House of Deputies of Sanctaria
House of Deputies of Sanctaria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Lower house of the Parliament of Sanctaria |
| History | |
| Founded | November 19, 1974 |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 460 (231 needed for a majority) |
 | |
Political groups |
|
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 10 December 2022 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| House of Deputies Chamber Parliament House Sanctus, Sanctaria | |
The House of Deputies of Sanctaria, more commonly known as simply the House of Deputies, is a component of the Parliament of Sanctaria, along with the President and the Senate, and is the lower house of parliament of Sanctaria. The House of Deputies has met in the House of Deputies chamber in Parliament House since moving there from St. George's Palace in 2012.
The House of Deputies is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Members of Parliament (MPs). There are 460 members in the current parliament. Members are elected by via first-past-the-post system in each of the country's electoral districts. MPs may hold office until Parliament is dissolved and serve for constitutionally limited terms of up to five years after an election.
The House of Deputies was established in 1974, following the disestablishment of the Papal States of Sanctaria. The lower of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Deputies in practice holds a little more power than the upper house, the Senate, in that a major responsibility for the House is to elect the Chancellor and keep the government to account. The Chancellor stays in office only so long as they retain the support, or "confidence", of the lower house.
History[edit | edit source]
The House of Deputies came into existence in 1974 when the Patriarch of the Church of Sanctaria, Aequitas IV, announced that the Papal States of Sanctaria would be disestablished on his death, that the Church of Sanctaria would renounce all temporal power, and that each former constituent state of the Papal States would become independent countries. For what would become Sanctaria, Aequitas IV had a constitution drawn up and put to the people in early 1974 - this referendum passed and formally created the House of Deputies. The first election for the House of Deputies were held across several days in September 1974, but with the caveat that those elected would not take their seats until the death of the Patriarch. When Aequitas died on 19 November 1974, those elected a few months previous were deemed to have taken their seats.
The new constitution also established a Senate, and stipulated that the President, the new office of Head of State, would also formally form part of the Parliament of Sanctaria as their duties included signing all legislation into law.
From 1974 until 2012, the House of Deputies met in the Legislative Chamber in St. George's Palace in Sanctus. However as the number of MPs and Senators continued to grow, St. George's Palace soon became too small for their needs. A new purpose built parliament building was constructed in Temple Park near the center of Sanctus. Both the House of Deputies and the Senate moved there in 2012.
Composition[edit | edit source]
The House of Deputies currently has 460 members; this number works out at approximately one member per million people. Members are directly elected at least once in every five years by the people of Sanctaria under a system of single member plurality, commonly called first-past-the-post. Membership of the House of Deputies is open to Sanctarian citizens who are 21 or older. A member of the House of Deputies is also sometimes known as an MP, or member of Parliament.
The electorate for the House of Deputies consists of Sanctarian citizens over 18 years of age who are registered to vote. Until 2013, the constitution mandated compulsory voting, though this was never strictly enforced. Citizens are automatically placed on the register on their eighteenth birthday. The Chancellor can, by making a request to the President, dissolve the House of Deputies early, thereby calling a general election. The President may refuse this request, and force a Chancellor to resign, but this power has never been invoked.
Current composition[edit | edit source]
| Party | Seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Left Party | 218 | |
| Sanctarian Conservative Party | 178 | |
| Green Party | 32 | |
| New Sanctaria Party | 24 | |
| Christian Union Party | 8 | |
Speaker[edit | edit source]
The chairman, or presiding member, of the House of Deputies is the Speaker. The Speaker is chosen from among MPs but is expected to observe strict impartiality. Despite this, the government will usually try to select one of its own for the position, if its numbers allow. The Speaker does not vote except in the event of a tie. The current serving Speaker is Amber Woodrow, a member of the Green Party, who was elected to the position on 14 December 2022.
Procedure and powers[edit | edit source]
In principle, the House of Deputies is only one of three components of the Parliament, the others being the Senate and the President of Sanctaria. In practice however, traditionally, the House has been slightly more dominant than the other branches. Though this has been equalised since 2013 with more powers given to the Senate, there are still some powers that are exclusive to the House of Deputies:
- Nominate, and approve, the Chancellor
- Approve the budget
- Initiate money bills
- Nominate, but not approve, the Chancellor's nominees to cabinet
The President may not veto any bills passed by both houses of parliament, instead they may only refer to the Supreme Court of Sanctaria to test the constitutionality of the law. Prior to 2013, the Senate was unable to veto bills passed by the House too, but this has since been changed and any bill that has passed the House but fails in the Senate is considered a failed bill. The only exception is the budget which is sent to the Senate to review, but must ultimately be passed back to the House with "suggested corrections" for approval. Also prior to 2013, the House nominated and approved members of the cabinet, however following a referendum the Senate now approves all nominated officers of the state, including the cabinet, but now also members of the judiciary, heads of state agencies, and ambassadors among others.
The voting procedure in the House of Deputies consists of the Speaker, or a designated deputy, first putting the question in asking the MPs present to say Aye or Nay if they agree or disagree with the question or motion before them. The Speaker then gives his/her opinion as to the outcome of the voice vote. Deputies can challenge the decision of the Speaker, and demand a recorded vote by declaring Vote!; the Speaker then calls Recorded Vote! and directs for the vision bells to ring. The bells ring for ten minutes to allow Deputies to return to the chamber if they are elsewhere in Parliament House. Once the bells have stopped ringing, the doors to the House chamber are locked.
The Speaker appoints four tellers, two for each side, and Deputies are given two minutes to vote. The vote is taken by electronic means whereby Deputies press either the Aye, Nay, or Abstain button on their desk. After the voting time has ended, a Division Paper is produced containing the result and is signed by the tellers. The Speaker announces the result.
A manual vote can be called by one of the tellers or by a leader of one of the parties or groups in the House. By tradition, the final vote to approve the budget, as well as the vote to approve the nomination for Chancellor, is done via manual means. A manual vote involves each member walking through either the Aye lobby or Nay lobby and signing their name to a Division Paper. Members wishing to abstain must remain in their seats in the House chamber.
Committees[edit | edit source]
The Parliament of Sanctaria uses committees for a variety of purposes. Committees consider bills in detail and may make amendments. Committees may also scrutinise Government agencies and departments. The House of Deputies has several select committees, each of which tends to have responsibility for a particular area of government. There are also several standing committees, which tend to concern themselves with more administrative matters of the House and its members rather than the consideration of legislation or government oversight.
Standing committees[edit | edit source]
- Committee on Administration
- Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests
- Committee on Procedure and Privileges
- Committee on House Business
Select committees[edit | edit source]
- Select committee on Agriculture & Rural Affairs
- Select committee on Business, Industry, & Trade
- Select sub-committee on International Trade
- Select committee on Climate Change & the Environment
- Select sub-committee on Climate Change
- Select committee on Culture, the Arts, & Heritage
- Select sub-committee on Sport
- Select committee on Devolution & Governmental Affairs
- Select sub-committee on Federalisation
- Select sub-committee on Petitions
- Select committee on Education
- Select committee on Energy, Renewable, & Natural Resources
- Select sub-committee on Nuclear Activities
- Select committee on Equality & Minority Affairs
- Select committee on Families & Youth Affairs
- Select sub-committee on Children
- Select committee on Foreign Affairs
- Select committee on Health
- Select committee on Homeland Security
- Select sub-committee on Defence Forces
- Select sub-committee on Intelligence
- Select committee on Infrastructure
- Select sub-committee on Housing
- Select sub-committee on Transport
- Select committee on Justice
- Select committee on Labour & Employment
- Select committee on Science, Innovation, & Technology
- Select sub-committee on Space
- Select committee on Social Welfare
- Select committee on the Treasury
- Select sub-committee on the Budget
- Select sub-committee on Public Accounts
- Select committee on World Assembly Affairs