Chamber of Deputies of Meronnia
Chamber of Deputies Chambre des Députés | |
|---|---|
| 58th Chamber Term | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Presidium Chair | Blaise Asselin, Faction Liberale |
| Structure | |
 | |
Political groups | Government 212
|
| Elections | |
| Proportional Party List | |
The Chamber of Deputies (Mèronais: Chambre des Députés) is the unicameral legislature of the Federal Republic of Meronnia. Its legislators are known as Deputies.
The Chamber of Deputies has 400 seats, all elected in a single national Party Proportional List system. Thus, 201 seats are required for a majority in the chamber. The Chamber is presided over by a Presidium of representatives across the political spectrum, conventionally chaired by the representative of the largest party in the Chamber, currently Blaise Asselin. The term of the Chamber is four years, though Votes of No Confidence in the government may lead to elections between the usual cycle with the assent of the Premier.
History
The Chamber of Deputies was established in 1799 by the Institutional Act on Representation enacted by the Meronnian Directory which served as the executive at that time. Upon its introduction, the Chamber of Deputies became the lower house in the new Meronnian Parliament, joining the Chamber of Senators which had been established previously. While the Chamber of Senators was made up by representatives selected from the governments of the Communes (the constituent parts of the Meronnian federal structure), the Chamber of Deputies was filled by seats directly elected in single-member constituencies.
For the first twenty years of its existence the Chamber of Deputies was predominantly under the authority of the Chamber of Senators. Internally, it had three "wings" of seats, for members of the Radical, Moderate, or Other affiliations, with members selecting one of these affiliations as the predecessor to following Factional and Party systems.
In 1822 a number of reforms were instituted in the legislative system which also made the Chamber of Deputies much more powerful. These included the establishment of a semi-organized system of political Factions, a number of minor administrative changes, the standard that legislation unrelated to the Constitution must originate in the lower house, and most significantly the formalization of the new role of First Deputy, which was promoted from an informal leader of the chamber to the effective leader of the Executive.
Over the next hundred years the Chamber of Deputies slowly graduated into the most significant organ of the government of Meronnia, eclipsing the upper house and the Directory which retained the Head of State, and by the term of First Deputy Pierre-Marie Jaubert most significant decisions in the nation were made by the executive responsible to that chamber. Jaubert's government dominated the Chamber throughout the period of the Olympic War, primarily due to the electoral alliance of the dominant Liberal and Radical factions in a Grand Coalition during that period.
Having a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies, Jaubert defined the Meron government's actions throughout the decade it was at war and sidelined the Directory. After the war, he proceeded with efforts at broad constitutional reform, stating that "No one should be able do do as I have done again." Jaubert's reforms, from 1919-1922, saw the creation of the position of Premier as a directly elected Head of State, and introduced the Party Proportional system of elections which formalized the political party system extant in Meronnia today.
The 1977 Constitutional Reforms included the abolition of the Chamber of Senators, making the Meron legislature unicameral and transferring all remaining legislative authorities to the Chamber of Deputies. The Reforms also established 400 as a set size for the Chamber of Deputies, which would not be increased over time as it previously was.