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How the Legislature of Walneria works?


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Welcome to the post introducing you, dear reader, to the introduction to the Walnerian legislative!

HISTORY

The Walnerian parliamentary system can be directly traced back all the way to the 1899 Walnerian revolution, in which the autocratic regime has been deposed and a new legislative has been created. Because the first assembly was appointed by the revolutionary leadership, the first free elections in Walnerian history were held in summer of 1902 (and only men were allowed to vote), with a total of three political parties running. From there, a decision was made to establish two chambers in the new parliament, with the second house forming in 1908, creating a bicameral democracy. In 1912, the voting right has been extended to all Walnerian citizens, regardless of gender or nationality, over the age of 21 years.

During the "Years of Dusk" (a Walnerian nickname for the time period between 1912 and 1938, in which the democratic rule was strong and public trust in governmental institutions was at its peak), the governments were formed mostly by one or two parties, allowing strong governmental structures pushing unitary systems and forcing through many ambitious projects (most notably the rearmament projects, massive industrialisation and strict secularist movements). This era was ended abruptly on April 26th, 1938, when martial law was declared in Walneria as a reaction to border incidents with Stedoria (on April 30th, the Stedorian-Walnerian War started). In the duration of the war, many civil liberties were suspended under the martial law and the scheduled 1939 general elections were postponed until after the end of the war, allowing the government under Flórian Klimte a more broad and organized response.

In the general elections of 1940 (which were originally to be held in 1939), an unified political front which formed in the dawn of the war broke apart and 2 of the three former political parties split into multiple wings and factions, each having another plan for the post-war Walneria. As a result, the 1940 elections were the first in which the coalition failed to be formed and the hung parliament resulted in a snap elections of 1941, which again failed to form a stable government. The eventual coalition of 5 different parties caused a massive spike of dissatisfaction in the populace, with protests gaining massive traction.

The only reason Walneria avoided a complete political collapse of the system was the merger of the Liberal and Karminine parties in June 1941, as a direct reaction to the Communist takeover in Dazhdinia (in which smaller parties were taken out one by one by a rising coalition of Social Democrat, Labour and Communist parties, in which later a Communist takeover occured). The 1943 snap elections were probably the most intense elections Walneria has ever seen, with the winning coalition of the Liberal Unity Party and Christian Democratic Party of Walneria forming the slimmest majority possible in the parliament with only 5890 votes deciding the last result.

Since then, the democracy in Walneria was reinforced with further rearmament projects, especially on the border with newly communist Dazhdinia, happened. A string of right-wing bussiness-focused governments in the 1950's and early 1960's caused a strong economic boom, which in turn managed to reintroduce some stability to the bicameral government. In 1967, the lower house elections were won by the Social Democrats, leading to a more centrist coalition which later allowed the creation of a more centrist political climate that is known to Walnerians in the present day.

The last systematic important change was the discontinuation of the Upper House (Senate) in 1988 and a shift towards an unicameral legislative. With the Silent Revolutions and later the Crimson Revolution in Dazhdinia, the long term political direction of isolationism and assertive neutrality was ended, when a political cooperation was declared with the new Dazhdin Government in 2001.

As of 2021, the Government still maintains a strict political direction of not taking part in any foreign conflict (reinforced by the 1999 Neutrality Bill, which prohibits any Walnerian President from sending any Walnerian contingent further than 100 kilometers from sovereign Walnerian territory), but has opened up to a larger trade cooperatives with other democratic nations. Most of the parties (and pretty much all of the major ones) are strictly opposed to the @DPR Velaheria-@Stedoria communist-nationalist ambitions and as such still maintains the recognition of the pre-revolutionary Stedorian government, having only semi-official relations with the current one.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

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The current distribution of the National Assembly

The Walnerian parliament is unicameral, with 130 seats large Nacionálfŕzamlunk (National Assembly). Those 130 seats are distributed among 6 electoral multi-seat districts of Walneria, proportional to population that voted, each region distributing candidates from each parties to their assigned seats using the Imperiali Quota. The elections are held every 4 years, allowing the voting for 36 hours (every time starting on Friday noon and ending on Saturday midnight). The date is picked by the government in power and is passed by the National Assembly, based on the rules of voting:

  • Elections should not be held later than 4 years and 45 days from the last elections
  • Elections must be held always from Friday noon to Saturday-Sunday midnight
  • Elections can be postponed only in a state of public safety danger or a state of civil defense and as such can not be postponed for longer than a year from the originally scheduled date
  • Elections are carried out using the Party-list proportional representation and the seats are assigned using the Imperiali Quota
  • Elections are carried out using a secret ballo

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The six electoral districts of the Walnerian Parliament. Districts V and VI were formed in 2000 with the establishment of slavic autonomies

Once the votes are counted and the new Assembly gathers, a new speaker of the Chamber is elected by the MP's votes - the elected winner is traditionally the second-in-command of the strongest party and is elected a non-voting speaker of the house, which is ordered to lead the discussion and organize votes. MPs' votes are not secret in most cases and are held publically, with exceptions decided on by the Speaker (currently: Dítmar Fissŕ from LPR).

And finally, there are three types of laws, differentiating the required number of votes:

  1. Constitutional law/Constitutional amendment - A 3/5 majority, also called the "Constitutional majority" is required
  2. Common law/Effective law - A simple majority of all 130 MPs, regardless of presence, is required (usually refers to laws regarding military organisation, budget and infrastructure)
  3. Organisational law - A simple majority of those present is required (the required Quorum is, that at least 3/5 of the MPs must be present)

SNAP ELECTIONS

The elections may be called sooner in a total of 3 cases:

  1. A vote of no confidence passes - in this case, the Prime Minister is temporairly let in power to rule in dimission until the elections are called. In case the vote of no confidence passes with a constitutional majority, a caretaker government is declared and the Prime Minister loses the function immediately after the vote passes. In this case, the elections must be called in 3 months or less
  2. One of the cabinet members is convicted of treason - In this case, a state of national emergency is declared and the President and the National Assembly Speaker are given some of the rights of the Prime minister in order to coordinate a snap elections, which must be called in 3 months or less, unless the situation disallows such procedure (such as the state of public safety danger or a state of civil defense). In the case the President or the National Assembly speaker have a direct relation to the party from which the traitor has come, their position is taken over by a snap caretaker government representant and/or a representant of the supreme court (expectably one of the Supreme Justices)
  3. Prime Minister resigns or dies - in this case, the caretaker government is declared, while the National Assembly Speaker formerly takes over some of the administrative functions originally done by the Prime Minister. The elections are to be called in 3 months or less.

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Edited by Walneria
Added in a map of electoral districts (see edit history)
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