Difference between revisions of "Senate of Taijitu"

Revision as of 09:59, 8 June 2011

Senate of Taijitu
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Formation	Constitution of Taijitu June 20, 2010
Leadership
Speaker of the Senate	Disputed:      Delfos      Funkadelia
Structure
Members	Delfos      Lapeirousia      Achamenia      Letonna      McMasterdonia      Funkadelia      Of The US      Eluvatar      Phather Bad Drugs      Dyr Nasad
Political groups	Independent      Progressive Party      Council      Taijitu Nationalist Alliance      Taijitu Liberal Statist Party
Election
Method	Single transferable vote
Term length	Seven weeks, unlimited renewable
Last election	August 25th, 2013
Meeting place
Senate forums

The Senate of Taijitu is the legislative branch of the government of Taijitu. Taijitu's legislature is unicameral, and the Senate does not share power with any other legislative chamber. The Senate's legal basis lies in the second article of the Constitution of Taijitu which defines both its composition and powers. In addition to the creation of legislation, the Senate is also responsible for overseeing both the delegate and Court of Taijitu in certain matters. The Senate presently consists of seven senators, the default number ordained by the constitution. They are elected at large every seven weeks, with the most recent election having been held in June of 2011.

History

Taijitu's government originally also vested legislative power in a unicameral Senate. The original Senate was, however, not elected. Instead the original Senate of Taijitu inherited its model from the government of the Lexicon, under which any citizen who had held their citizenship for fifteen days could apply to join the Senate. Any applicant would be subjected to a review and approval by the current membership. In practice applications were, with only one exception, never turned down, and the Senate functioned as an essentially directly democratic body. This necessarily meant that members of the executive and judiciary had to be members of the Senate as well to be represented, resulting in conflicts over the issue of separation of powers on several occasions.

On March 23, 2008, the Senate was disbanded as part of a coup by Sovereign Dixie. In its place, the Citizens' Assembly was established. Like the old Senate it functioned as a direct democratic body, but new members were not subject to approval by the current membership. As its name suggested, its membership was composed of all citizens. This body remained in place only as long as it took for the Citizens Assembly to pass a new constitution re-establishing the Senate later that year.

In the May of 2010, Gulliver and Eluvatar collaborated to create a proposal for a new constitution as part of a broader regional revival. In writing this proposal, it was decided that the Senate should remain but should be elected so that a stronger system of checks and balances could be established without denying any person representation. The direct democracy present in the Citizens Assembly and first Senate before it were meanwhile replaced by a system of petitions and referendums. These proposals were subsequently received positively by a broader constitutional convention. On June 20 a new constitution with these provisions establishing an elected Senate was approved, and the modern Senate of Taijitu was established.

Powers and Immunities

The Senate is primarily a legislative body. It may enact, repeal or amend any law other than the Constitution by a simple majority vote. Such an act may be vetoed by the delegate, and the Senate may in turn override a veto by a two-thirds majority vote. For modifications to the Constitution, the Senate may only propose an amendment or a approve a petition for an amendment by a two-thirds majority vote. Any proposed amendment may only come into force if it is then approved in a referendum.

The Senate also exercises oversight of the executive and judicial branches of the government. It may remove any minister of the Cabinet from office and, while it may not remove the Delegate directly, the Senate may call referendum to remove the Delegate from office, both by a majority vote. The Senate also has the power to regulate the ministries of the cabinet through law. Its powers over the judicial branch are similar. All nominees for associate justice or chief justice of the court are subject to approval by the Senate, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. Once in office any justice may be removed by the Senate, also by a two-thirds majority vote. Finally, the Senate may enact laws which regulate the Court's power to try both civil and criminal cases.

The Constitution guarantees that no senator may be barred from participating in Senate business unless the Senate consents. Just how the Senate may consent to such restriction of access is not specified by the Constitution or written procedure. The purpose of this immunity is to ensure that the executive and judicial branches do not exercise their power to effectively shut down the Senate. This immunity does not disallow the restriction of a senator's access once their term has expired.

Procedures

Under the Constitution, the Senate alone has the power to define the internal procedures by which it does business. They can not be modified via a petition and referendum as another law might be. Currently, the Senate has no agreed upon written procedures.

The Constitution also provides that the responsibility of enforcing whatever procedures the Senate may agree upon falls to the Speaker of the Senate, and that where no clearly defined procedure exists that they are free to exercise discretionary authority. There is currently no incumbent Speaker.

Election and Recall

Elections for the Senate occur every seven weeks, and are concurrent with delegate elections. All seven members are elected at large. This is done by means of the single transferable vote using the Droop quota. The use of this system was intended to allow for proportional representation without requiring candidates to affiliate themselves with a party, something which would have conflicted with the fact that at the time of system's adoption many Senators had no party affiliation. Any citizen is eligible to run for the office of Senator or to vote in an election. Vacancies that occur between elections are filled by recounting the ballots of the most recent election as if the absent senator were not running. The most recent election of the Senate was concluded on June 6, 2011.

As elected officials, Senators may be recalled from office through a petition and subsequent referendum. For a senator to be recalled, less voters must vote against their recall than was necessary to elect them. This threshold is designed to ensure that a majority faction may not use recalls to remove a minority faction's representatives from the Senate.

See also

• Speaker of the Senate
• Constitution of Taijitu
• Government of Taijitu