Parliament of Eothasia
Imperial Parliament | |
|---|---|
| (LXXXIX Cortes) | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Her Royal Majesty | Queen Eleanor IV since Ascension: 14 November 2012 |
Prime Minister | Valerius Eäron since Reelection: 1 January 2019 |
Federal Chancellor | Manfred Leitzke since Reelection: 1 January 2019 |
President of the House of the Realm | Senator Léonard Lachapelle since May 11th, 2017 |
President of the Commonwealth Council | Councillor Zella Lorentz since May 11th, 2017 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 387 senators—84 councilors |
 | |
House of the Realm political groups | Left Wing Tendency [270] Centrist Tendency [71] Right Wing Tendency [46] |
 | |
Commonwealth Council political groups | Left Wing Tendency [54] Centrist Tendency [21] Right Wing Tendency [8] |
| Elections | |
| uninominal | |
| plurinominal | |
House of the Realm last election | May 4, 2017 |
Commonwealth Council last election | May 4, 2017 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Capitolium, Valtoria, Britannia | |
The Imperial Parliament is the legislative branch of the Imperial Britannic Commonwealth. It is a bicameral organism composed by the chamber of the House of the Realm, which acts as the lower house, and the Commonwealth Council, which acts as the upper house.
The House of the Realm is an uninominal constituency system. The entire country is divided into 387 constituencies; each constituency proposes one candidate to the House of the Realm, which will act as that constituencies’ particular representation in this body. As such, all members are independents and there are no parties in the Britannic political system. In order to ensure that not only higher-class individuals are able to attempt election due to the costs of the electoral campaigns, the federal government has ensured the following rules: (1) candidates for elections must not draw funds for their campaigns from personal accounts, but exclusively from donations of members that must reside within the region that they represent; (2) the ruling government of the Popular Republic to which a specific constituencies belongs must ensure that local debates are conducted to ensure visibility of all candidates; (3) small subsidies are provided to candidates in a second consecutive candidacy. Members of the House of the Realm are voted directly by the citizens of the country. These elections occur once every five years and the entirety of the House of the Realm is up for vote at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Council is a space for representatives of the different governments of the country. Each of the seven Popular Republics is divided into a number of provinces which total 27 between the seven of them, plus the state of Valtoria for a total of 28 represented states in the Commonwealth Council. Each of these provinces selects three candidates to participate in the Commonwealth Council as councilors and represent the interests of their respective provinces in the upper house of the legislative branch. As such, the Commonwealth Council consists of a total of 84 selected members; these members are selected by the government of the Popular Republic for which the Province State pertains; as such, regions like Espinar have a total of only six representatives, Valtoria has three representatives, whereas Aterni has eighteen representatives and Venza another fifteen. As it stands, the current distribution of Provincial States and representatives is as follows:
| Popular Republic | Commonwealth Councillors |
|---|---|
| Aterni | 18 |
| Venza | 15 |
| Antizon | 12 |
| Mariser | 12 |
| Volsini | 9 |
| Elvira | 9 |
| Espinar | 6 |
| Valtoria | 3 |
While the House of the Realm has an established Presidency of the Diet which presides over the chamber, the Commonwealth Council is instead presided by the Federal Government, which hears the interests of all involved parties and acts in accordance with their necessities. That said, the Council of Governance appoints a President of the Commonwealth Council to act as its liaison to the upper house.
History
Following the end of the conquest of the Britannic peninsula by the Aterni Empire, the country experienced years of incredible economic growth and military prowess, demonstrating to various countries across the world the might of the Federal military. However, there were deep social problems embedded in the country, as the Britannic government was largely representative of the interests of the original Aterni territory instead of the whole of Britannia. This changed with Empress Duvaineth.
Empress Duvaineth rose to power in 1674 and was the first empress that sought to restructure the country in order to allow for a more truthful representation of the country and its diverse territories. Though it was a popular move within the Britannic populace as a whole, the citizens of the Aterni Empire believed it was a diminishing of the power that was rightfully theirs as conquerors of the peninsula. Despite this, Empress Duvaineth eventually proceeded to found the United Britannic Kingdoms, which was an evolved version of the Aterni Empire that attempted to include all the territories of Britannia.
This was the first introduction of the modern system of legislative branch existent today in the Imperial Commonwealth. However, because of the social tensions in the beginning of the 20th Century that advocated for a socialist movement, the exact system was changed with the Popular Constitution of 1913. In this system, the legislative branch was changed: instead of being unicameral, it would recuperate the bicameral structure, thus representing both the will of the people and the territorial necessities of the country. This eventually established the current structure of the Imperial Parliament.
Though there have only been 27 Imperial Parliaments and 62 Kingdom Parliaments, the official count of the Imperial Parliament sums both of these. As such, the incumbent legislature is known as the 89th Imperial Parliament.
In the late 17th Century, after the official selection of Valtoria as the capital of the newly formed United Britannic Kingdoms, the construction of the Capitolium —the building where, to this day, the Imperial Parliament convene for sessions— began. It was completed by 1701 and the first session was held on 10 May, 1701 by the 6th Imperial Parliament.
Privileges and Pay
Privileges
Members of the Imperial Parliament have a series of privileges due to their position within the Britannic government. These include freedom from arrest except in cases of treason, felony, and disturbance of the peace.
Pay
The gross salary of all members of the Imperial Parliament is £53.956,18. This does not include commissions (such as those for the President of the House of the Realm, which receives an amount close to £30.000,00). There are also a series of indemnisations for distance (the members of the Imperial Parliament that are from regions farthest away from Valtoria receive more than those closer to the capital).