the President.
The Parliament officially meets in the Federal Parliament Hall of Excelsior but in practice meets on Discord.
People's Senate
The People's Senate is the lower house of the Federal Parliament and is direct-democratic, with all citizens offically being considered "members". Any Excelsioran can propose motions or bills in the People's Senate so long as it is done through the official Excelsioran Discord server. Once a motion is proposed in the Senate it is put up to vote by the Speaker or a Dean and is voted on by any citizen of Excelsior.
Before the implementation of direct democracy in the Senate through the April Reforms of 2022, the Federal Senate was the lower house of Parliament, and consisted of members appointed by directly elected "Electors". Before the implementation of Electors, Senators were appointed jointly by the Chancellor and President.
Status as the lower house
Despite a senate traditionally being the upper house of most legislatures, serving as a deliberative body to provide a "sober second thought" in the consideration legislation passed by a lower house, the Excelsioran People's Senate is the lower house of the Excelsioran Parliament and its members consist of all Excelsioran citizens. The name "Senate" comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: senex meaning "the elder" or "old man") and therefore considered wiser and more experienced members of the society or ruling class. This is, of course, inconsistent with the structure of the Excelsioran Senate, and the reason that the Excelsioran senate ever became the lower house is most likely grounded in a lack of understanding of the function of a traditional senate by Excelsior's founders.
Federal Assembly
The Federal Assembly is the upper house of the Excelsioran Parliament, and reviews and votes on motions passed by the People's Senate. The Federal Assembly is composed of 15 members elected using mixed-member proportional representation, with 12 of the representatives designated to one of Excelsior's 5 republics proportional to population- Invictus is given 6 Representatives, Grandsia 3, Goose Island 1, the Riel Islands 1, and Dave 1. The remaining three are elected nationally using electoral lists.
Representatives from each republic are elected locally by the citizens of their republic, except for Invictus, which elects its Representatives through and independent body, the Invictus Council.