Elections in Pelaxia

There are four types of elections in Pelaxia: general elections, elections to the legislatures of the provinces (regional elections) and local elections. General elections and elections to the legislatures of the provinces are called after the mandate of the national or provincial legislature expires, usually five years after the last election, although early elections may occur. Elections to local councils (municipal and insular) are held on fixed dates but some local government bodies (including provincial councils) are not directly elected. For most elections party list PR is used for both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, but the plurality system is often used in local councils elections.

=General Elections= General elections are elections held for the national legislature, which is called in Pelaxia Regia General and consists of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Deputies and Senate usually serve concurrent terms that run for a maximum of five years. However, the Federal Chancellor has the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time either jointly or separately.

Chamber of Deputies
The Regia is composed of 716 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a five-year term of office. Each one of Pelaxia's twenty-nine provinces is a constituency entitled to an initial minimum of two seats. The seats are allocated among the twenty-nine provinces in proportion to their populations. Parties, federations, coalitions and agrupaciones de electores (electors' groups) may present candidates or lists of candidates. The lists are closed, so electors may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists. Electors cast a ballot for a single list.

The seats in each constituency are apportioned according to the largest average method of proportional representation (PR) by the d'Hondt method. However, in order to participate in the allocation of seats, a list must receive at least three percent of all valid votes cast in the constituency, including blank ballots.

Senate
There are 87 members: three for each province. Senators are elected to five-year terms by direct election on a provincial basis, with the party with the most votes being awarded two of the province's senate seats and the second-place party receiving the third seat. Currently one-third of the members are elected every two years. One-third of the provinces hold senatorial elections every two years; there are no term limits.