Federal Council of Tarper

Federal Council of Tarper Conseil Fédéral de Tarper
6th Federal Council
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of Tarper
History
Founded	September 10, 2002 (2002-09-10)
Preceded by	Officer's Chamber (Second Republic of Tarper)
Leadership
Speaker of the Federal Council	Joseph McClellan, CDSF since 30 March 2024
Leader of the Federal Council	Jonny Dobson, CDSF since 08 December 2021
Shadow Leader	Abraham Reed, SP since 08 December 2021
Structure
Seats	125
Political groups	Government (84)   CDSF (48)   GLU/ULV (20)   NLP (16) Opposition (41)   SP (31)   CNP (6)   CPT (2)   CRC (2)
Elections
Voting system	Appointed by State legislature
Last election	1 March 2024
Next election	1 October 2028
Meeting place
Astran House of Nobles, Center, Terraum

The Federal Council of Tarper is a legislative body that represents the twelve states of Tarper at the federal level. The Council meets at the Astran House of Nobles in Terraum.

The Federal Council participates in legislation, alongside the Federal Assembly, the directly elected representatives of the people of Tarper, with laws affecting state competencies and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of the body. It is the upper house of the Parliament of Tarper.

The modern Federal Council is the successor similar upper houses in Tarper's history like the Imperial Diet of the Platesan Empire, the General Courts of the Tarperti Kingdom, the Hall of Confederation of the Tarperti Confederation, and the Officer's Chamber of the Second Republic.

The political makeup of the Council is affected by changes in power within the states of Tarper, and thus by elections in each state. Each state delegation in the Federal Council is essentially a representation of the state government and reflects the political makeup of the ruling majority or plurality of each state legislature (including coalitions).

History

The Federal Council of Tarper was formally instituted on September of 2002 as the Articles of Federalization were ratified. The Federal Council follows in the tradition of past Tarperti upper houses such as the Hall of the Confederation before it. The need for an upper house was justified for the revolutionaries as a form of compromise between a more centralized government and the independent states.

Voting

Due to unprecedented delays in the 2024 Astran state elections, the Federal Council has voted to move the Councillor selection date to the 1st of October. The next Federal Council selection will be 1 October 2028.

Tasks

As stated in the Articles of Federalization, the Federal Council is supposed to proctor and mediate the actions of the Federal Assembly along with being the main executive power of the President of Tarper. The Council is also the main representative of the States of Tarper.

Criticism

The Federal Council has been under criticism since its inception, every past upper house that Tarper has had has also come under fire from critics questioning the need for an upper house and the elitism that comes along with it. Changes have been attempted by the government since the first Herzog administration with those being the direct election of Councilors or limiting the power the upper house but these proposals have failed to pass the Assembly.

Need for an upper house

The need for an upper house has been a contentious topic since the introduction of the concept during the United Kingdoms of Tarper. The arguments for the abolishment of the upper house amount from the lack of democratic choice in the selection of the Councilors to questioning the role of the States in the government.

Leftist arguments for the abolishment of the upper house have also come up. More authoritarian factions of the Communist Party and Socialist Party have shared the sentiment of Unitarians that Tarper should concetrate its power in Terraum and strip any autonomy from the States.

In an attempt to appease the Unitarians within the Labour Party, the Anderson administration created Territorial Category Index to distribute power balances between the States and Federal government. The establishment of the Index was lambasted by those Unitarians as an "Unecessary point of discrimination and does nothing to sort the problem of the Upper House". Political Scientists point to the establishment of the Index as a major point of contention that lost the Labour Party the reelection in 2013.

Claims of elitism

Since the 1900's the main claims of elitism comes from leftist critics. Especially during the times of the United Kingdoms, the upper house was mainly inhabited by lords and other aristocrats. Until the creation of the Federal Republic in 2002, the upper house was indeed a place for elites, either social or party elites would be appointed into the upper house. The government now claims that the upper house is not an elitist institution as the Council is meant to be representative of the state legislatures and so is subject to the democratic elections in the states.

Criticism is also focused on the political parties of Tarper as they independently appoint and nominate their Councilors. Democratic alternatives have been proposed, but no movement has been successful.

Role in electing the president

The President of Tarper is chosen in the same manner as the Chancellor is chosen, a qourum of the house is held and the leader is chosen from that. The President is chosen a year before the Chancellor in an effort to dissuade authoritarian seizures of power. Concerns for the democratic angle of this selection have been raised as the people have no, or at least a very indirect role, in choosing the president.

The one year gap has also been called a very useless attempt to dissuade authoritarians as the president is still under pressure from their party and the rest of the Council.