National Assembly of Capinderland

The Capindi National Assembly
17th Assembly
Leadership
Prime Minister	Garrett Hillam, LD Since March 3rd 2016
Speaker of the House	Kae Foss, LD Since March 3rd 2016
Structure
Seats	45 voting members
Political groups	Goverment (26)      LD (19)      SL (7) Oppisition (19)      CR (12)      BI (5)      Independent  (2)
Elections
Last election	March 3rd 2016
Meeting place
Assembly Building, Makita

The National Assembly of Capinderland is the sole legislative body in The Federal Republic of Capinderland. It along with the executive branch form the law making body for the republic.

The Assembly is a democratically elected body, constiting of 45 members, also known as MNA's (Member of National Parliament). Member's are elected in terms, serving for four years each, until they must be re-elected. The last election was in 2016, where the Liberal Democrats won under a minority government.

The Assembly was created in 1944 after the a revolution, and the first election happened the same year. The have been many moves to add a second, upper chamber, to further regulate and check bills. Most notable leaders of these ideas are incumbent President Jöran Whittle and the rest of the Liberal Democrats.

Title

The name "National Assembly" was only truly adopted in 1977, after a law confirming the name change. Before then it had no real name, and many different titles were used, such as the General Assembly, Peoples Assembly,and Commons Assembly. The members were just called "Assemblymen" until 1977, where they were official changed to Member National Assembly to match the legislatures new name

Members of National Assembly

The National Assembly is based off the United States House of Representatives, using the arch method to sit its MNA's. They were formerly known as "Assemblymen" until 1977, where they were changed to MNA's. They meet in the Assembly Building in Makita. The seating plan resembles an arch, with the governing party(s) sitting to the speakers right, starting with the largest party the furthest left, then all the coalition parties to the right. The opposition sit on the right, going left to right in amount seats. The debates are presided over by the Speaker of the House.

Passing Legislation

The system for turning bills into laws is similar to Westminster model, with several readings, with a final approval by the head of state (President). Laws are normally proposed by either MNA's or the President. They only become laws after three majority votes and a signature from the President. The majority of bills are proposed by the governing party, although occasionally they are introduced by opposition party's, typically during minority governments. Bills are rarely defeated as the proposing party will only table them if they know they will be passed. It is also possible for privet people and company's to propose laws, although they have a much smaller chance of passing.

Proxy voting is allowed in the case of an MNA not being present during voting time, but an excuse must be given to justify it

First Reading

The first reading is where the MNA (usually a minister) proposes the bill. They will give a detailed speech about the bill, followed by an one hour debate period, with 12 MNA's speaking for 5 minutes each, of which afterward the MNA proposing the bill will recommend a select committee for the bill to be reviewed under. General speaking, one of the 15 committees will be chosen, but occasionally a specialized committee will be created to hand just that bill. The they will vote on whether they should pass this bill along

Committee stage

After the first reading, the bill is passed on to the committee stage. Here, a group of expert plus several MNA's appointed y the proportion of seats in the Assembly scrutinize the bill, and refine it down to a much better proposal. The committee's size may not be any larger than that of the assembly thus limiting its sizes to 45 members, with 1/3 being MNA's on average. Unless extended, the time for this stage may only be up to 4 months efore it must be brought back to the Assembly.

Second Reading

After the bill passes the committee stage, it is brought back to the Assembly to be re-debated on. Here the same rules as the first reading apply, with an 1 hour debate, divided into 12 speakers each having 5 minutes. For both the first and second reading, the whole Assembly is not required to be there, with a minimum of 12 needing to be present. After the speeches, the Assembly will vote on whether it should move onto the next stage.

Third Reading

After the second reading, the bill is finalized by the cabinet (or shadow cabinet if proposed by opposition party's) and shown to the Assembly for the last time. In the third reading ,the whole National Assembly must be present for voting, and the speechs are doubled, going form 12 peeches to 24, with the time remaining the same (1 hour). For the last vote a majority must be reached. If the bill gets enough votes, then it will be given to the President to be signed.

Elections

Elections take place every 4 years, with the whole assembly being up for re-election using the first-past-the-post voting system. Usually there are 3-4 parties, with a handful of independents taking seats. The two main party's are the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Reform(Reform), usually taking over half the seats.

Last election

The last election took place March 3rd 2016, with the Liberal Democrats securing a minority government and forming up with the Social Labour.

Parliamentary 2015