United Republic Parliament

The United Republic Parliament is the legislature of the federal government of the United Republic. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the National Council, and an upper body, the Senate, meeting in the Paladine Hall in Alstin, CDA. Senators and councilors are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Parliament has 529 voting members: 62 senators and 467 councilors. The U.R. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The National Council has eight non-voting members.

The sitting of a Parliament is for a two-year term, at present, beginning every other March. Elections are held every even-numbered year on Election Day. The members of the National Council are elected for the two-year term of a Parliament, with the Parliamentary Reapportionment Act of 1922 establishing that there be 469 councilors, and the Uniform Parliamentary Redistricting Act requiring that they be elected from single-member constituencies or districts. It is also required that the parliamentary districts be apportioned among the provinces by population every ten years using the U.R. census results, provided that each province has at least one parliamentary representative. Each senator is elected at-large in their province for a six-year term, with terms staggered, so every two years approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election. Each province, including the Captial District, regardless of population or size, has two senators, so currently, there are 62 senators for the 30 provinces and the Capital District.

Article One of the United Republic Constitution requires that members of Parliament must be at least 21 years old (Council) or at least 25 years old (Senate), have been a citizen of the Republic for seven (Council) or nine (Senate) years, and be an inhabitant of the province which they represent. Presently, members in both chambers may stand for re-election an unlimited number of times.

The Parliament was created by the U.R. Constitution and first met in 1689, replacing the Royal Parliament in its legislative function. Although not legally mandated, in practice since the 18th century, Congress members are typically affiliated with one of the two major parties, the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party, and only rarely with a third party or independents affiliated with no party. In the case of the latter, the lack of affiliation with a political party does not mean that such members are unable to caucus with members of the political parties. Members can also switch parties at any time, although this is quite uncommon.

History
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