House of Consuls of the Batavian Empire

The House of Consuls, also reffered to as House of Representatives or Chamber of Deputies is the Lower House of the bicameral Batavian Consulate. The House of Consuls is located in the right-wing of the Imperial Palace in Amsterdam.

Formation
Although many people thought Emperor Saviël-Citus I would make the European Parliament as the national legislative body, he had a far more complex plan in mind. Saviël and the then Acting Minister of Domestic Affairs Jonathan Montgomery announced the creation of 500-seat national parliament, elected by proportional representation to make sure the people were well represented. After long preparations the first elections were organised in 2042, and went very well. One day after the parliament was elected a Joint Session was assembled and they voted unanimously in favour of the Act of the Constiution proposed by the Emperor.

Functions
The two main functions of the House of Consuls are legislation and check the Imperial Government.

Legislation
All main bills are discussed in the House of Consuls, every Consul has the right to propose a law. Proposed laws are debated in the House. Laws can pass the House with a simple majority of 251 seats. The coalition parties which supply support for the government usually make the policy, and the other parties oppose this, but not necessarily. Sometimes opposition parties support a law proposed by the government, and sometimes a a coalition party doesn't support a law proposed by another partner. Amendments can pass with a ⅔ majority, so need support from parties which aren't part of the coalition.

Election of the Prime-Minister
After each election the House of Consuls comes together in the new composition and the debates start to form a coalition. The party which gained the most seats may start with the formation process. They start negotiating with other parties to form a coalition. If they fail to make a coalition within 3 months after the election, or decide earlier that they don't want to continue, the second largest party can try etc. If it is clear that with there is no coalition to be formed with the current composition, the Emperor will dissolve the parliament and call for re-elections. As soon as parties form a coalition and have a mandate of at least 251 seats they choose one person to inform the Emperor. Although this person is not necessarily the new Prime-Minister, it is rather normal that he is the one to become the Prime-Minister. The person to inform the Emperor of the coalition is named the informator consulati, but usually called the Prime-Minister-Elect. If the Emperor agrees with the new coalition he appoints the Prime-Minister-Elect as Prime-Minister. The Prime-Minister than nominates the other ministers, untill the new ministers are appointed, the dimissionary ministers stay in charge, this can lead to difficult situations. The nominated ministers are questioned in a hearing-session of the House. The House can vote to accept or reject him, they can also delay the process with more hearing-sessions if they are not convinced. The Emperor can however choose to appoint a rejected minister anyhow.

Minority government
In rare cases the constitution allows a minority government. If the Speaker of the House deems it nessacary for the Empire to be ruled by a new and active government he can consult with Speaker Pro Tempore of the Senate (or the Emperor in the case the Speaker is still to be elected). If a majority of the Senate agrees they can start with the formation of a minority government. Only the largest party can form a minority government.

Check the government
Another main task of the House of Consuls is to check the Prime-Minister and his cabinet. The Prime-Minister is responsible to the the parliament. He can however, only come by invitation of the speaker and has no seat in the House himself. All the ministers are accountable and are obliged to awnser an invitation of the speaker. If a minister fails to inform the House or supplies false information, the House of Consuls has the right to ask for his resignation by supporting a motion of no confidence. If the motion receives a majority, the minister practically resigns, though he is not obliged to, since the only one with the right to dismiss ministers is the Emperor.

Speaker of the House
Every first session after the election of the House, the speaker is chosen. Every elected Consul can run for the position of speaker, however it is likely that the speaker will be from one of the largest parties, as they usually have the largest mandate. Every Consul votes for their prefered candidate, it is a closed vote. The vote is organised by the demissionary speaker. The speaker needs to win at least 251 votes in total, so a second round could be nessacary.

The Speaker of the House has to give up is rights to vote to become an independent speaker. The speaker is also the one to call for sessions and assembles the parliament. The speaker can also invite guests to the House.

Elections of the House of Consuls
House-elections are held every 5 years, after those 5 years all seats are elected again and the composition changes, however this may occur quicker as result of a government crisis or dissolution. The elections of the House are held by party-list proportional representation. Every party composes a party-list from which Consuls can be chosen. People vote directly for the person on the party list, but the party list is already determined and nominated Consuls can't be 'upgraded' because of preference-votes.

Exactly five years after the first session of the House, the House of Consuls is dissolved, but it could be they continue to gather for a few more weeks if the election date is schedueled a bit later.

The election symbolically starts in the capital of the department of East-Pacific, Porta Vila, and ends in the capital of West-Pacific, Papeete. The elections take 24 hours and the results are reported the next day. After the elections are ratified by the Joint Election Commitee (JEC) which verifies all the votes the election. The JEC is put together by the Senate, to ensure a safe and secure election result.

Proportional Primary
To determine which parties can participate in the elections of the House of Consuls, a proportional primary is held. There can only be voted for a complete party, and not for the person. After all votes are counted the parties which received less than 3% of the total vote are eliminated and can't participate in the election. The proportional primary is held 6 months before the election, but in case the House is unexpectetly dissolved the time of the primary is determined by the JEC.

Plural Primary
After the proportional primary, a plural primary is held in each department. A party needs to receive at least 5% of the vote in the department. Some parties choose to only participate in certain department, as campaigning costs a lot of money. Parties which passed the proportional primary, but fail to receive a 5% norm in department it wants to participate can't join the election in that department. In the unlikely event a party passes the proportional primary, but fails to win 5% in any department, he is nevertheless eliminated. Parties can also drop out if they haven't won any notable department and are sure they won't win a seat. The plural primary is held a month before the primary, but in case the House is unexpectetly dissolved the time of primary is determined by the JEC.

House Election of 2042
see Batavian Empire general election, 2042

The House elections of 2042 were the first elections ever to be held in the Batavian Empire. All over the world the people watched the Batavian Empire and the elections. There were countries that had never had a fair election before so it took a lot of work but finnaly the elections were held. The Loyalist Party happened to become the largest party with 221 seats.

House Election of 2047
see Batavian Empire general election, 2047

The second House elections were held five years after the first term started. The Loyalist Party managed to keep their majority with 194 seats.

House Election of 2047
see Batavian Empire general election, 2048

The elections in 2048 needed to be held after the dissolution of the parliament ordered by the Emperor after the coalition was slowly losing their consensus. The Union of Social and Liberal Democrats managed to pass the Loyalist Party by winning 113 seats.

Dissolution
After the House of Consuls is dissolved, new elections are organised to fill the House once again with Consuls. If the House of Consuls is dissolved, sessions are forbidden and resolutions or debates are illegal. A Consul breaking that law will be committed for treason against the Empire. There are two different kinds of dissolution.

Regular dissolution
The House of Consuls has a session of maximum five years. Exactly five years after the first session starts the House is dissolved and new elections will be held within a period of three months. This is the most common form of dissolution.

Imperial dissolution
The Emperor has the right to dissolve the House of Consuls. He can use is Imperial Prerogative to dissolve the parliament any time he wishes. He can dissolve it at once, or announce the day of it's dissolution. The Emperor can do this if he has a major conflict with the House, the House is indecisive and a shutdown is innevitable or with other reasons. The Emperor can also dissolve the House if the House desires or if the cabinet resigns and asks for new elections. As soon as the Emperor dissolves the House new elections are organised by the Joint Election Committee within a period of three months, and overseen by the Senate.