Pantocratorian Imperial Parliament

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The Pantocratorian Imperial Parliament, which meets in the Palais du Parlement in New Rome, was founded by the Emperor Demetrius VIII in 1672. The Pantocratorian Imperial Government is typically formed by the political party or coalition of political parties with a majority in the 540 seat single chamber Parliament.

Since Pantocratoria has no constitution which limits the powers of the Emperor or establishes the powers of the Parliament, the Imperial Parliament's legal authority is derived only from the imperial will - the Emperor wills it to rule for him in most matters, but may overrule it as he sees fit. The current Emperor, Emperor Andreus, has controlled the Imperial Parliament so that its policies and his own are in-line for most of his reign, although this policy has ended with the most recent election; Pantocratoria is now more or less jointly ruled by the Emperor and his Parliament. The previous Emperor, Emperor Isaac V, demonstrated far less autocratic resolve in his relationship with the Imperial Parliament, which he allowed to rule Pantocratoria with little or no intervention. Most emperors have moved between these two extremes, but when the two have clashed in the past, it is the emperor who usually comes out on top - providing he has the nerve for the fight.

The Imperial Parliament has no fixed terms. It is dissolved by the Emperor at the imperial pleasure, at which time fresh elections are held. It is summoned by the Emperor at the imperial pleasure to debate and enact legislation. When a member dies, his or her seat is inherited by his or her legal heir; in this way the chamber remains at its full strength until the next election.

Each seat in the Imperial Parliament corresponds to a geographical area in which approximately 6 million voters reside (this means that seats with dense populations tend to be geographically small, and seats with more spread out populations tend to be geographically very large). Seats are redistributed every three years by the Imperial Electoral Authority, which also oversees elections. Until late 2005, seats were decided by the Pantocratorian Congregation for the Protection of the Creed, and corresponded to levels of Church hierarchy (usually a large parish, bishopric, metropolitanate, or abbey), using a somewhat less precise system of ensuring that the population of each seat was more or less the same. Many seats retain their old names under the new system, but are no longer bound to the Church in any fashion.

The Lord Speaker

The Lord Speaker is a Judge of the Star Court who has been elected by the Imperial Parliament to be the Speaker of the House, an official charged with enforcing procedural rules. The Lord Speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the procedures of the house. Theoretically, the speaker is politically neutral and is not concerned with substantive issues. While in many parliaments, the Speaker is an elected Member of Parliament, typically biased in favour of the Government, the Lord Speaker is generally genuinely impartial in his rulings, a benefit of selecting the speaker not from the members of the house, but from the judiciary.

The Lord Speaker is properly addressed as "My Lord Speaker" ("Monseigneur l'Orateur" in French). A new Lord Speaker is always elected in the first sitting of a new parliament, and upon the death, impeachment, or resignation of the existing Lord Speaker. The Lord Speaker can only be impeached by the Emperor, who typically acts on the advice of the Imperial Chancellor on such matters.

Language of the Parliament

Pantocratoria has two national languages, but because having two languages spoken in the Imperial Parliament would complicate and slow-down proceedings, the Parliament has an official language of its own in which all the Parliament's proceedings take place. Acts of Parliament are subsequently translated into both languages, as is the Parliamentary record itself. When the Drapeur Government re-instated Greek as an official language, it included a provision allowing the language of the Imperial Parliament to change depending on its composition. The official language of the Imperial Parliament is the national language which is the native language of the majority of members. The official language of the present Imperial Parliament is, therefore, French, but conceivably future parliaments might have Greek as their official language.

Number of Seats

The number of elected members in the Imperial Parliament is set at 540 by the 1672 Decree of Emperor Demetrius VIII Comnenus which established the Parliament. Prior to the elections for the 107th Imperial Parliament, in addition to the 540 elected members, any member of the Imperial Family could assume a non-voting seat (in the letters patent dissolving the 106th Imperial Parliament, such seats for members of the Imperial Family were abolished). If a member dies during the term of a parliament, his or her legal heir assumes the seat and becomes the new Member of Parliament for that seat. Through this mechanism, there are always 540 voting members of the Imperial Parliament.

Divisions

When the Lord Speaker calls for a division to resolve a question before the house or pass an Act of Parliament, bells are rung and every member has ten minutes to align themselves on the Speaker's right hand side to vote in the positive, or to the Speaker's left to vote in the negative. Members may abstain by absenting themselves from the chamber. At the expiry of that ten minutes, the numbers on each side are counted. For a motion to be successful, it is not adequate that a majority of the members present vote in the positive - a majority of all members elected is required, which is to say, 271 members must vote for a motion.

Publication of Proceedings

The proceedings of the Imperial Parliament are published by the Parliamentary printer under the title Parliamentary Debates. Initiated in 1885, proceedings of the Parliament have been published on a six monthly basis ever since. Since 1924, an unofficial version of proceedings have been made available on a daily basis, printed on yellow paper, and a weekly basis, printed in a blue paperback book. These versions are checked for typographical errors before incorporated into the final six monthly version, which is bound and printed in purple leather by the Parliamentary printer for distribution to courts, legal chambers, and public libraries about Pantocratoria. Inexpensive paper back versions are printed for sale to the general public. Since 2002, Parliamentary Debates has been available online.

Parliamentary Debates are referenced:

  • Pantocratoria, Parliamentary Debates, vol. no. X, Feast Day (Xth of Month) Regnal Year Emperor (Calendar Year), p. X

For example:

  • Pantocratoria, Parliamentary Debates, vol. no. 4, Feast of St Polycarp of Smyrna (23rd of February) 46 Manuel IX Capet (1889), p. 12

The daily or weekly Parliamentary Debates printings are referenced:

  • Pantocratoria, Parliamentary Debates, vol. no. X, Feast Day (Xth of Month) Regnal Year Emperor (Calendar Year), Yellow/Blue p. X

The One Hundred and Seventh Imperial Parliament

The One Hundred and Seventh Imperial Parliament was elected on the memorial of Saint Clement I in 2004. (23 November 2004)

Composition of the current Imperial Parliament

The make-up of the One Hundred and Seventh Imperial Parliament is as follows:

The Lord Speaker

Monseigneur de la Justice, The Right Honourable Louis-Manuel Cataphracti of the Star Court

The Imperial Government

(See main article: Pantocratorian Imperial Government)

On all motions of confidence, the Imperial Government has enjoyed the confidence of the house with 363 votes.

  • Imperial Chancellor: The Right Honourable Doctor Thibault Drapeur, Member of Parliament for St Jean
  • Deputy Chancellor: The Honourable Spiro Bolkus, Member of Parliament for the See of Drakopolis
  • Leader of the House: The Honourable Demetrios Raoul, Member of Parliament for St George
  • Deputy Leader of the House: The Honourable Manuel Sebasto, Member of Parliament for the Metropolis of Markosea

The Opposition

  • Leader of the Opposition: His Imperial Highness the Right Honourable Prince Basil Capet Porphyrogenitus, Member of Parliament for Christ Pantocrator
  • Deputy Leader of the Opposition: The Honourable Isaac Comnenus, Member of Parliament for the Abbey of the Theotokos (New Rome)
  • Manager of Opposition Business: The Honourable Frederic d'Alpuget, Member of Parliament for the Deanery of St Constantine (Adrienople)

Members Elected

An incomplete list of members elected at the second 2004 election:

  • The Rt Hon Thibault Drapeur, Member for St Jean (PSA)
  • The Hon Demetrios Raoul, Member for St George (PSA)
  • The Hon Isabelle Folquet, Member for St Marc (Adrienople) (PSA)
  • The Hon Marie-Anne Trabzondi, Member for the See of Demetriopolis (PSA)
  • The Hon Pierre Gastinois, Member for Villeduc (PSA)
  • The Hon Sébastien Jambart, Member for Nôtre-Dame (New Rome) (PSA)
  • The Hon Henri Santiago, Member for St Mary Magdelene (PSA)
  • The Hon Jacqueline Catala, Member for Assumption (PSA)
  • The Hon Jacques Clyneville, Member for the Abbey of the Theotokos (Votosoros) (PSA)
  • The Hon Philippe Martin, Member for St Finbarr (PSA)
  • The Hon Genviève Vaspin, Member for Ikonia (PSA)
  • The Hon Spiro Bolkus, Member for the See of Drakopolis (CP)
  • The Hon Manuel Sebasto, Member for the Metropolis of Markosea (CP)
  • The Hon Kostas Pelospoulos, Member for Apostles (CP)
  • The Hon Gregory Nikomedes, Member for St Irene (CP)
  • The Hon Maria Dedonis, Member for the Virgin (New Jerusalem) (CP)
  • The Hon Petros Hellenic, Member for Manuel Diogenes (CP)
  • HIH the Rt Hon Prince Basil Capet Porphyrogenitus, Member for Christ Pantocrator (UCF)
  • The Hon Isaac Comnenus, Member for the Abbey of the Theotokos (New Rome) (UCF)
  • The Hon Frederic d'Alpuget, Member for the Deanery of St Constantine (Adrienople) (UCF)
  • HIH the Rt Hon the Most Pious Princess Irene Capet Porphyrogenitus, Member for the Deanery of Saint Louis (New Rome) (UCF)
  • HIH the Hon Prince Constantine Capet Porphyrogenitus, Member for St John Chrystostom (UCF)
  • Charles Deloit, Member for St Marc (New Rome) (UCF)
  • The Hon Rev Father Luc Campagio, Member for Manuelville (UCF)
  • The Hon Sir Cyrus Fastonville KOP, Member for the Deanery of Saint Louis (Thyrantion) (UCF)
  • Jean Gallipolitano, Member for the See of Adrienople (UCF)
  • Frederic Dupont, Member for Grand Central (UCF)
  • Marie-Isabelle Cédèric, Member for Sts Luc et Jean (UCF)
  • Louis Soissons, Members for St Constantine the Martyr (UCF)