Alathing of Finium

General Assembly of Finium 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌸𐌹𐌽𐌾 𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 Alathing Randeis
16th Alathing
Alathing Seal
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Preceded by	Thing-in-Court
Leadership
Antharhian	Aories Fuller, 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 (Faurasauls) since 2016
Structure
Seats	106
Political groups	List Government (56)   Faurasauls (43)   Triggwamma (13) Opposition (46)   Alla Ergomans (39)   Gultheinsarm (7) Abstention (4)   Arbaidjanda (4)

The General Assembly of Finium (Fritergic: 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌸𐌹𐌽𐌾 𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃, Alathing Randeis) is the primary deliberative body of Finium. Its 106 members are elected in a proportional party-list form every five years. It's members are called "Hanareis" (𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃) for their cockades, which were once worn as a badge that allowed members onto the palace grounds.

History

The Alathing was originally a thing that was composed of all of the free men of the realm. As the state expanded and modernized, however, the thing was limited to senior free men living in the vicinity of the king's primary palace. This thing appointed the lawspeakers, consulted with laws that affected the freemen, and later also paid the pensions of free veterans. The thing appointed its own members during this time and lawspeakers were forbidden to join.

As the region around the capitol became more ennobled, the most prominent freemen were also nobles. Nobles replaced commoners on the thing and it was eventually included in the regular Finium. The nobles used this new Thing-in-Court to press for the protection of their feudal rights, which was reflected in the types of Lawspeakers they appointed. The thing continued to appoint its own members, but since they now participated in court, they required royal assent and the king capped the number of members at 100, primarily because of a lack of space.

One of the concessions made under the Proclamation of Duress was to disenfranchise the thing from the court and to give it legislative powers over commoners and veterans. Now having power to change its own membership, the Alathing added six new members, but ultimately stopped adding new positions. The Alathing was initially limited to active or former members of the military and continued to appoint its own members, but two petitions were later accepted to allow members to be elected and be any commoner.

Membership

All citizens of Finium who do not possess a noble title and are above the age of majority are eligible for election to the Alathing. In order to seek election, they must send a letter to the Royal Court through which the King will give his assent to the candidate and confirm their eligibility. This emerged initially as a check on the monarch's power to exile members of the Alathing; since the monarch's confirmation of the eligibility of a candidate was still legally binding even if it was later discovered or decreed that they were not.

The 106 seats are apportioned among all registered parties according to the highest quotient method in an election every five years. Parties must also seek royal assent, which has been almost universally granted. There have been two exceptions when a party has not been granted royal assent; the Marist Union for indecency in 1956 and the Cantonist Party in 1940 for conspiring with Arlyon.

Organization

Once all of the seats have been apportioned, the chamber selects one its members to serve as Antharhian ("Second Officer") who acts as the parliamentarian for all meetings of the Alathing. Most of the work of the Antharhian is done by a staff of clerks and the office is ceremonial. As a result, the Antharhian is typically a senior member of the chamber who will not be active in any committees. Speeches for the office of Antharhian are typically flippant or humorous and often the Antharhian will not be a member of the government's coalition.

The Antharhian's staff will then organize the members of the chamber into committees. Each Hanareis can serve on one committee and so their parties will typically strategize to ensure they are represented in force on as many committees as possible, but there is not formal appointment process. Occasionally parties have sought to pack committees to gain a majority on them and to prevent any law from originating in them. Since the committees have no oversight as to what legislation they produce, however, this tactic is seldom successful in actually preventing legislation from being passed. The committees generally correspond to government ministries (justice, agriculture, military etc.) and changes to the existing list of committees must be approved by the whole body. The Antharhian does not sit as a voting member of any committee, but is privy to all of their meetings.

Function

The duties of the Alathing are to pass laws, to oversee the civil service, and to respond to petitions. Most laws do not originate in the Alathing or its committees, but are referred to it by the Haustian ("High Officer"), but the Alathing spends most of its time is legislative activities. Each committee cooperates with one or more divisions of the government to review their actions and is empowered to suggest measures to the full chamber as a result of those reviews. A formal review is called "Analept" and can consist of a public or private questioning of any officer appointed by the Haustian, a review of records, or testimony from interested parties.

The Haustian, when he or she wishes to enact a law, provides a committee with a proposal for them to discuss. When the committee reaches a conclusion, they propose the bill to the chamber. The chamber then votes on the bills in order of proposal.