Senate of Mediolaurentia
Senate of the Realm | |
|---|---|
| 1st Senate | |
 State arms | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | None |
| History | |
| Founded | 27 July 2022 |
New session started | 1 August 2022 |
| Leadership | |
Countess Jordan Silva, Rosetta Party since 13 August 2022 | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 21 (16 filled & 5 vacant) |
 | |
Political groups | |
Length of term | 1 year |
| Elections | |
| Ranked choice voting | |
Last election | Exempt |
Next election | 1 August 2023 |
| Constitution | |
| Constitution of the Circumstances of Union | |
The Senate of the Realm or simply the Senate is the central legislature of the High Kingdom of Mediolaurentia. It was established as unicameral in the constitution of Mediolaurentia, making up its entire legislative branch. The Senate is lead by the President of the Senate, currently Jordan Silva, Countess of Pickleton. The President is in theory deputised by the First Senator – the most senior, or longest serving Senator – except when the First Senator is also the President of the Senate, which is currently the case.
The Senate is currently composed of 21 seats, representing all of Mediolaurentia's three constituent countries, of which 16 seats are filled; however the composition of the Senate is not lawfully set at a specified number barring the minimum of three, rather being proportional to the amount of citizenry the constituent country has. The Kingdom of Atiera currently has three seats, the Kingdom of Northwood-Oregon has thirteen seats, and the Grand Kingdom of Humberlea has five.
Eligibility and election
To be eligible for candidacy and a seat in the Senate, the individual must be of the age of political majority, currently sixteen years of age, and be a citizen of a constituent country entitled to Senate seats. The constitution allows for laws of the Realm to create additional eligiblity requirements, though none have been made yet.
Senators are elected by the eligible citizenry of their constituent country through the process of ranked choice voting, specifically single transferable vote due to the multi-winner nature of elections.
As seats in the Senate are distributed based on the citizenry of constitutent countries, a constituency may gain a seat within the Senate during the active session. Conversly, a constituency may not be have a candidate for every seat afforded to them, leaving a seat or multiple seats vacant when the session of the Senate begins. These situations, and many others, do not warrant a special election to fill new seats or vacant seats. The inability to hold a special election to fill a seat that was afforded to a constituency that couldn't be filled at the time was an intentional choice by the Unification Commission while writing the constitution, justified by the idea that it would help encourage constituencies to have consistently politically active citizens if they couldn't fill seats as the session of the Senate continued.
Current senate
The current senate, that being the 1st Senate, began on 1 August 2022 and will serve until 1 August 2023. The members of the 1st Senate were not elected, rather they were appointed by the monarchs of their respective states. This was due to a constitutional exemption discussed by the Consistorium and written by Carson I of Northwood-Oregon on 27 July 2022 which suspended articles within the constitution relating to the election of senators and enabled state monarchs to appoint their state's senators.[1]
Notable actions
The following is a list of notable actions taken by the 1st Senate. Such actions may be votes on legislation, acts, confirmations, or otherwise.
- On 14 August 2022 the 1st Senate's vote to confirm Chris Ramsay as the Archchancellor of Mediolaurentia closed and passed
- On 6 January 2023 the 1st Senate's vote to admit the Grand Kingdom of Humberlea into the Union reached a majority and passed
- On 12 March 2023 the 1st Senate's vote to recognise personal union between Northwood-Oregon and Aenopia reached a majority and passed, enabling the ascension of Carson I as High King
List of Senators
| No. | Image | Name | Assumed | Party | Polity (Country) |
Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Jordan Silva, Countess of Pickleton |
(Appointed) |
(Chairperson) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| ||
| 2 | 
|
Grant Bruns, Duke of Aeolia |
(Appointed) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| |||
| 3 | 
|
Nicholas Abbott, Duke of Clay |
(Appointed) |
(Chairman) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| ||
| 4 | 
|
Andrew Stuller, Prince of Curtice |
(Appointed) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| |||
| 5 | 
|
Clara "JJ" Steele, Countess of Eastmoreland |
(Appointed) |
Social Party (Chairperson) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| ||
| 6 | 
|
Sir Charles Burgardt |
(Appointed) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
||||
| 7 | 
|
Lady Jerzee Martin |
(Appointed) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
||||
| 8 | 
|
Emmalee Guy, Viscountess of Guy |
(Appointed) |
(Northwood-Oregon) |
| |||
| 9 |
|
Alexander Maple |
(Appointed) |
(Humberlea) | ||||
| 10 | 
|
Christina Nowell |
(Appointed) |
(Humberlea) | ||||
| 11 |
|
Philip Johannason |
(Appointed) |
(Humberlea) |
| |||
| 12 |
|
Brandon Smith |
(Appointed) |
(Humberlea) |
||||
| 13 | 
|
King Nicholas of Humberlea |
(Appointed) |
(Humberlea) |
| |||
| 14 | 
|
Evan Nixon |
(Appointed) |
Bowling Green (Northwood-Oregon) |
||||
| 15 |
|
Eli Deputy |
(Appointed) |
Bowling Green (Northwood-Oregon) |
||||
List of former Senators
| No.[a] | Image | Name | Assumed | Dismissed | Party | Polity (Country) |
Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 
|
William Cooper |
(Appointed) |
(Dissolved) |
(Party leader) |
(Atiera) |
| ||
References
- Footnotes
- ↑ At dismissal
- Citations
- ↑ Snyder, Carson (27 July 2022) A Constitutional Exception to the Constitution on the Circumstances of Union Regarding the Election of Senators
- ↑ Consistorium (14 April 2023) Communiqué V - Establishment of Atiera as a dependency
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