Congress of Daobac
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Congress of Daobac Đại Hội Đảo Bắc (Daoan) | |
|---|---|
| XXth Congress of Daobac | |
 Seal of the Daoan Government | |
 Logo of Congress | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 4 September 1845 |
New session started | 01 February 2022 |
| Leadership | |
Speaker | TBD, Progressive |
Deputy Speaker | TBD, Progressive |
Leader of the Opposition | TBD, Greens |
| Structure | |
 | |
Political groups | 120 Seats Government (100)
Opposition (20)
|
| Committees |
|
Length of term | 5 Years |
| Authority |  Daobac |
| Salary | Ꝟ320,000,000 Per Annum |
| Elections | |
| Party Block Voting (81 seats) Party-list proportional representation (39 seats) | |
Last election | 01 February 2022 |
Next election | 01 February 2027 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Congress Building | |
| Constitution | |
| Congressional Charter | |
The Congress of Daobac, (Daoan: Đại Hội Đảo Bắc), commonly referred to as Congress is the unicameral legislative body of Daobac's political system whose main purpose includes, but is not limited to, lawmaking, hold the power of the purse and ensure accountability of the Executive branch of the Government. It is comprised of 120 members of congress (MCs) who are elected with a mixture of Party Block Voting (PBV) & Party-list proportional representation (PPR) systems once every five years in a general election and conducted by secret ballot. The country is divided into 56 electorcal distsricts with two types of district classification: Collective Constituency (CC) whose members are voted by the PBV system, and the Single Member Constituency (SMC) which utilizes the PPR system. Only Daoan citizens above the age of 21 years old and have served their time in the National Service are eligible to vote. Barring previous criminal or corruption records or other specific circumstances, no restrictions are imposed to the number of terms a member of congress may serve. Congress is led by presiding officer with the title of Speaker of the Daoan Congress who presides over all sessions of congressional sittings and in charge of the administration of congress alongside its secretariat. The seat of Congress is at the Congress Building in Congvat the capital city of Daobac. Various committees exist within Congress to assist the legislative body in its work and is generally comprised of MCs, though it is not uncommon that at times people from outside the government such as individuals from the private sector and non-governmental organizations are invited to provide their insight and experience. The structure and role of Congress was first discussed and drafted by the Daoans 1841 during the lead up to Daoan independence and immediately after the successful referendum for independence from Kajera. The Congressional Charter, essentially Daobac's written constitution, outlines the government structure of Daobac and laid the foundation for all three major branches of Daobac's government. The political landscape of Daobac is dominated by the Progressive Party who has almost been able to consistently maintain a strong majority in Congress since 1898. The Progressive Party's dominance of Daoan politics has been attributed to several factors although three have often been cited as most significant: the government's suppression of critique from opposition voices in the general public, an electoral system that utilizes a mixture of Party Block Voting & Party-list proportional representation, as well as the lack of a well coordinated opposition political movement in Congress.
History
Congress was one of the first institutions that was to be established and included in the Congressional Charter making it one of the founding and oldest government body in the country. Discussions on the structure of Congress, its procedures and electoral system however had been deliberated since before the 1841 referendum for Daoan independence. Congress was originally envisioned to be a bicameral legislative body however this was opposed by many as they felt it would unnecessarily prolong the lawmaking process and that a single chamber would be more than sufficient for a nation of Daobac's size. In preparation for independence, legislative and presidential elections took place on 1844, six months before the official independence of Daobac from Kajera and three years after the successful referendum in 1841. During this time legislative elections utilized the Party-list proportional representation (PPR) system where the number of parties elected were supposed to represent the many aspirations of the electorate. This resulted in a large multi-party composition in Congress requiring the establishment of coalitions in order to form government. Unfortunately however some of the smaller parties were eventually shown to be prone to foreign influence. One of the many parties in Congress's early days were the Prosperous League, a Kra-aligned political party, that became a close associate and unwitting ally of the Kra. The Kra government, who was undergoing a period of expansionism, viewed Daobac as a potential subject of the Kra and had designs to subjugate and eventually annex the newly independent nation. To these ends the Kra identified the Prosperous League as a fledgling political party that struggled financially. The Kra offered the League funding, covertly, and in return expected the League to promote Kra interests in Congress. The League willingly obliged and was able to successfully become one of the largest parties in Congress, they painted the Kra in a positive light often highlighting the importance of establishing commercial and political ties with them and even actively preventing any attempts by the armed forces from initiating defense preparations against the Kra until it was too late. Historians have often cited this as one of the contributing factors that led up to the Cross-Strait War, an armed conflict between Daobac and Anachak Kang.
When it became public knowledge that Kra agents had influenced the Prosperous League who in turn had unknowingly advanced Kra interests in Daobac, the Progressives initiated a motion to temporarily remove the Prosperous League from representation in Congress. This was made possible by emergency powers bill that was proposed by the President which, among other things, permitted the government to take whatever steps was necessary to remove and mitigate foreign interference in domestic Daoan affairs. Though the removal was temporary and lasted only until the war ended it was enough to give the Progressives a numerical advantage in Congress. One of the many changes the Progressives embedded in the bill was the immediate change from a PPR voting system and replaced with the Party Block Voting (PBV) system. The remaining political parties: the Republicans and Socialists were coralled into fear by the Progressives to passing the bill. At the end of the war a snap election was initiated under the pretense of ensuring a stable government. This election resulted in a landslide victory for the Progressives who were able to take nearly 60% of all seats in parliament due to the nature of the PBV's winner takes all system. Since then the Progressives has been able to continuously maintain a majority and supermajority in parliament except in the 1913, 1941 and 1946 elections. The Progressives dominant role in Daoan politics gave way to a stable and consistent political and economic environment though at great cost to the political freedom of its citizens. In spite of this in 1998 both members of the public and key public figures began to question the necessity of maintaining a 100% PBV system. The Progressives ability to win more than 80% of all seats led to many to feel that their points of view were not properly represented in Congress. Though initially reluctant and realizing that this may result in major civil unrest if left unaddressed, the Progressives eventually agreed to have at least 60% of all seats in Congress to be elected by the PPR system rather than the PBV although the Progressives gave no commitment as to when this transition will be fully completed. The first phase began in 2002 and has slowly continues to date. In spite of the growth of many smaller parties, some of these new entities: the Trade Alliance, Civic Association and Democratic Union, have been accused as mere vassals of the Progressives as all three have agreed to form a political alliance with the Progressives. No evidence has been presented to validate these accusations.
Role & Powers
The Congressional Charter, Daobac's written consitution, establishes that Congress has four primary roles: Legislative, Budgeting, Oversight & Ceremonial.
- Legislative
- Scrutinize and deliberate bills proposed by executive branch of the government1.
- Pass or block said bills that were proposed.
- Propose ammendments to the Congressional Charter.
- Ammendments to the Congressional Charter must be passed with a supermajority2 of all MCs to vote in favor.
- It must then be submitted to a referendum with a supermajority required in order to pass.
- Declare war upon advise by the President.
- Define the Daoan nationality law.
- Raise and support the Armed Forces.
- Discuss matters of public importance (MPI) in Congress3.
- Provide national funding to Prefectures and other administrative units on terms and conditions as Congress sees fit.
- Budgeting
- Scrutinize and deliberate the national budget as proposed by the President.
- Pass or block the proposed national budget.
- Pass or block the transfer of any state-owned assets to third parties.
- Oversight
- Review the execution of government policy, laws and the national budget.
- The power to impeach members of the executive branch of government rests solely in Congress.
- Requires a supermajority of all MCs to vote in favor for an impeachment to be succesful.
- Ceremonial
- Appointment of members of the Executive branch of government.
- Inauguration of the President.
- Inauguration of Cabinet members.
- Approval & confirmation of high ranking members of the Public services including:
- Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Chief of the National Police
- Chief of the Civil Defense Agency
- Appointment of members of the Executive branch of government.
1 In Daobac, the right of legislative initiative is held solely by the President and members of the Cabinet. In practice, any individual MC or a group of MCs may come forward to the executive branch to propose a new bill so that the two branches would work together in passing the bill.
2 Requires 75% of all votes to be in favor in order to pass.
3 Requires the support of at least 10% of MCs in order for an MC to raise any MPI subjects. MPIs generally relate to periods of social or economic unrest in the country, controversial bills that causes whitespread debate in the general public and major failings in the governing party or the Executive or Judicial branches of government.
Electoral System
Members of Congress are elected into office using a combination of the party block voting (PBV) and party-list proportional representation (PPR) systems. The nation is administratively divided into 10 Prefectures and 56 smaller Districts/Municipalities. The Congressional Charter mandates that electoral constituencies must adhere to the administrative boundaries of Prefectures and Districts/Municipalities. Of the 56 Districts, 17 utilize the PBV system (representing 67.5% of votes) and the remainder 39 utilize the PPR system (representing 32.5% of all votes). The counting process of the PBV system is straightforward, in one constituency political parties are allocated between 4 to 6 candidate MCs. The party who wins said constituency would also send these 4 to 6 MCs to Congress in a winner-takes-all scenario. Electoral constituencies that utilize the PBV system are referred to as Collective Constituencies (CC), and the number of Congressional seats alloted to a CC depends on the population of the CC. The higher the population number, the higher the number of seats allotted. Meanwhile constituencies that utilize the PPR system are referred to as Single-member Constituencies (SC). The counting method of the PPR system is slightly more complex compared to the PBV as its purpose is to put forward a proportional representation of the electorates political view points in Congress. As its name suggests, a Single-member Constituency is only alloted one Congressional seat and in total comprises 32.5% of all seats in Congress. Parties would field a number of candidates in all SCs to compete with one another and electorates may vote for either the candidate or just the party itself. Based on the number of votes, Congressional seats won through the PPR system are distributed using the Mach Method by the National Election Commission to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives.
At its inception in 1845 the Party-list proportional representation was the sole voting method used to elect members of Congress, largely out of the desire to ensure a fair and proportional representation for the general population. While it certainly achieved its goal the system, would more often than not, result in chaotic multi-party composition in Congress requiring the establishment of coalitions in order to form government. The multitude of different views within a coalition inherently resulted in difficulties in passing legislation in Congress. Presidents of this time also found it difficult to promote and move their vision forward as they would have to ammend their proposals in order to accommodate the different view points in Congress. The utilization of the PPR system is also often considered as one of the contributing factors that led up to the Cross-Strait War in 1897. In the aftermath of the war the government proposed the adoption of a Party Block Voting in order to streamline the process of lawmaking in Congress and reduce the risk of smaller parties from falling victim to foreign influence. With the memory of the Cross-Strait War still in everyone's memories the motion to reform the electoral system easily passed Congress in a landslide vote. This system has allowed the Progressives to then consistently maintain a super majority in Congress with little to no opposition, with the exception in 19XX, 19XX and 20XX. In the modern era there has been calls from both the public, Congressional opposition and political observers to change the country's electoral system as they believed that the benefits of the PBV system is outdated and should be gradually phased out. While the government has largely ruled out a complete return to the Party-list proportional representation system, citing national security reasons, they have agreed to adopt a mixed voting system instead. Currently of the 120 seats in Congress, 39 of them would be voted by the PPR system rather than the PBV. In spite of these changes however the Progressives have continued to enjoy strong leads most legislative elections. Of the existing 56 districts this is further subdivided into:
- 17 Districts that utilizes the PVB system and is categorized as Collective Constituencies (CC): 81 seats (67.5%)
- 39 Districts that utilizes the PPR system and is categorized as a Single-member Constituency (SC): 39 seats (32.5%)
Organization
Committees
To assist work in the main chamber of Congress, committees are established to handle a variety of investigatory and scrutiny tasks of Congress. The scope and role of these committees vary but all may: summon public officials from the executive or legislative branches for questioning and eventually produce & submit a report of their findings and/or recommendations to Congress for deliberation in the chamber. Congress is empowered to establish committees through the Congressional Charter in Section XX, Article XX which states that: Congress may establish and empower committees to assist it in the execution of Congressional tasks. The scope and role of these committees shall be delegated at the discretion of members of congress, but they may not conflict with established guidelines in the Congressional Charter and in the case of committees investigating potential crimes they may only provide recommendations and not exercise any form of punishment as those functions fall under the jurisdiciton of the Judiciary.
Caucuses
Major Parties
Coalition
The Coalition is an alliance of four center-right parties in Congress. The alliance was founded by the Progressive Party to court the smaller parties that had successfully gained seats as part of the Congressional Reform Bill of 2002 where Daobac has gradually re-implemented the PPR voting system in some of Daobac's electoral districts. The Coalition's junior partners are: the Trade Alliance (Tradies), Civic Association (Civics) and the Democratic Union (Democrats). The Coalition has been able to remain in power in Congress since it was first formed in 2003, a year after the Congressional Reform Bill was passsed in 2002. Furthermore the alliance is only arranged in the national level, at the prefectural level the four parties do not have any formal arrangements for partnerships. However in spite of this the four members of the Coalition have very different voter bases with the Progressives generally dominant in the cities of Congvat and Hoabinh, whereas the Tradies, Civics and Democrats operate in the rural areas of Dammay & Bautroi islands. Due to this, in spite of the Coalition only cooperating in Congress, they generally do not compete with one another on the Prefectural level. All four parties maintain separate organizational structures but cooperate extensively on certain matters in Congress through a mixture of both formal and informal agreements. As the senior partner in the alliance, members of the Progressives generally occupy high ranking positions within Congress such as the position of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Congress. Political observers have often critiqued the Coalition as nothing more than suburdinates of the Progressive Party as the Tradies, Civics and Democrats partners generally tend to agree with almost every piece of legislation proposed by the Progressives. All members of the Coalition deny these accusations and instead cast the blame to the opposition who has been unable to properly govern the country even when given the opportunity to do so which has prompted the population to continuously vote for the Progressives or its partners in the Coalition as they have a proven track record of proper governance.
Progressives
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The Progressive Party is the dominant political party in Daobac, having existed since 1830 and having been in government for almost the entirety of Daobac's existence as a nation state. The party positions itself on the center-right wing of politics and is a strong advocate of civic nationalism and Ozerosi integration. The party is socially conservative and economically liberal. The party is largely responsible for spearheading Daobac's adoption of the free market and steered the nation towards the path of an export-oriented idnsutrialization. The party is generally credited for successfully turning the Daoan Economy into one of the important market hubs of the Ozerosi market and well known for its expertise in the fields of aerospace, environmental and chemical engineering. The party's business-minded approach towards foreign policy and economics allowed the Progressives to secure the support of many foreign nations in the early years of Daoan independence, which allowed the country to transform from a poor fishing island community, to one of the largets exporters of gold of the late 19th century. This business-like attitude towards foreign affairs meant that the Progressvies did not shy away from establishing relations with nations who had conflicting political ideologies, as long as it meant that both nations could benefit from the arrangement. Through this approach the Daoan government has greatly expanded its network of friends and allies, even courting great powers who traditionally consider each other as rivals such as Tsurushima, Belfras, Pulau Keramat, Gristol-Serkonos and Onekawa-Nukanoa. Its firm grip in power is a combination of both the utilization of the PBV voting system which still heavily favors the Progressives, the party's strong track record of good governance and general prosperity of the population and the opposition's lack of a coordinated united front against the government.
Greens
The Daoan Greens, popularly referred to as the Greens, is a left-wing political party founded in 2001 when preparations for the Congressional Reform Bill of 2002 was underway. It identifies itself as an advocate of green politics with a deeporooted belief in social justice, sustainability and grassroots democracy. While Daobac is often considered as the pioneer in the field of environmental engineering, often advocating the mitigation of pollution, regulation of the management of industrial waste and invention of various pollution management technologies, many within the Greens believe these were not enough. The Greens have argued that most of the environmental technologies that Daobac developed is largely meant for commercial gain to merely mitigate the effects of environmental pollution, and that it should instead be repurposed to encourage nations and organizaitons to shift towards a true green economy. The Greens is a strong advocate to achieve 100% renewable energy in Daobac, and places strong emphasis in reducing the significant wealth gap found in Daobac. The economic prosperity of the nation is undeniable, however it has come at a cost of economic, social and political inequalities for the general population. The Greens has suggested various social and economic reforms to help alleviate the wealth gap found in Daoan society. The Coalition, and the Progressives in particular, has often been criticized and framed by the Greens for maintaining a defacto one-party regime due to the Progressives consistent domination of Daoan politics since its establishment. While they have yet to win an election the Greens is often considered as one of the best contenders to replace the Progressives due to their fresh take on governance and focus to focus on social issues prevalant in Daoan society.
Nationals
THe National Front, or more commonly known as the Nationals, is a far-right political party founded in 1990 in response to the increasing rate of regional integration endorsed by the Progressives. The establishment of both the Association of Ozeros Nations and Equatorial Trade Forum are often considered as the primary driving forces of the Nationals establishment. Some Daoans feared that regional integration would result in the erosion of the Daoan identity and viewed the AON and Foareko as potential risks to the erosion of Daoan sovereignty. Ideologically the Nationals advocates the ideals of Daoan Nationalism, protectionism, anti-immigration, right-wing populism and Sovereigntism. Due to these beliefs the party is often considered as the antithesis of the Progressives. The party is strongly advocated for Daobac's removal from the Foareko, reduced activity within the AON and the renegotiation of many trade agreements Daobac has ratified with its international partners. The Nationals has also occassionally called for the nationalization of Daobac's private corporations, viewing them as the primary cause of the great income and social inequality in Daoan society. The Nationals have constantly called for an increase in the spending for the nation's Armed Forces arguing, without specifically mentioning any country, that foreign influences and involvement are the greatest threat to Daoan sovereignty and territorial integrity. The party has proposed investment in stronger internal surveillance system and vesting the National Police with greater powers to root out what it says are foreign sleeper agents. In spite of its extreme views the party has been able to make some headway into the national stage, gradually clawing its vote share from a mere 5% when it participated in its first election in 2002, to finally 6.7% in the 2022 Legislative Election. It achieved its largest vote share in the 2017 election when it won 10% of all seats in Congress.
Composition
Current Composition
To win control of Congress a party must be able to obtain at least 51% of all seats in Congress. Should no one party achieve the 51% threshold coalition governments are permitted to be formed to reach the minimum threshold. Control of Congress is currently dominated by the Coalition who collectively controls 83.3% of all votes in Congress with the following breakdown: the Progressive Party controls 67.5%, the Tradies at 7.5%, Civics 5.8% and Democrats 2.5%. The opposition collectively contros 16.7% of votes with the Greens holding 10% and Nationals 6.7% of the votes respectively. The table below shows the latest election result which took place in 2022.
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
| Progressives | 4,113,893 | 67.50 | +1.75 | 81 | +3 | |
| Trade Alliance | 457,099 | 7.50 | +1.5 | 9 | +2 | |
| Civic Association | 355,522 | 5.83 | +0.8 | 7 | +1 | |
| Democratic Union | 152,366 | 2.50 | -0.5 | 3 | 0 | |
| Daoan Greens | 609,466 | 10.00 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| National Front | 406,310 | 6.67 | -3.3 | 8 | -4 | |
| Total | 6,094,656 | 100.00 | – | 120 | 6094656 | |
| Valid votes | 6,039,804 | 99.10 | ||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 54,852 | 0.90 | ||||
| Total votes | 6,094,656 | 100.00 | ||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,415,427 | 95.00 | ||||
| Source: National Election Commission | ||||||
Historical Composition
Parties that were only present between 1845 and 2002
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