Grand Senate (Elysium)
Grand Senate | |
|---|---|
| 21st Grand Senate | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 24 April 2019 |
| Preceded by | Parliament of Elysium (2019) Council of Imperial Delegates (2024, Class I) |
| Leadership | |
President | |
Speaker | |
Chancellor | |
Leader of the Opposition | Vacant since 18 July 2024 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 17 Senators 7 Class I Senators 11 Class II Senators |
Political groups |
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| Elections | |
| Single transferable vote within an Electoral college (Class I) PLPR (Class II) | |
Last election | May 2024 Elysiumite senatorial election |
Next election | September 2024 (Class II) January 2025 (Class I) |
| Meeting place | |
| Discord | |
The Grand Senate is the legislature of the Elysium. Its membership consists two classes, the first class is elected by the College of Electors while the second class is determined by the proportional representation.
The Grand Senate is responsible for selecting the Chancellor of Elysium. The Grand Senate has the sole authority to pass acts and exercises complete legislative authority throughout the Empire.
History
Early sessions (1 & 2)
The first Grand Senate was one of two grand senates which were appointed by the Grand Emperor of Elysium due to the nations small size. A few parties were present in the Grand Senate at this time the Progressives, Democratic Traditionalist the predecessor to the NDs, WissenTech, the Communist Party of Elysium, and a few other small parties. The Grand Emperor had the power to appoint two Grand Senators from each Commonwealth but only the Grand Senate could remove members once they were appointed.
The first Grand Senate is most notable for drafting and passing the first constitution of Elysium. Despite this in future Grand Senates the first constitution was repealed due to many loopholes and grammatical errors in it and was replaced, but many ideas on how the government ought to function from the first constitution remain as do the offices of it.
The Grand Senate also passed other major acts such as the Judiciary Act by Adam Johnston which extended the power of the courts and of juries, the Ernst Fair Use Act which set out a basic copyright system, and the Marriage Act which ensured marriage equality. A State Industry Bill was proposed in this session but was defeated by the Democratic Traditionalist and WissenTech. Although all of the acts from this session have been repealed or amended the intent of the acts lives on other bills and amendments which merely fix the grammar and loopholes of these early laws. During this session powerful Grand Senators such as Sir Adam Johnston and Sir Spooky Johnston began their careers in the Grand Senate.
The second Grand Senate began on 25 May 2019 and lasted until 25 July 2019, making it one of the shortest sessions. This Grand Senate session was called following the completion of the constitution and is most notable for the entrance of Tau Barclay into politics and the first Speaker election in Elysium. Political newcomer Tau Barclay founded the Libertarian Party of Elysium, to oppose the conservative Democratic Traditionalist while also not joining the socialist Progressives, but shortly after merged his party with the Progressives to form the Progressive-Libertarian Party. Despite his belief that Elysium was in great need of reform and that the DTs were not offering his centrist views and activity gave him the support of both socialist and conservatives. He was elected as the first speaker of the Senate in a 5-2-2 vote, opposed by Johann Kummel (DT) and Alexander Irikladis (DT).
Major legislation from this session includes the Political Party Act which set standards to make a new party, the Government Continuation Act which set out a formal order of succession, the first legislative format, creation of the Deputy Chancellery, admitting Orini as a Commonwealth, and the Archive Act which made a formal archive. Of these acts all of them have been repealed or amended but the intent of the act remains in the law with the exception of admitting Orini. Another notable event in the second session was the rise of the Nationalist State Party of Elysium one of the most far-right parties to enter the Grand Senate. The NSPE campaigned on ending the monarchy but replacing it more authoritarian institutions, stripping away the powers of the nobility all altogether, and ending marriage equality. The leader of the party Frederick Garrison was removed from the Grand Senate due to accusations he had led coups in other nations. While in the Grand Senate, he proposed legislation which would make it so there could only one party for the left, centre, and right he proposed the Progressive-Libertarians be the party of the left, the Democratic Traditionalist of the center, and the NSPE of the right. His act failed to pass.
The second session came to end due to the campaigns of Stanley Kenny in which he called for the end of an appointed legislature believing the nation had grown large enough. His calls were soon joined by those of Adam Johnston, Spooky Johnston, and other reformists and Grand Emperor Robert II briefly considered stepping down when the calls began to be directed against him for incompetence. Chancellor Kyle Smith convinced Grand Emperor Robert II to not step down and rather elections were organized to reform the government. A Great Elysium Council was called including Governors, the Grand Emperor, Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Cabinet, Nobles, and Grand Senators met to discuss reforms. The most active members of this council were Grand Emperor Robert II of the moderate camp calling for reform but nothing radical, Kyle Smith, Suyash, and Tau Barclay supported the same policy, Adam Johnston and Stanley Kenney led the reformist faction of the council, and Christina Nowell led a group who opposed reforms and wanted to expand the power of the monarchy. Despite the split groups in the council major reforms were passed and an election to the third session was arranged. The Elysiumite July 2019 senatorial election was the first true election to the Grand Senate in which the DTs led by Kyle Smith won 42% of the vote. Progressives came in second and Political Evolution in third, the Unity Party would have won a seat but their candidate renounced his citizenship before the results were released.
Third Grand Senate
The third Grand Senate saw the election of Adam Johnston, Progressive-Libertarian, as Speaker following Tau Barclay becoming the Deputy Chancellor. With his new office of Deputy Chancellor to DT Chancellor Kyle Smith, the Progressive-Libertarians greatly expanded their influence both in the legislative and executive branches. The party while still smaller than the DTs had grown to four Grand Senators and various smaller parties had joined them.
The Progressive-Libertarians began to pass some aspects of their more moderate agenda with support of moderate DTs including reforming the Deputy Chancellery to give the Grand Senate more power in the process to select one, passing the Johann University Act which made a digital university for Elysium, Senate Reform Act which increased the power of the Senate Majority Leader, Office Definition Act which curbed citizen sharing. The PLP also blocked some of the more right-wing agenda of the Democratic Traditionalists with the help of moderate DTs such as the Unification Act which made it harder for new provinces to be admitted. Despite this Chancellor Kyle Smith still enacted the most controversial part of his legislative agenda the creation of the House of Nobles which operated as an unelected legislative body. The DTs justified the creation of this legislature as they believed it would encourage people to work hard to get noble titles, and due to the Grand Senate being able to block acts from the House of Nobles but the House of Nobles being unable to block acts from the Grand Senate. Despite this the House remained controversial even with Grand Emperor Robert II campaigning for it. Democratic Traditionalists also passed the less controversial Resignation Act which gave officeholders twenty-four hours to nullify their resignation and the Cabinet Reform Act which increased transparency.
On the 21st August 2019 Adam Johnston faced another speakership vote which he lost to Johann Kummel of the DTs, this election was not due to any particular parliamentary issue but ought to spite of DTs not controlling the office of Senate Majority Leader. Following this, the Democratic Traditionalists passed the largest administrative reform of the session with the Federation Reform Act which devolved more power to regions and gave them the power to create legislatures and establish regional courts. Following this, the Legislative Reform Act established that Provinces and autonomous regions would both have two seats in the Grand Senate from then on. Despite legislative and executive success Chancellor Kyle Smith resigned from his office due to his belief that he had not been active enough and that Elysium deserved a better Chancellor. Due to this Progressive-Libertarian Tau became Chancellor and he nominated Progressive-Libertarian Adam Johnston to become his Deputy. Despite them taking the executive branch due to the appointments the Progressive-Libertarians lost some of their Grand Senates and where replaced by DTs giving them a majority.
The new Tau administration rapidly began to propose its more moderate agenda. On 8th September 2019 the Grand Senate passed the Globalization of Trade Act which made a formal biasness registry and the Budget Act which created a formal process to create a budget. On the same day, the DT proposed Military Reform Act which formalized the creation of an Elysium military passed, and the Pacoist proposed Practice for Cactus Act passed. The Progressive-Libertarians passed the Senate Elections Act which increased the frequency of elections to occur on the 14th of every month. The last proposed act of that session, Tau's Tax Act created a new Department to look into the creation of a tax code.
Fourth Grand Senate
Despite high legislative success for the Progressive-Libertarians the Democratic Traditionalists saw a surge of support following the return of Kyle Smith to politics. Kyle Smith was unanimously elected by his party to become their Grand Senate leader and he led them to the party's largest victory in the Grand Senate with seven out of twelve seats. The Libertarian Progressives only won two seats but the Liberal Unity Party in third place won one seat and soon merged into the party. The Pacoist and Magistrate Party both won a seat. Kyle Smith beat the LP nominee Johann Kummel in the Senate Majority election in a 7-4. Due to the Right Revival as it came to be known the Progressive-Libertarians moderated their tax plan to get the plan to pass. The 5-5-5 Tax Plan established a corporate tax of 5% in Elysium the first of any kind, as well as an optional individual tax.
Despite these legislative victories, Tau Barclay's approval rating fell due to a series of public debates with the Grand Emperor over Tau's proposal for a new constitution. While support for rewriting the loophole-ridden first constitution was high Tau Barclay's attempts to greatly reduce the powers of the monarchy brought him into a fierce debate with the Grand Emperor. After the Grand Emperor released an imperial speech to the Grand Senate urging the Democratic Traditionalists to hold strong and not throw away imperial tradition Tau Barclay and Robert Smith came to an agreement. Tau Barclay was given the right to finish his draft and Robert Smith was given the power to amend it before it went to voting. Despite this agreement, the next Grand Senate election was called before it could be finished. A few days before the election the libertarian faction of the Progressive-Libertarians and the Democratic Traditionalist merged to form the centre-right Reformist Party.
Fifth Grand Senate
The fifth Grand Senate election was the worst defeat for the Progressive Party, at that time Leftist Alliance, following the creation of the Reformist Party and the Free Society Party. The FSP believed that Reformist Party was trying to get a monopoly on power in the nation and as such they campaigned as a big-tent party, in reality, the leadership of the party was firmly right-wing. Between these two parties, The Progressives fell to one seat and third place for the only time in the parties history. The Reformist won six seats and Free Society won two. Despite this poor result, a member of the FSP resigned after the election and a Progressive was appointed to fill his seat giving the party the status of second largest once more. The Progressives were invited into a grand coalition into FSP which they accepted and the Reformist and Progressives worked together on legislation. Despite their alliance, Kyle Smith was re-elected Speaker against Adam Johnston, James Xarca, and Chris Ramsay.
The Reformists proposed, and with the support of Progressives, passed The Second Military Reform Act which created local units in the military, and the Second Federation Act which standardized regional governments.
Twenty-First Grand Senate
| Twenty-First Grand Senate of the Empire of Elysium | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Overview | |||
| Term | 3 June 2024 – 1 September 2024 | ||
| Election | May 2024 | ||
| Government | O'Neill ministry | ||
| Grand Senate | |||
| Members | 17 Senators 7 Class I Senators 11 Class II Senators | ||
| President | James Christian | ||
| Speaker | Based Baddie (4 June 2024 - 21 June 2024) Adam Johnston (24 June 2024 - 1 September 2024) | ||
| Chancellor | Seán O'Neill | ||
| Leader of the Opposition | Thomas Bainbridge (10 July 2024 - 18 July 2024) | ||
The twenty-first Grand Senate election resulted in a hung grand senate, the first hung Grand Senate since December 2021. Both the National Democratic Party and the Progressive Party fell short of a majority in the Second Class, although the National Democrats did secure a majority of the Class I seats. Either the Agrarian Party's single Class I seat or the election of the Speaker would determine whether Billung would form a second ministry or if O'Neill would become Chancellor.
Despite the incumbent Chancellor Christoph Billung having the conventional right to attempt to form a government, Opposition Leader Seán O'Neill quickly announced that the Progressive Party and the Agrarian Party had formed a coalition, securing O'Neill a one seat majority. However, following public urging from Elliot Doe and Robert II, O'Neill and Agrarian leader Thomas Bainbridge launched into negotiations with Robert II, Billung and Doe, where a national union government would be formed and led by O'Neill, with Bainbridge and Ruhan Myrkur as Deputy Chancellors.
The Grand Senate was formally opened on 3 June 2024; in the Speech from the Throne, the Government promised reform to the Grand Senate, elections, broadcasting, incompetency, freedom of information, the attorney system, regulations on trusts, monopolies and cartels, national symbols of the Empire, and the provisions regarding intellectual property in Elysium, a restoration of government questioning, census reform, financial and union reform, repeal of the Commonwealth Enabling Acts, re-establishment of the Imperial Elysiumite Confederation, judicial reform, criminal action reform and ministerial functions reform. The Grand Senate Act was confirmed with the unanimous consent of the Grand Senate (barring one Progressive Senator) and O'Neill was subsequently appointed as Chancellor.
During the Oaths and Affirmations, two Agrarian Grand Senators drew controversy for modifying the text of the Solemn Oath (prescribed in constitutional law) to fit their Norse Pagan and Islamic faith, the case caused the first split between the Agrarian and National Democratic Grand Senators. The issue was brought to the Imperial High Court on 6 & 7 June 2024, with the Imperial High Court ruling on 9 June that they must take the affirmation.
On 4 June 2024, Based Baddie was elected as the Speaker of the Grand Senate, defeating Christoph Billung with 9 votes to Billung's 2.
On 5 June 2024, Doe proposed the Grand Senate Act, which would further establish regulation regarding the Grand Senate, the Act drew controversy as one of it's sections prohibited Senators who didn't make a 'proper oath' from partaking in the business of the Grand Senate, as this Act was proposed during the course of the Oaths Crisis. Two successive motions to delay the Grand Senate Act were defeated with the Act eventually passing unanimously (except for 3 National Democratic and Rhino Senators). The Act received Imperial Assent on 10 June 2024.
On 8 June 2024, Adam Johnston proposed the Unionist Corporation Charter Act which sought to reform the Unionist. Including provisions making it's staff independent of the Civil Service. The Act passed with ease, there was an attempt to pass it without a vote via unanimous consent however the idea was stricken down by Robert II. The Act was passed unanimously and received imperial assent on 10 June 2024.
The Financial Year Act. 2024 was proposed by O'Neill which established a recognized fiscal year for Elysium on 8 June 2024. The act was passed unanimously on 11 June 2024 and received imperial assent on 11 June 2024.
The first Civil Service Bill. 2024 was proposed by O'Neill on 11 June 2024 seeking to reform the civil service. The bill was passed unanimously on 14 June 2024, however on 21 June 2024, Robert II vetoed the bill citing unconstitutionality of a number of it's provisions. O'Neill quickly proposed the second Civil Service Bill. 2024 on 25 June 2024. A debate primarily between O'Neill and Doe over the extent occurred during the allotted debate time. The Bill passed the Second Class but failed in the First Class on 30 June 2024.
On 21 June 2024, Speaker Baddie resigned and was replaced with Johnston on 24 June 2024, being confirmed with only 3 National Democratic Senators voting against.
The Political Organisation and Election Act. 2024 was proposed by Doe. The act was passed unanimously on 5 July 2024.
On 1 July 2024, O'Neill and Doe both addressed the Grand Senate in celebration of the 13th anniversary of the foundation of Elyria.
Deputy Chancellor Myrkur was designated as the chief representative of the Government in the Grand Senate during O'Neill's time in Norway. On 7 July 2024, Robert II proposed the Grand Senate Inquiries Act. The Act would be passed on 10 July 2024 with only one National Democratic Senator voting against the act. During the debate period Billung motioned no confidence in Bainbridge, supported by Doe and Alexander Constantine. On 8 July 2024, O'Neill informed the Grand Senate that he would be voting with the National Democratic Party. Within ten minutes of O'Neill's endorsement, Bainbridge resigned as Foreign Minister and Deputy Chancellor being appointed as the Leader of the Opposition and to the brief end of the Third National Union Government's complete confidence in the Second Class.
Due to a perceived influx of prospective citizens from the 'Chamber of Sin', Constantine submitted a petition to Robert II in the Grand Senate on 12 July 2024 requesting that the Crown intervene with the issue, due to the lack of immigration laws. This resulted in Doe proposing the Citizenship Act on 19 July 2024 which was approved unanimously on 23 July 2024.
On 17 July 2024, with O'Neill's return the first session of Grand Senate Inquiries occurred, O'Neill and Doe questioned Bainbridge regarding his conduct as Foreign Minister. The pressure mounted on Bainbridge prompted his resignation as Grand Senator, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Agrarian Party on 18 July 2024, the failure to elect a successor dissolved the Party. The only remaining Agrarian Grand Senator joined the Progressives on 20 July 2024 and O'Neill won the resulting Class II by-election with a 62.5% swing.
On 23 July 2024, Billung proposed the Commissions Bill. The Bill passed the First Class with notable abstentions but failed the Second Class unanimously with only 1 abstention.
On 31 July 2024, O'Neil proposed the Commonwealth Enabling (Repeal) Acts, seeing considerable constructive debate between O'Neill and Doe. The Acts was approved on 13 August 2024 with a single National Democratic First Class voting against the Acts.
Two treaties were approved by the Grand Senate on 16 August 2024.
Robert II proposed the Pontunia Bill on 17 August 2024, designed to restore Pontunia and admit it as a province in the Empire, the bill was supported by O'Neill and the King of Pontunia (and National Democratic Grand Senator) Andrew Perdomo. Following objections from Billung, Perdomo dropped support of the Bill and subsequently left Elysium. O'Neill condemned Perdomo (comparing him to Eugune Smith) and called upon the National Democratic Party to vet their candidates properly resulting in a deterioration of the Third National Government.
On 30 August 2024, Robert II announced the dissolution of the Second Class to occur on 1 September 2024.
Powers
The powers of the Grand Senate are laid out in Section 23 of the Canon Law of the Empire. Among these powers are determing the:
- Impeachment and conviction of officials (Class II has authority over impeachment, Class I has authority over conviction).
- Expelling of Grand Senators.
- Determining it's own procedures.
- Taxation, trade, commerce, regulating currency, bankruptcy and borrowing of money.
- Defense of the empire.
- Regulation of intellectual property.
- Naturalization and immigration.
- Regulation of corporations.
- Regulation and oversight of the judiciary.
- Settling disputes between the regions.
- Internal structure of the Empire.
- Regulation of foreign currency.
- Devolution of power from the federal government to local governments.
| Politics |
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| Commonwealths | |||||||||||||||||
| Notable Elysiumites | Robert Smith • Adam Johnston • Elliot Doe • Johann Kümmel • Christoph Billung • Sean O'Neill • James Christian • Kyle Smith • Tau Barclay | ||||||||||||||||
