5th Parliament of the Romance Republic
| 5th Parliament of the Romance Republic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Term | 3 July 2019 – 10 January 2020 | ||||
| Election | 29 June 2019 | ||||
| Government | Clero I | ||||
| Chamber of Deputies | |||||
 | |||||
| Members | 20 | ||||
| President | Raimon Quiroga Giró | ||||
| Vice-President | Carme Tomàs Tió | ||||
| Prime Minister | Estevan Clero Espina | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Xavier Ferreira Gomes | ||||
The 5th Parliament is the current meeting of the Parliament of the Romance Republic of the Romance Republic, with the membership determined by the results of the parliamentary election held on 29 June 2019. Parliament met for the first time on 3 July 2019. According to the Constitution of the Romance Republic, the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 6 months from the date of its first meeting.
The 5th Parliament was dissolved by President Noemí Horta i Pau on 10 January 2020 ahead of the 2020 parliamentary election.
Election
The 5th Romance general election was held on 29 June 2019. At the election the People's Party (PP) became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, winning 9 seats.
| Party | Leader | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Party | Estevan Clero Espina | 35.14% | 8 | ▲8 | |
| Party of Social Democrats | Xavier Ferreira Gomes | 21.62% | 5 | ▲2 | |
| Green Initiative | Joan Ponente Muntó | 13.51% | 3 | ▲1 | |
| The Republicans | Martin Albert Talló | 10.81% | 2 | ▼6 | |
| Christian Democratic Union | Elena Cazador de León | 8.11% | 1 | 
| |
| Social Liberal Party | Clara Esteves Guifré | 5.41% | 1 | ▲1 | |
| Alliance for the Nation | Bruno Moliner | 2.70% | 0 | ▼6 | |
History
The new Chamber of Deputies met for the first time on 3 July 2019. For the first time, two candidates nominated themselves for the presidency meaning that there would be an election for the office.
On 2 July 2019, incumbent President of the Chamber of Deputies, Elena Cazador de León announced she would not seek re-election. Later that same day, Carme Tomàs Tió, deputy leader of the Party of Social Democrats, and Raimon Quiroga Giró of the People's Party, announced their candidacies for the position.
Quiroga was elected with the support of a right-of-centre alliance of the People's Party, Christian Democratic Union and The Republicans. Carme Tomàs Tió was elected Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies unopposed.
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | ||
| Raimon Quiroga Giró | PP | 11 | |
| Carme Tomàs Tió | PSD | 9 | |
Government
Despite gains in the election for his party and partners, Prime Minister Xavier Ferreira Gomes' Progressive Alliance fell short of the 11 seats needed to form a government. As a result, he resigned on 1 July. Shortly thereafter, President Roberto Bon e Laverde formally nominated Estevan Clero Espina as prime minister.
Prior to the election, Christian Democratic Union leader Elena Cazador de León had agreed to work with Clero's People's Party on the condition she was appointed to the Council of Ministers. Pre-election, Clero had discussed a similar arrangement with The Republicans leader Martin Albert Talló. However, whilst generally supportive of a right-of-centre alliance, he declined the opportunity and on 2 July, he and Clero announced they had reached a confidence and supply agreement.
The Clero government was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 3 July 2019.
| Party | Prime Minister Estevan Clero Espina (PP) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | |||||
| Approve | Disapprove | Abstain | Total | ||
| PP | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| PSD | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| IV | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| ER | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| UDC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| PSL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 11 | 9 | 0 | 20 | |
Disqualifications, resignations and suspensions
The 5th Parliament has seen the following disqualifications, resignations and suspensions:
- 7 August 2019 – Enrico Luiz Moreno resigned from Parliament (and left the Romance Republic micronational project) after being accused of voter fraud (voting twice in the June 2019 election). Luiz denied his resignation was an admission of guilt. His resignation left a vacancy and reduced Green Initiative to 2 seats. As new legislation allowing vacancies to be filled had not been introduced by this time, the seat remains vacant and the total membership of Parliament reduces to 19.
- 1 December 2019 — Noemí Horta i Pau was elected President of the Romance Republic on 10 November 2019 and announced she would resign from Parliament on the morning of her inauguration, being 1 December 2019. The same day as her election, legislation came into effect that allowed vacancies in parliament to be filled from party-lists. This allowed the vacancy created by Horta's resignation to be filled by Paz Teixidor i Domènech who was ninth on the People's Party candidate list for the previous parliamentary election.
Members
| Name | Party | Took office | Left office | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estevan Clero Espina | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Prime Minister, Leader of PP. | |
| Raimon Quiroga Giró | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | President of Parliament. | |
| Guiomar Machado Barros | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Deputy Leader of PP. | |
| Catalina Iñíguez Herrero | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Finance Minister. | |
| Pedro Iglesias Capel | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Interior Minister. | |
| Noemí Horta i Pau | PP | 3 July 2019 | 1 December 2019 | Elected President of the Romance Republic. | |
| Alícia Mateu Bernat | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Chairperson of PP. | |
| Gonçal Tornes Chávez | PP | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Paz Teixidor i Domènech | PP | 1 December 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Replaced Noemí Horta. | |
| Xavier Ferreira Gomes | PSD | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Leader of PSD. | |
| Carme Tomàs Tió | PSD | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Amada Luis Joven | PSD | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Cristòfor Ordóñez Domenech | PSD | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Rosalina Llobet i Junqueras | PSD | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Joan Ponente Muntó | IV | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Leader of IV. | |
| Enrico Luiz Moreno | IV | 3 July 2019 | 7 August 2019 | Resigned. | |
| Miquela Rubió Blanco | IV | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Martin Albert Talló | LR | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Leader of LR. | |
| Nil Chamblanc Lamarca | LR | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
| Elena Cazador de León | UDC | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | Foreign Minister. | |
| Clara Esteves Guifré | PSL | 3 July 2019 | 10 January 2020 | ||
Term extension and dissolution
The 5th Parliament became the first parliament to vote to extend its term under Title IV of the Constitution. Parliaments in the Romance Republic dissolve automatically 6 months after their first sitting unless dissolved earlier by the President (either by his or her own discretion or on advice of the Prime Minister). As the 5th Parliament met for the first time on 3 July, its term was set to expire on 3 January 2020 when it would be in the Christmas/New Year recess.
With a pre-Christmas election ruled out and unwilling to let Parliament expire during a recess, the Government and opposition parties agreed to extend the term of the 5th Parliament in accordance with Title IV. The opposition's support was necessary as Title IV requires the approval of three-fifths of the 20-member Parliament and the parties forming and supporting the Government held less than that total.
The bill extending the term by 10 days was introduced on 17 December and passed unamended on 19 December. Prime Minister Estevan Clero requested a dissolution of Parliament on 7 January, calling the election for 19 January. The 5th Parliament was subsequently dissolved by President Noemí Horta on 10 January.