National Assembly (Caphiria)

National Assembly Conventus Imperiulis
3rd National Assembly of Imperator Constatinus
Type
Type	Assembly of the Corcillum of Caphiria
Leadership
President of the Assembly	Constantinus I
First Consul	Riccariano Fisantuzzi
Proconsul Maioris (Majority Speaker of the Assembly)	Lucianco Roferranti
Structure
Seats	1,000
Length of term	Five years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post voting
Last election	5 March 2020
Next election	5 March 2025

The National Assembly of Caphiria is one of the four chambers of the Corcillum, the tetracameral parliament of the Imperium of Caphiria.

The composition and powers of the National Assembly are established by Proclamation V of the Constitution of Caphiria. The National Assembly is composed of 1,000 consuls, each serving single five year terms. Consuls are elected by political districts called curia, representing an equal proportion of the population. The Tribunal Assembly reallocates curiae based on the results of the national census every lustrum. As of the 2020 census, there are 785,178 curiae.

The National Assembly functions as the "lower house", being responsible for the adoption of all laws as well as any amendments to the Constitution of Caphiria, and setting the Caphirian national budget. The National Assembly is also nominally responsible for the oversight of the Ministries of Caphiria, with each ministry having a corresponding committee. The presiding officer is the First Consul - the designee of the Imperator, and is considered to be the most senior officer of the Corcillum. A second officer, the Proconsul Maioris (Majority Speaker of the Assembly), is elected by the members of the National Assembly and serves as the floor leader of the assembly. The Proconsul Maioris is also assigned a number of specific responsibilities and duties which make it one of the most sought-after positions.

History

The National Assembly was created with the current Constitution of Caphiria as a replacement for the earlier plebeian assembly, which formed in the earliest days of Caphiria as the representative bodies of each of the original tribes which settled Caphiria. As each tribe had one vote, the body was initially created as a popular body but fell into obsolescence as tribal leaders were subverted first by the Senate and then by the first Imperators. With the establishment of the Great Landsmeet in Urcea during the medieval period, the resurrection of the plebeian assembly was a popular idea which receded following the XXXX CIVIL WAR XXXX. The plebeian assembly last fully met in 1640, and was replaced by the directly representative National Assembly in the 19th century.

Membership

Qualifications

There are numerous qualifications and prerequisites in order for eligibility to become a Consul. Article IV, Proclamation 9, of the Constitution, sets three primary prerequisites: (1) they must be at least 36 years old; (2) they must have been citizens of the Imperium for at least twenty years; and (3) they must have held at least four separate public offices (i.e. cursus honorum). This set of prerequisites is commonly known as the "36/20 rule" among aspiring politicians.

Elections and term

Elections

Consular elections happen every lustrum (five-year-period) and are chosen by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage. Consuls are elected by "consular districts", a constituency of proportional representation based on census data. Because of this, the total number of Consulships can change in each election and it is specified when writs of election are issued. The Constitution of Caphiria outlines a "minimum representative quota of: 200 pairs of Consuls per 550,000 Citizens, 100 pairs of Consuls per province, and 50 pairs per Possession.

After the General Election, seats are assigned to the electoral lists in each consular district using the D'Hondt method in each district separately; parties receive seats in approximate proportion to the number of votes each received in the district. A strictly proportional system would result in fractional seats. The D'Hondt method resolves this by favoring parties receiving larger votes.

Parties that are not already represented in the election or Assembly are required to collect signatures to support their candidacy to be able to run in the election. One-tenth of a percent of those registered to vote in a consular district are required to be on the ballot and each citizen can sign only once for a party candidacy.

Procedure

Committees

A Consul can attend more than one committee if s/he is not a member of Application Committee or Planning and Budgeting Committee. Members of those committees can not participate in any other committees. On the other hand, s/he does not have to work for a committee either. Number of members of each committee is determined by the proposal of the Advisory Council and the approval of the Assembly. Sub committees are established according to the issue that the committee receives. Only Public Economic Enterprises (PEEs) Committee has constant sub committees that are specifically responsible for a group of PEEs.

Committee meetings are open to all Consuls, Corcillum members, and other Government representatives as observers. Observers can talk in the committees but can not make amendments proposals or vote. Every Consul (and parliamentary magistrate) can read the reports of the committees. NGOs can attend the committee meetings upon the invitation of the committee therefore volunteer, individual, or public participation is not available. Media, but not the visual media, can attend the meetings. The media representatives are usually the parliamentary staff of the media institutions. The committees can prevent the attendance of the media with a joint decision.

There are three main types of committees: Consular committee, Investigative committee, International committee.

Consular committees

1. Constitution committee (260 members)
2. Justice committee (204 members)
3. National Defense committee (204 members)
4. Internal affairs committee (204 members)
5. Foreign affairs committee (204 members)
6. National Education, Culture, Youth and Sports committee (204 members)
7. Development, reconstruction, transportation and tourism committee (204 members)
8. Environment committee (204 members)
9. Health, family, employment, social works committee (204 members)
10. Agriculture, forestry, rural works committee (204 members)
11. Industry, Commerce, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Committee (204 members)
12. Equal Opportunity for Women and Men Committee (260 members)
13. Application committee (130 members)
14. Planning and Budget committee (390 members)
15. Public economic enterprises committee (350 members)
16. Committee on inspection of Human rights (230 members)
17. Security and Intelligence Committee (170 members)

Investigative committee

These committees are established if any investigation into the Imperator, Prime Minister, and ministers occur and approved by the Assembly through hidden voting. Investigative committees are also formed to investigate any internal problem within the Corcillum.