Parliament of Slirnia

Slirnian Parliament Parlament Slirnije
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Suzana Cvetković, Social Democratic Party since 5 May 2020
Structure
Seats	179
Political groups	Government (93)   Social Democratic Party (48)   Progressive Slirnia (28)   Socialists-Green Alliance (17) Opposition (86)   Sotirian Democrats (34)   Slirnian Democratic Centre (31)   Liberals-Možemo (15)   Independent Party (6)
Elections
Voting system	Open list proportional representation with a 2% election threshold
Last election	5 May 2020
Next election	On or before 5 May 2024
Meeting place
Parliament of Slirnia, Dražovice, Slirnia
Website
www.parlamentsl.sl

The Parliament of Slirnia (Slirnian: Parlament Slirnije) is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Slirnia and Slirnia's legislature. It is composed by 179 representatives or parliamentarians, elected by universal suffrage approximately every four years. Seats are allocated following the D'Hondt method and taking the Slirnian electoral districts as a base. The Parliament is presided by a Speaker, commonly from the leading party inside the legislature, and a Deputy Speaker.

The legislature has its powers defined by the Slirnian Constitution. This power is often shared with that of the Presidency of Slirnia, although in practice, the collective head of state of the Republic is limited to sign laws passed by the legislature; in practice, the Parliament is capable of passing all laws, approving cabinets and granting confidence, issuing motions of confidence, supervising actions took by the government, approving state's accounts and budgets, calling referenda and others. It is withing the powers of the Premier to ask the Presidency for an election before the term has elapsed, in such cases, parliamentarians have only voice in discussing if whether the conditions are given. On a vote of no confidence after a cabinet has assumed, the Parliament can force the Premier, a single Minister or the entire government to resign; however, this has never happened in the history of Slirnia. First sessions of the year are commonly presided by the three members of the Presidency together with the Speaker.

The current legislature is the 8th Parliament, counted since 1995 when the country celebrated the first elections for Premier. The largest political force is the Social Democratic Party, which leads a coalition government together with Progressive Slirnia and the Socialist-Green Alliance, the party solely has 48 parliamentarians and the coalition counts 93 against the other 86 that form the opposition.

History

The current Parliament of Slirnia is the successor of the former General Congress, which was the legislature of the socialist state that governed Slirnia between 1936 and 1979, and the previous Parliament of the Principality of Slirnia, the short-lived legislature formed with the creation of the Slirnian state after the end of the Functionalist occupation following the Great War. The first Parliament of the Principality of Slirnia met on very few occasions as the country rapidly fell into civil war.

Building of the General Congress in Dražovice. It was heavily damaged after a terrorist attack and was later dismantled during the 1980s.

Current building of the Parliament of Slirnia, placed on the same place as the General Congress and surrounded by a park in commemoration to all dissidents and disappeared during the socialist period.

The General Congress of the Socialist Republic of Slirnia followed a similar structure to those in other Euclean socialist states. It was formed by _ members, and for its duration was dominated first by the Slirnian Socialist Labour Party and later by the Slirnian Section of the Worker's Internationale; although other political parties were represented in the General Congress, they were mainly on the left of the political spectrum and were overshadowed by the leading role of the Slirnian Section of the Workers' Internationale. In the General Congress, mass organisations such as the Slirnian Youth, the Women's Federation of Slirnia, and the Workers' Union had special representation, while political parties were regarded as civil or social branches of the SSWI. The members of the Congress were usually elected through a single list of the Front for Slirnia, which grouped all political parties allowed to operate in the SRS.

Sessions of the General Congress were held at Dražovice Castle until 1956, when the modernist Palace of the Republic was inaugurated. The building was a landmark for the SRS in its consolidation of economic prosperity and social advances as one of the few buildings of the style in Euclea. However, after the fall of the SRS in 1979 and the establishment of the Republic of Slirnia in 1980, the country raised the question of whether the building should continue to be used by the new Parliament due to its authoritarian and non-democratic background. In 1981, a Lemovician member of the Aranoak terrorist organisation conducted a terrorist attack with a car bomb in front of the building; although the attack was at first attributed to Aranoak, the organisation denied its participation by arguing that the attacker was dismissed from the organisation not long ago. After the attack, Slirnians decided the future of the Parliament via referendum, where high renovation costs played a major role in the decision to demolish the building. A new building, of smaller size and surrounded by a park, was inaugurated in the same place in 1986.

Since the return to democracy, the Parliament of Slirnia has seen the accession of the Sotirian Democratic Party and the Slirnian Democratic Party, which held majorities in several legislatures. The centre-left has also been represented by the Social Democratic Party, formed by independent members and the Socialist Democratic Party, which led the transition under Petrija Kuzmanović's leadership.

Speaker

The speaker of the Parliament is the presiding office of the legislature. The person in charge has the duty to open and close sessions, to determine who speaks is responsible of keeping organisation during debates. The position is composed by a president, from the largest political force, and a deputy speaker from the second largest political force. In addition, there are three more deputies from the rest of political forces chosen in the same order. The office is elected by the members of the parliament at the beginning of the legislature after the general elections and allocation of seats. The current speaker is Suzana Cvetković, from the Social Democratic Party, who is the second woman to preside the legislature.

Legislature		Speaker	Started	Finished	Party
I	1995-1999	Vlatko Krsmanović	1 March, 1995	15 March, 1999		Sotirian Democratic Party
II	1999-2002	Vojkan Mijatović	15 March, 1999	14 March, 2002		Social Democratic Party
III	2002-2005		14 March, 2002	3 April, 2005
IV	2005-2009	Radoje Borisavljević	3 April, 2005	5 May, 2009		Sotirian Democratic Party
V	2009-2012		5 May, 2009	10 May, 2012
VI	2012-2016	Teodora Trkulja	21 May, 2012	16 May, 2016		Slirnian Democratic Centre
VII	2016-2020	Toma Nanuševski	16 May, 2016	11 May, 2020		Sotirian Democratic Party
VIII	2020-	Suzana Cvetković	11 May, 2020	Incumbent		Social Democratic Party

Current Office of the Speaker

Office of the Speaker (VIII legislature)

Position		Name	Party
	Speaker	Suzana Cvetković	Social Democratic Party
	First deputy speaker	Nikola Grgurović	Sotirian Democratic Party
	Second deputy speaker	Natasa Vukašinović	Slirnian Democratic Centre
	First secretariat	Miljko Krsmanović	Social Democratic Party
	Second secretariat	Jana Popadić	ProgressiveSlirnia

Actual composition

See also: 2020 Slirnian general election and 8th Slirnian legislature

Parliamentary groups in the Parliament of Slirnia (VIII legislature)

Parliamentary group		Parties	Leader	Spokesperson	Seats
	Social Democratic Party		Irena Mesić (P)	Risto Vladić	48
	Sotirian Democratic Party		Brajko Sandić	Vujadin Cvetković	34
	Slirnian Democratic Centre		Katarina Zorić	Vladimir Vladić	31
	Progressive Slirnia		Vidoke Lukšić	Jasna Vukašinović	28
	Socialist-Green Alliance		Jana Bečić	Pavle Ristić	17
	Liberals-Možemo		Vuk Žbogar	Lubomir Nestorovski	15
	Independent Party		Vojislav Ljajić	Todor Borisov	6