Parliament of the Solar Union
| Parliament of the Solar Union | |
|---|---|
| 26th Parliament of the Solar Union | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
|
Enoki Haulli Since 10 December 2408 | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 445 |
 | |
Political groups |
Government Equ.: 118 seats Pea.: 107 seats Official Opposition Sol.: 98 seats Third blocs Xen.: 59 seats Har.: 63 seats |
| Committees | 20 committees |
| Elections | |
| PLPR | |
Last election | 10 January 2416 |
| Meeting place | |
| Union Tower, Hokkaido City, Earth | |
Parliament is the sovereign legislature of the Solar Union. Parliament is a unicameral body which is called and dissolved at the discretion of the Chancellor, as per the provisions of the Treaty of Nausica. Based in the Union's capital of Hokkaido City on Earth, Parliament is responsible for the powers of state of the Union, which it exercises through the internal election of the Prime Minister, the head of the Union government. Although there is no Treaty-bound limit as to the number of years any given Parliament may exist, precedent since the first inauguration of Parliament on 10 December 2208 has held that the body is dissolved and re-elected every eight Earth years.
There is no fixed number of seats within Parliament according to the Treaty of Nausica, although the subsequent Treaty of Hokkaido officially dictated the method by which the number of seats is determined and then distributed. Each planet is entitled to a base of five seats, with one seat added per the next billion mark in that planet's population. For example, the planet of Calypso has a total of 38 seats: five of these seats are guaranteed, while 33 come from the planet's total population of 32.4 billion. Additionally, sectors are apportioned seats following a similar pattern, although they are guaranteed only one base seat. Currently, there are a total of 445 seats in the 26th Parliament. Elections were also standardized by the Treaty of Hokkaido, with each planet using planet-wide vote totals for the various Blocs to determine a proportional number of seats to be awarded.
The current 26th Parliament was elected in 2416 with no Bloc in a single majority. The Equality and Peace blocs formed an intraparliamentary alliance to elect Olympia Edwards as Prime Minister, whose coalition government has ruled the Union for the last four years. With the third largest share of seats in Parliament, Solidarity was appointed the official opposition party in Parliament.
History
In it's detailing of the structure of a unified, interstellar government, the Treaty of Nausica states:
| “ | (1) The Chancellor shall call upon the Planets to send representatives to Earth, where shall be held Parliament. It is the duty of the Chancellor to respect the right of each Planet to representation in this Union, to the extent that this Union shall be governed by no single Planet, but that all Planets may have a voice in the operations of state. (2) Parliament will respect the rights of the Citizens and the Planets of this Union as so described. (3) Parliament shall serve to enact law, proposed either within itself or by way of the Chancellor. (4) Parliament shall serve to administer the laws it enacts, insofar as that law upholds the rights as so described. (5) Parliament shall hold the administration of laws accountable to the terms of this Treaty, and insofar as any such term is violated, it shall be the duty of the Chancellor to dissolve Parliament and operate autonomously and neutrally with respect to the laws passed which do not violate any terms. (6) Parliament will hold itself in accordance with the will of the Chancellor, who, in their role as arbiter of the state and chief representative of the Citizens, will otherwise respect the decisions of Parliament, insofar as the decisions violate no rights nor terms as so described. | ” |
| — Treaty of Nausica, Article IV, Sec. 1-6 | ||
The system detailed by the Treaty was based off the government of the preceding United Earth Federation, which it's own Parliament as a sovereign legislature. In framing the new parliamentary system of the Union as serving at the will of the Chancellor, the framers of the Treaty hoped to bring balance to the inevitably factional nature of the legislative process. As the Chancellor is a politically neutral post concerned primarily with executing the framework of government described in the Treaty, that position's primary role is found in the checking of the power of Parliament, so as to insure that no single faction has absolute control over the administrative functions of the Union government. This model draws from the parliamentary system found in the historical constitutional monarchies of Earth, which were noted for their general longevity and stability when compared to wholly democratic forms of government.
The first elections for Parliament were held on 10 January 2208. Then-Chancellor Svetlana Goncharov formally issued a writ of election on 10 December 2207, after an eight-month transitional period from the United Earth Federation to the contemporary Solar Union government. A twelve-month delay was placed between the elections and the inauguration of the first session on 10 December 2208, so as to accommodate the long periods of travel required for any future MPs. This timetable of the 1st Parliament has become established precedent in the Solar Union, with all subsequent Parliaments dissolved and elections called for on the 10 of December of their seventh year.
Composition
The exact electoral process of Parliament was not specified in the founding Treaty of Nausica. Instead, the Treaty of Hokkaido specified the exact terms of election to Parliament, drawing heavily upon the precedent which had been established by the time of its adoption. Formalizing the bloc system which had emerged in Parliament, bloc-list proportional representation was adopted as the electoral framework under which seats would be filled. The member planets of the Union hold their elections for planet-wide seats on 10 January of the year following the dissolution of Parliament. Each member planet receives a base set of five seats to be filled, with an additional seat given for every next billion-mark of people living on that planet. The Treaty of Nausica specifies that any Union citizen above the age of 17 is to be permitted to vote in planetary, and thus Union, elections. Further, planetary governments are barred from discriminating on any basis, with all of-age citizens guaranteed a universal and inalienable right to a fair and secret ballot.
Candidates to Parliament are required to be at least 17 years of age and Union citizens. All Members of Parliament are given a unique warp-capable star ship with specially encrypted communications access, allowing them to vote on Parliamentary motions while in the process of transporting the long-distances between Earth and their constituent planets. Along with their privileged access to warp-capable transportation, Members of Parliament are given private residences at the Union Capital Complex in Hokkaido City.
Committees
Parliament maintains a number of Parliamentary Committees responsible for the oversight of government in specific areas of administration. Parliamentary Committees monitor ongoing governmental operations, identify issues suitable for Parliamentary review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action to the parent body. Parliamentary Committees provide valuable informational services to Parliament by investigating and reporting about specialized subjects. Parliament divides its legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among its 20 permanent Committees.
List of Committees
- Committee on Agriculture
- Committee on Appropriations
- Committee on Archives and Records
- Committee on Development
- Committee on Education
- Committee on Energy
- Committee on Environment
- Committee on Executive and Judicial Ethics
- Committee on Healthcare and Medicine
- Committee on Housing
- Committee on Intelligence
- Committee on Labor Affairs
- Committee on Natural Resources
- Committee on Naval Affairs
- Committee on Oversight
- Committee on Parliamentary Administration
- Committee on Rules
- Committee on Science and Research
- Committee on State Affairs
- Committee on Transportation
Commissions
In addition to the Parliamentary Committees, Parliament statute has created six Parliamentary Commissions to oversee areas of public importance which necessitate political independence from any one administration or government. Commissioners are appointed by motions of Parliament and, according to statute, approved by the Chancellor for service. Upon the appointment of Commissioners, they are responsible for reporting the findings of their respective commissions directly to the Speaker and the Chancellor. Commissioners are required to hold no political affiliation previous to their appointment, usually being career bureaucrats, functionaries, or lawyers prior to roles as Commissioner.
List of Commissions
- Commission on Accountability
- Commission on Elections
- Commission on Informational Access
- Commission on Interest and Ethics
- Commission on Language
- Commission on Privacy
Procedure
Parliamentary procedure in the Solar Union has been established largely by precedent codified in the Treaty of Hokkaido. Originally, the operation of Parliament was left for the body itself to decide with law. This law was changeable, although the procedural structure of Parliament had originally followed the guidelines of the United Earth Parliament which preceded it. The Treaty of Hokkaido formalized the institutional precedence, establishing permanent roles and protocols which have been in use to the modern day.
Assembly
An instantiation of Parliament is dissolved and called for by the Chancellor. Formally, the Chancellor dissolves Parliament with the writ of election, which calls for a new Parliament to be convened at the set date of election. Since the First Parliament, the date of dissolution has always been on 10 December of the seventh year of that particular Parliament, with the date of election always held on 10 January of the following year. An eleven month period follows the date of the election to the date of Parliament's first sitting, allowing sufficient time for most MPs to travel from their constituent planet to the capital.
The first sitting of Parliament is inaugurated with a speech by the Chancellor, who serves as the temporary Speaker of Parliament during the initial votes in the body. Typically, this inauguration period will last only a few days. Most of the government-forming negotiations, if needed, would have taken place while the Members of Parliament were en route to the capital, meaning that the votes held at the beginning of a Parliament serve a merely ceremonial purpose. Within these first votes, a Prime Minister is elected from the body, as well as a Speaker, and an Official Opposition is appointed by the Speaker.
Session
The seven years a Parliament has been assembled for is divided into two three-year periods with a year-long break in between. Each three-year period does not necessarily denote the amount of time that Parliament may remain in session, as instead, within those periods it is common for Parliament to take recesses of one or two months. Single sessions of Parliament have on average lasted for approximately 150 days, with an average of 25 days between each session. Members of Parliament will often return to their home constituency for the year-long gap in the middle of a Parliamentary cycle, with some of the more distantly situated Members spending almost the entire last and first year of the first and second periods in transit to their home planet.
During a sitting of Parliament, attendance in the chamber is not mandatory, as Members of Parliament are able to vote from both their assigned star ships and their offices in the Union Capital Complex. A sitting always opens with the Speaker convening the day's businesses according to the timetable given to them by the governing bloc or coalition the evening prior. The Speaker decides how long Members will debate on a piece of legislation before it is put to a vote. Bills must be voted on and approved twice before they are sent to the Chancellor to be signed into law. It is customary although not required for the Prime Minister or State Minister to spend a portion of the middle or last day of the workweek answering questions from non-governing parties, called PMQs (Prime Minister Questions).