Folkssenaat

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People's Senate

Folkssenaat
Volkssenat
Rahva senat
34th Folkssenaat
Folkssenaat Logo.png
History
FoundedOctober 31, 1919 (1919-10-31)
Preceded byTBD
Leadership
President of the Folkssenaat
Arved Levandi, NB
since 10 May 2017
Vice Presidents of the Folkssenaat
Lourens Nauta, PA
10 May 2014
Yannick Steinhäuser, TFDR
10 May 2020
Structure
AlishHouseOfRepresentatives(2020).png
Political groups
Government (93)
  •   PA (93)

Opposition (138)

Elections
Party-list proportional representation (PLPR)
Last election
12 December 2020
Next election
On or before 5 April 2023
Meeting place
Brussels - Vlaams Parlement.jpg
Website
folkssenaat.gov.as

The Folkssenaat ("People's senate") is the Alslandic federal parliament. The Folkssenaat sits in the Senaatsgebou in Yndyk. Since 1995 the Folkssenaat has been a Unicameral Legislature of Alsland after the Federal Assembly was merged into the Senate . The Folkssenaat has 231 Senators who are elected via the Party-list proportional representation system.

The Senate is led by a President and 2 Vice-Presidents who usually come from each major bloc. The role of the President rotates between the Vice-Presidents who are replaced as a Vice-President upon their election as President of the Senate. The President serves for a term of 1 year. Vice-Presidents are elected between members of the Senate.

Members and elections

As of December 12 2021 there are 231 Senators. Alsland's 8 provinces each elect their own senators. Prior to the merging of the Federal Assembly and the Senate the Senate had 151 members who were elected via constituencies using the Single transferrable vote system. The Assembly had a further 80 members who were elected using the current Party-list proportional representation system. When the two houses were merged the Senate adopted the Party-list proportional representation system and abolished the previous constituency system.

The table below shows the distribution of Senators between provinces following the 2021 Legislative election.

Dellish provinces Weranian provinces Swathish and Estmerish provinces Martish provinces
Province Seats Province Seats Province Seats Province Seats
Delland 39 Garz 38 Fawkhamshire 25 Martiland 20
Middewald 20 Zittau 28 Hamptonshire 36
Yndyk 25

Requirements

To be a candidate for the Senate a citizen must be at least 18 years old and a citizen and current resident of Alsland. A citizen must also not hold dual citizenship and must renounce this if they are elected to the Senate.

A Senator can only enter office after taking the oath of office. The oath is as follows: "I swear to uphold the Constitution of the United Provinces of Alsland, to dedicate my efforts to the well-being of the Alslandic people, to promote their welfare and protect them from harm." (Dellish: Ik swar de Grûnwet fan 'e Feriene Provinsjes Aalslân te hanthavenjen, har wolwêzen te befoarderjen, har te beskermjen tsjin skea en myn ynset te wijden oan it wolwêzen fan it Alslandyske folk, Weranian: Ich schwöre, die Verfassung der Vereinigten Provinzen von Aalsland aufrechtzuerhalten, ihr Wohlergehen zu fördern, sie vor Schaden zu schützen und meine Bemühungen dem Wohl der Aalsländer Bevölkerung zu widmen, Kirenian: Vanden toetada Alslandi Ühendatud Provintside põhiseadust, edendada nende heaolu, kaitsta neid kahju eest ja pühendada oma jõupingutused Alslandi inimeste heaolule)

A Senator must also resign other provincial or local offices upon becoming a Senator. The same rule applies vice-versa if a Senator takes up a role in Provincial or Local politics. Senators also may not be serving in the Judiciary or be a current civil-servant. Civil-servants are able to be granted political leave and don't need to resign their position upon being elected as a Senator.

President and Vice-Presidents

The current President of the Folkssenaat is Arved Levandi

Parliamentary groups

Alongside blocs, there have been several Parliamentary Groups within the Folkssenaat, as of 2021 there are 6 Parliamentary groups in total. Parliamentary groups exist alongside blocs but usually contain the same member parties as political blocs. Member parties in Parliamentary groups have similar ideologies and tend to vote together and their Senators usually sit together.

Parliamentary composition in August 2021
Folkssenaat
Groups Parties Senators
Seats Total
Progressive and Socialist
Parliamentary group
SDyD 34 92
SdA 28
SF 23
KPP 13
National Bloc
Parliamentary group
SDF 28 74
SU 23
KP 20
OP 3
Together for the Republic
Parliamentary group
IS 27 45
Green 9
SFP 3
OVP 3
Radical 3
Alslandic Left
Parliamentary group
ASAY 5 14
Left list 5
AP 4
Orange
Parliamentary group
Orange 4 4
Federalists and Regionalists
Parliamentary group
M 1 1

Committees

The Folkssenaat has several committees each with a responsibility over different parts of the government. The committees examine legislative proposals. Each committee is divided proportionally between the parties based on their current seat total within the Folkssenaat.

The current Senate committees are:
• Federal affairs
• Justice
• Finance
• Defence
• Foreign Affairs
• General affairs and civil service
• Environment
• Public health
• Infrastructure and communication
• Immigration and integration
• Education
• Culture
• Science
• Transport
• Energy
• Agriculture
• Labour policy
• Welfare
• Social Affairs

Procedure

Latest election

Current composition

The current composition of the Folkssenaat, as of August 2021:

Affiliation Scope Senators
Progressive Alliance (PA) Federal 93
National Bloc (NB) Federal 74
Together for the Republic (TFDR) Federal 45
Left list (LL) Federal 5
Alslandic section of the Workers International (ASAY) Federal 5
Workers Party (AP) Federal 4
Orange Party (O) Federal 4
Martimaa (M) Martiland 1

Historical compositions