Tepertopian Assembly (Pacifica)

Tepertopian Assembly Tepertopier Bürgerschaft
53rd Tepertopian Assembly
History
Established	14 December 1889 (1889-12-14)
Preceded by	Tepertopian Harmonist Convention
Leadership
Assembly President	Seymour Farnham, M since 04 February 2024
First Deputy President	Liesbeth von Sonntag, W since 04 February 2024
Deputy Presidents	Erma McKinnon, GUILD since 04 February 2024
	Peter Silie, FiO since 04 February 2024
	Terry Seidel, C since 04 February 2024
Father of the House	Albert of Lowe, W since 04 February 2024
Structure
Seats	100
Political groups	M (23)      W (23)      GUILD (16)      C (15)      FiO (8)      DDP (5)      GRAYS (3)      R&Y (1)      Independents (6)
Length of term	3 years
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	04 February 2024
Next election	On or before 28 February 2027
Redistricting	State legislatures
Meeting place
Legislative Palace Happelstein

The Tepertopian Assembly (Alman: Tepertopier Bürgerschaft, [ˌteːpɐˈtoːpi̯ɐ ˈbʏʁɡɐʃaft]), more commonly simply called the Assembly, is the unicameral legislature of Tepertopia on the federal level.

The Assembly's constitutional role is described by Chapters Ⅳ and Ⅶ of the Tepertopian Articles of Union, governing the institutional organisation of the Assembly and the legislative process respectively. Together with, in defined cases, the people themselves, the Assembly exercises the federal legislative authority. It is furthermore responsible for setting the government budget and controlling the executive branch through its blanket recall powers over any executive office, save for the Council of the Union itself.

The 100 Assemblypeople (Alman: Abgeordnete, [ˈapɡəˌʔɔʁdnətə]) are directly elected by the Tepertopian people every three years using the single transferable vote. They enjoy special constitutional protection and are representatives of the nation as a whole. Exceptional dissolutions of the Assembly are possible only pursuant to a request of the Assembly itself under Art. 50 of the Articles.

The Assembly is presided over by a five-member Presidium, consisting of the President, the First Deputy President, and three Deputy Presidents. Sessions are held in the Legislative Palace in Happelstein.

History

Further information: History of Tepertopia

Today's Assembly descends from the former Estates of Tepertopia (Tepertopier Landstände), the body representing the three estates of feudal Tepertopia. The original constituent estates were the nobility (Adelsstand), clergy (Klerus), and burghers (Bürgerschaft), while peasants were completely excluded from representation. As the Alman name of the Assembly ‒ Tepertopier Bürgerschaft ‒ implies, the modern Assembly effectively is the sole surviving chamber of those, now encompassing the whole of the enfranchised populace, while the privileged representation of nobility and clergy was abolished.

First Protectorate

As founded, the Tepertopian First Protectorate did not have a legislature. Decisions were mainly taken by the Council of the Union, in which the reigning nobility assembled to advise the Protector, who would ultimately enact legislation.

Election

All 100 seats of the Tepertopian Assembly are elected simultaneously every three years using the single transferable vote in currently 22 constituencies.

The fundamentals of elections to the Assembly are governed by Articles 44‒47 of the Tepertopian Articles of Union. They stipulate the calculation of election dates, establish universal suffrage and the principle of a free and fair election, as well as a series of abstract rules that the electoral system must follow, such as the directness of the election and proportional representation. Specifics are laid down in the federal Assembly Elections Act (Bürgerschaftswahlgesetz).

Constituencies

Constituency boundaries are determined by the legislatures of the Constituent States of Tepertopia. However, to avoid gerrymandering, they are bound by certain rules in their redistricting, namely:

1. The encompassed geographical area must be contiguous;
2. Boundaries must follow the boundaries of the administrative divisions, but may not cross State borders; and
3. A prospective constituency must not send less than three Assemblypeople, unless the whole of the State is a single constituency.

The magnitude of a constituency is determined by how many voters reside there ‒ each one elects a share of Assemblypeople proportional to the share of the electorate residing in the constituency.

Calling the election

The Protector must call an election for the Assembly 90 days before the term of the current Assembly ends. However, a term may also be cut short by a so-called Exceptional Dissolution. If an absolute majority of all Assemblypeople vote in favour, the Assembly may formally request dissolution by the Protector, who is obligated to execute this request and immediately call an election afterwards. Once an Exceptional Dissolution has taken place, another one cannot be requested until at least one year has passed.

When calling the election, the Protector, consulted by the Council of the Union, determines the specific date on which the election shall occur. That date must be no sooner than 90 and no later than 120 days from calling the election. Between these two boundaries, any Sunday may be the chosen election day.

Candidacy

Two weeks after an election has been called, candidacies may be formally registered with the Federal Electoral Commission (EleCom). Candidates may either stand as members of a political party or as an independent.

In order to appear on the ballot, independent candidates need to submit at least 50 supporter signatures of voters eligible to vote in the constituency they wish to stand in alongside their registration. Independents who are currently sitting Assemblypeople are exempt from this requirement.

Those standing for a particular party need to be officially nominated by that party, with each party free to determine its own candidate selection procedure. Additionally, before a party is considered eligible to nominate candidates, it must either receive 100 supporter signatures in each constituency it wants to nominate candidates for, or 500 supporter signatures overall to qualify for nomination country-wide. Like the exception for sitting independents, parties which are currently represented in the Assembly are considered "established" and are exempt from signature requirements.

Thirty days after the opening, candidacy registrations are closed. Rejected prospective candidates may challenge their exclusion before an Administrative Court within the subsequent two weeks. 60 days after the election was called, the list of candidates is considered final for each constituency.

Voting

On election day, polling stations are open from 08:00 to 22:00. Up until 14 days before, voters may also request a mail-in ballot. Once polls close, ballots are collected centrally in each constituency overnight, with counting beginning the following day. Under the single transferable vote, votes are continually re-allocated among the voter's preferred candidates as highly-supported candidates are declared elected and unpopular ones eliminated from the count.

Constituting session

At most 30 days after election day, the new Assembly meets to officially constitute. The Father of the House, the longest-serving Assemblyperson, swears in all Assemblypeople. Thereafter, the new Assembly elects its Presidium. Ultimately, the Council of the Union will join the session, which is then addressed by the Protector in a throne speech prepared by the Council.