American Parliament
| American Parliament Parlamento americano (es) Parlament américain (fr) Amerikanisches Parlament (de) | |
|---|---|
| 9th American Parliament | |
 Logo of the American Parliament | |
| History | |
| Founded | August 12, 1968 |
| Leadership | |
Speaker |
Brian Woods, UFA Since May 20, 2015 |
Deputies | |
Leader of the largest political group | |
Leader of the 2nd largest political group | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 501 MAPs |
 | |
Political groups |
Government Confidence and supply
Non-aligned Official Opposition |
| Committees | 24 |
Length of term | 5 years |
| Salary | $70,000 (AME) |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post, IRV, Party-list, and STV | |
Last election | December 10–16, 2020 |
Next election | 2025 |
| Meeting place | |
 Grand Chamber, Seattle, Astoria | |
| Website | |
| amerparl.am | |
The American Parliament (abbreviated as AP and also known as the Parliament of America or the Grand Chamber) is the transnational legislature of the Conference of American States. It is one of the five integral institutions of the CAS and was founded in 1960 by the Treaty of Seattle. The legislative body is composed of 501 legislators (commonly referred to as members of American Parliament or MAPs) who are directly elected every 5 years. The Parliament works in conjunction with the American Council and American Secretariat in exercising the legislative functions of the CAS. The parliament is made up of 501 total members (MAP) and the current session, the 12th American Parliament, has been in motion since December 2020 with the next one scheduled for mid to late 2025.
The American Parliament is responsible for requesting and reviewing legislative proposals submitted by the American Secretariat (the only CAS institution which has legislative initiative for most issues). It shares its roles of amending and revising proposed legislation with the American Council, and negotiates with the Council through consensus-based policymaking. The Parliament is also empowered to introduce and pass legislation regarding the CAS budget, issue non-binding resolutions, and conduct parliamentary hearings. Legislation can only pass if both Parliament and the Council can reach common agreement. The parliament also has the power to declare war and approve of peacekeeping initiatives and/or CAS-led military interventions such as in 2004 with the CAS invasion of Syria.
Every member state of the CAS is represented in the American Parliament and are allocated seats based on degressive proportionality as determined by population. Brazil, the Conference's largest member state, has the most seats in the Parliament with a total of 119 MAPs, while the smallest member state, Yukon, has 10. The American Parliament is a multi-party chamber made up of nine political groups with the the biggest five being the United Federalists of America (UFA), the Liberal Democrats of America (LDA), the American Conservative Coalition (ACC), the Social Democrats of America (SDA) and the Red-Green Alliance (RGA). The presiding officers of the AP is the President, currently Liberal Democrat Sofia Muñoz since 2015, and the Speaker, currently United Federalist Brian Woods since 2015.
Powers and functions
The Treaty of Seattle provides the general foundations and principles by which the American Parliament functions and operates as. Several additional international agreements and amendments to the treaty have also ascribed additional powers and responsibilities to the AP.
Legislative procedure
Budget
Oversight
Members
Transnational agreements
Salaries, benefits, and expenses
Party groups and coalitions
Members of the American Parliament are organized into various parliamentary groups similar to political parties in regular national legislatures. The two biggest political groups is the centre to big tent United Federalists of America (UFA) and the center-left Liberal Democrats of America (LDA). Both UFA and the LDA have been the most influential and dominant party groups in the American Parliament throughout its history and have both held the largest number of seats in parliament throughout each session, though neither party group or any of the other seven have held a clear majority of seats and coalition governments are incentivized and formed as a result. All nine political groups are a coalition of national parties from all members of the CAS and as a result operate on a decentralize level and are more in common with federal parties like those in Germany than they do with national parties found in unitary states across the world. Party groups have their own respective leaders who are elected in party conventions and voted on my party members.
The CAS possess a hybrid system in comparison with some party groups being transnational political parties and others being traditional parliamentary groups with their own affiliated parties. The SDA, LDA, ACL, UAL and AAU are both political groups and transnational political parties due to their structure and functions. Meanwhile the ACC, PARU, ADL RGA are all political groups with their own respective affiliated transnational political parties based around common ideological views of member parties.
