Realm Parliament

Realm Parliament
116th parliamentary term
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Saul Ryan, Social Democratic
Majority Leader pro tempore	Zoe Nilsson, The Greens
Minority Leader	Ronald Chump, Yohannes First
Clerk of the Whole Committee	Sansa Lovebright, Christian Democratic
Structure
Political groups	Executive Council   Christian Democratic (148)   Consumers and Taxpayers (2) Confidence and Supply Agreement   The Greens (57)   Independents (13) Non-aligned   Free Cannabis (1)   The Alliance (1) The Opposing Forces   Social Democratic (146)   Yohannes First (67)   Family Values (2)
Elections
Voting system	Personalised proportional representation

The Realm Parliament is the unicameral legislature of Yohannes. The Limited Separation of Powers, which established the Electoral College in 1781, and thus created the Nineteen Countries legislature, used the term "Imperial Parliament" rather than "Parliament." However, Parliament and Realm Parliament (Yohannesian: Yohannesischer Reichstag) soon came into popular usage, and in latter years especially have been used as a lazy shorthand term for both the institutions of the Electoral College and the Realm (archaic: "Imperial") Parliament. Not until the First Amendment came into force on 5 August 1861 did "Parliament" also become an official constitutional term.

Parliament today, broadly speaking, consists of the Assembly of Electors in the Nineteen Countries (Collegian Electors of the Nation State) and the Realm Parliament (Members of the Realm Parliament) itself. The role of the President of the Electoral College, who is also the elected Yohannesian Emperor at the same time, is purely formal. She or he is constantly absent from the Chamber of Electors to fulfill their executive duties and obligations as chief supervisor of the Executive Council. The real business of Parliament is carried out by the elected Realm Parliament, with members of the Electoral College themselves often attending the Realm Parliament's meetings to voice their views on day-to-day state matters. The functions of Parliament are to enact laws; to provide an Executive Council (i.e. federal government); to vote for departmental and non-departmental appropriations (e.g. supplying money); and to examine the way the money is spent. Most importantly, Parliament also serves as the highest debating chamber in the land on public issues, and has the ultimate authority to redress citizens' grievances on petitions.

Personalised proportional representation

The first recorded general election in the Nineteen Countries took place for over six months in 1786, in time for Parliament to establish its first Act. The Foreign Mission Act 1787 sent 350 Yohannesian academics and aldermen abroad to observe Western economic, political and legal cultures. Because of the urgency of the Act, the voting process involved was poor compared to today's standards. The Realm Electoral Act 1871, amended further in 1939 and 1990, laid the foundations for the subsequent development of Parliament's modern-day standardised decision-making procedures.

There are 19 constituent countries in Yohannes. Each country undertakes general election with their own electoral rules. To provide an Executive Council—that is, government at the federal level—however, there were two sets of rules used before the adoption of contemporary Yohannes' electoral system: the first and for the longest time, the first-past-the-post (FPP), and the second unofficially brief system, mixed-member proportional (MMP).

The first-past-the-post was adopted from the Constitution of Maxtopia and other industrialised countries at the time. It was a widely used electoral system in the Western world and a small number of civilised countries in the Orient. Besides these, Yohannesian academics and technical supervisors were also sent to other major regions, such as the North Pacific and the International Democratic Union.

Under FPP, the candidate who secured the highest number of votes in their electorate would become a Member of Parliament (MP). Some larger urban zones in Yohannes also had multi-member electorates to reflect their high population density. In a multi-member electorate, more than one candidate would be selected to become an MP. The FPP and multi-member electoral rules were used until the 1988 referendum and the subsequent 1990 parliamentary election. Thereafter, MMP became the prescriptive electoral rules.

MMP was also an adopted foreign system. It allowed for two types of members: Electoral and Listed. An Electoral member is the candidate who has secured the highest number of votes in their electorate. A Listed member is the candidate who has been chosen by their political party. MMP was an unofficial temporary replacement, intended to make way for the introduction of an indigenous set of rules developed in Yohannes—an offshoot of the personalised proportional representation (PPR) system.

Adopted since the 1998 parliamentary election, the PPR is the prescriptive rules used in modern-day Yohannes. It combines features of FPP and MMP to create a specialised system more in line with the Nineteen Countries' laws and national spirits. It was also created to support the central agenda of the government at the time: the slow but steady growth of Yohannes' trade, commerce and industry.

Similar to MMP, the Yohannesian offshoot of PPR was designed to ensure that the make-up of the legislature would better reflect the make-up of the population, such as by looking at a voter's political allegiance, race or religion. Just like MMP, a registered voter could vote twice in the general election: first, for a candidate from their electorate, and then for the political party they so desired. The electoral candidate who has secured the highest number of votes will become an Electoral member. The second vote for the political party allows for the entry of Listed parliamentary members, so chosen by their respective parties' leaders.

Zoe Nilsson as Majority Leader pro tempore, 2019

Unlike MMP, strict restrictions are in place regarding the type of individuals listed by their party. The candidates listed must be an accredited Business Leader, Community Leader, Innovator, or Research Fellow. The Justices of the Peace are tasked with giving the government's Certification and Accreditation. They are as follows:

1. A Business Leader, someone with proven trade and commerce experience at home or abroad;
2. A Community Leader, someone with noteworthy social and community work experience at home;
3. An Innovator, someone with a patented invention at home or abroad; and
4. A Research Fellow, someone with a professional accreditation or trade certification at home.

A candidate listed by their party must also pass the fifth and final criterion—with reference to the World Assembly Resolution # 198 Preventing Multiple Trials, they must have no original criminal conviction history, whether at home or abroad.

Electoral history

Citizen Lewis Castellon featured in The Financial Diary—Issue 10 June 2019. In 19th-century Yohannes, he would be forbidden to vote.

The modern Nineteen Countries has practically general suffrage. The right to vote in public, political elections is held by all adult inhabitants, 20 years and over, who meet the qualifications for citizenship and permanent residence, provided they are (1) not registered as mentally unfit (e.g. to stand trial), (2) not a prisoner detained in a prison and thus unable to register as a voter, and (3) not a guilty party to corrupt practices in Yohannesian election law (e.g. bribery). In Yohannes, it is compulsory to enrol as a voter, but the act of voting in and of itself is completely voluntary.

The Electoral Amendment Act 1990 amended the summary of rules and procedures relating to the applications of approved member of Parliament candidates, the registration of voters, the separation of general electoral boundaries, and the recording of parliamentary elections, with detailed procedures already given by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1871. Certain sections of the rules and procedures are considered "out-of-limit"—that is, further amendments will require the supermajority approval of MPs and must pass the Electoral College. This mainly applies to provisions in relation to the Council of Representation, list of proportional representation formulas, qualification of voters, and secret ballot process. The statutory limitation is, however, repealable, meaning Parliament can amend some parts of the 1990 Act with a simple majority, provided the Electoral College agrees to it also.

For historical purposes, the original Electoral Act 1790 introduced limited franchise only. Only men could be registered as an elector, and only men with a freehold estate worth 20 Quertz russling or more—or those who rented an urban dwelling worth 20 Quertz russling or more—could vote. In theory, this was meant to be a fair arrangement at the time. In reality, some property owners had more than one vote. Women, the poor or the landless men, and black and native Yohannesians and other ethnic minorities (e.g. Asiatics) were restricted from voting. In 1901, four special seats reserved for "Ladies," formally known as the "Ladies' Seats," were created specially for the Electoral College. This was merely a formality to accommodate the wife of the incumbent federal head of state, and changed little of the fact that Yohannes was still not the land of liberty.

Marion mentioned Barack and Amina Omaha after a post-Cabinet press conference for the press gallery. In 19th-century Yohannes, she would be forbidden to hold public office.

The first major extension of franchise only came with the Alexandrian General Franchise Act 1914, which gave the vote to all renters, women, and ethnic minorities in the Kingdom of Alexandria. This marked the beginning of a slow trend where the other 18 constituent countries gradually followed suit. The Ladies' Seats were abolished two years later, heralding the beginning of theoretically general franchise in Yohannes. Thereafter, subsequent changes applied to the reality of franchise in Yohannes after the latest amendment to the Electoral Act was tabled in 1990 were comparatively minor in nature.

In the early years of the original Electoral Act, a person could vote by raising their hand in public, unless a poll was demanded by an existing electoral candidate, or at least one-third of the legal voters in the electorate. Blatant bribery and public drunkenness were widespread, harming the collection of electoral rolls and the processing of vote at the poll. In 1901, legislation relating to the registration of voters, the regulation of elections at the state and federal levels, and corrupt practices prevention legislation had eliminated some of the more clear and obvious cases of abuse, but not until 1914 was the secret ballot finally introduced.

Parliament House Administration

Ronald Chump as Minority Leader, 2018

The first administrative appointments to Parliament were those of the Office of the Clerk of the Whole Committee (archaic: Field Marshal of Imperial Subpoena), Second-in-Command, and the 19 Generals of Realm Election in 1787. The early appointments of other major officers include the Librarian of the Library of Parliament in 1800 and the Electoral Hansard and Debates Chief Reporter in 1803. The former has been known as the Parliamentary Library Custodian since 1945, and the latter as the Editor of Electoral Debates since 1990.

The rapid expansion of the parliamentary establishment since the 19th century saw the development of legislative departments to carry out varying administrative duties. At first, these were answerable only to both the President pro tempore of the Electoral College and the Speaker of the Realm Parliament vis-à-vis the investigation and reporting of all matters. In 1914, a working group tasked with administering legislative agencies was established, which eventually replaced most of the Speaker’s administrative responsibilities. This commission, however, remained answerable only to the Justices of the Peace, and was protected by the Office of the President of the Electoral College. It was not dissimilar to the Administrative Financial Security Commission established by the Fourth Amendment.

The Parliament House Administration Amendment Act 2011 tabled by the Seventh Social Democratic Executive Council amended this system, taking control of the provision of service away from the old commission to give it to Parliament. To replace the original working group, the amendment created the Parliament House Administration, which comprised of three Elected Collegians and two MPs from the Executive Council and its confidence-and-supply partner and two Elected Collegians and two MPs from the Opposing Forces. The President pro tempore of the Electoral College acts as chairman of this body.

The Parliament House Administration is responsible for the provision of secretarial services, taxpayer-funded internal catering, and information technology and other support services to every parliamentarian. It administers secretarial and business support for individual parliamentarians, both in Parliament and their general electorates; oversees personnel and security services; ensures messengers are provided; provides funding for administrative or management supply purposes; superintends public and official government reception and tours; administers building and maintenance of Parliament House; finances travels and accounts; and looks after many other important things for the day-to-day running of Parliament House. The administration also works together with Archives Yohannes to update the legislator database and to support the Electoral Debates Hansard, Library of Parliament, and the research units of every eligible political party, i.e. meeting the six per cent threshold to enter Parliament.

Letter to the Stoklomolvi Embassy, signed by the Clerk of the Whole Committee

The Realm Electoral Amendment Act 1990 reformed the Office of the Clerk of the Whole Committee to be separate from the Parliament House Administration. The Clerk of the Whole Committee is the most important permanent officer in Parliament, and has the responsibility to advise the President of the Electoral College, Speaker of the Realm Parliament and elected members on parliamentary law and procedures. With the permission of the Speaker, the Clerk oversees bills' reprinting as amended by the Committee of the Whole. They must also prepare and print questions, motions, petitions and other papers; and provide advisory and administrative support to the select committees.

The Clerk takes care of the Notes on Parliamentary Law and Procedure—the official record of Parliament's business. They also take care of the certification and printing of legislation proposals and Acts of Parliament and Statutes of the Realm, and other official submission papers tabled in Parliament. The Clerk of the Whole Committee protects existing general election and ballot papers. The Second-in-Command has the responsibility to ensure discipline in the debating chamber under the supervision of the Speaker.

Right to petition

By historical convention, the second oldest function of Parliament is to redress citizens' grievances. Parliament receives petitions from those who feel they have been wronged, or who want to suggest for something to be done by the Executive Council. All citizens and permanent residents of the Nineteen Countries have the right to petition Parliament. As it happens, at least 10,000 petitions have been lodged in Parliament every year since 2010, ranging from very trivial matters, such as the Lack of Communist Youth Representation (June 2011) and Citizens Against Male, Pale and Stale Generalisation (May 2015), to the most important matters, such as Free Milk and Breakfast in Low Decile Primary Schools (February 2014) and Justice and Protection for Family Violence Victims (November 2016). In 2016 alone, there were 67,119 petitions presented to MPs, and 41,444 of these were tabled successfully before the Whole Committee.

An excerpt from the Imazighen Declaration of Independence—Ambassador Cäcilie Bärwald discussing a petition for her firm

Petitions are usually addressed by the member from whose electorate the petitioner resides. Petitions can talk about almost anything—with the exception when the petitioners have not used up all their legal avenues of redress, such as an official complaint to a duty solicitor, or where the petitioners have lodged a petition on a similar subject with a preceding petition, unless there have been new important information presented since the previous similar request was made and lodged. Lodged petitions must at the very least be legible: they can be written in informal language, though they must be respectable; and they must be communicated in either Yohannesian or English.

Parliamentary petitions are studied by the MPs concerned with assistance from the Office of the Clerk of the Whole Committee. Every step concerning the tabling of petition must follow existing standing orders; failure to do so could result in a rejection by the Speaker. After petitions have been presented, they are distributed by the Clerk of the Whole Committee or their deputies to the relevant select committee. Once examined, a follow-up report about the subject of the petition can be made by the chair of the committee involved. Until its dissolution in 1990, the Select Committee on Petitions and Redress handled all matters concerning petitions and redress. Since then, the respective select committees concerned handle all relevant petitions within their delegated duties and areas of responsibility.

Select committee

The Law Commission's report to the select committee in 2017

Main article: Nineteen Countries Select Committee

The Nineteen Countries Select Committees are committees of legislators who are appointed to examine, consider, and report on matters referred to them by Parliament. One example of a well-known select committee is the Select Committee on Justice and Public Security, which as its name suggests is tasked with handling justice and public security matters.

There are two types of select committees in Yohannes: permanent committees, which stay in existence for the entire term that Parliament is assembled, and extempore committees, which are created only for a specified period of time so that they can fully examine and consider one or more matters of imperative importance. Before the Second Industrial Growth era (1850-1900), when the state of political party administration was poor compared to today's standards, permanent committees were originally established only for a single parliamentary year. Since then, they have been appointed for the entire term that Parliament meets.

Voter enrolment

RWT was accused of being "too politically correct" for refusing to disseminate a controversial news article in 2017.

The Reichsamt für Wahlintegrität (Realm Office for Electoral Integrity, abbreviated as RWT) is a state-owned enterprise created by the provisions of the Electoral Amendment Act 1990. RWT is responsible for voter registration and identification. It also deals with matters indirectly related to voter registration, such as logistics—for instance, providing voters with all the right equipment so that they will be able to vote more easily. The head of RWT is a chief executive officer (CEO) appointed by the Chancellor triennially. The CEO is responsible to the Advisory, Press and Private Committee and has the power to delegate some of their own authority to any officer of the Realm Electoral Court. This power cannot be sub-delegated further without a special obligations contract allowing the chosen officer to act as the CEO's representative.

Countless appointed voter registrars help RWT operates in over 500 constituencies across the Nineteen Countries. Unlike an Officer of the Voters, whose task is to control elections, a registrar has the power to keep electoral rolls in their assigned general electorate only. The Limited Separation of Powers stated that only an employee of the Justices of the Peace could sign up to become a registrar. They are appointed either by name or as the holder of a specified office; and they must be stationed nearby their local electoral office for the duration of voting, as well as the subsequent counting period. At the highest level, the CEO is assisted by a senior employee from the Ministry of Justice. RWT officers are forbidden to hold any political party membership or formal voluntary association with a partisan organisation.

Criticisms and mockery

An edgy teenager on the internet mocking Parliament with the Uncle Sammy caricature

Parliament has been mocked and criticised many times in the Nineteen Countries. It has been criticised by political groups from all sides of the political spectrum. Many Yohannesian conservative think tanks have repeatedly mocked Parliament as an expensive, slow-moving talkfest, paid exclusively by hard-working taxpayers' contributions. For their part, liberal advocacy groups and internet subcultural communities have regularly ridiculed parliamentary politics as a specialised pursuit of the privileged few—from where the ruling class could impose their will on the oppressed masses.