Wintermore Congress

The Wintermore Congress is the legislature of the Danaan Principality of Wintermore. The Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Wintermore Senate and the Wintermore House of Representatives. The House has 130 members while the Senate has 50.

Senators serve staggered six-year terms while Represenatives serve two-year terms. Each legislator represents a single-member House or Senate district. House districts are drawn to contain roughly equal populations while Senate districts are designed to reflect different regional interests within the principality.

The Congress meets in the principality capital of Naoley. In contrast to the practices of the legislatures of most of the Danaan principalities, the House and the Senate open their own sessions instead of having their sessions ceremonially opened by the Princess of Wintermore. Both houses meet in the Capitol.

Wintermore Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the legislature. In order for any bill to be submitted for the assent of the Princess of Wintermore, it must be passed in identical form by both the House and the Senate. Most bills can be initiated in either house but the Senate may not initiate any revenue bill. A President is elected by the Senate to preside over the Senate, however, the President of the Senate rarely presides over the body in person, usually delegating that task to various freshmen members of his own party from day to day. Since the President of the Senate must enjoy the support of the majority of the Senate, the President is invariably appointed the First Minister of Wintermore, although the offices are not identical. Although as First Minister, convention requires him to select members of both houses for Cabinet ministries, only the Senate can remove a President and thus a First Minister and then only through a contructive vote of no confidence. If a President loses his or her seat in an election and no new President can command a majority, the Princess of Wintermore may select a new President of her own choosing. At present, the Conservative Democratic Party holds a comfortable majority of 29 Senators.

The qualifications for Senators are contained in the Constitution of the Principality of Wintermore. Senators must be at least 25 years of age, residents of the Resurgent Dream for at least 10 years and of Wintermore for at least 8, qualified to vote in Wintermore and never found guilty of treason, perjury or the violation of any oath ever sworn to the Crown of the Resurgent Dream or the Throne of Wintermore. The Senate judges the qualifications of its own members. Congress can remove the constitutional inability of any person to serve in the Senate by a two-thirds vote of each house.

The Senate is also charged with trying Cabinet Ministers and Supreme Court Justices who have been impeached by the House. If is is the First Minister being impeached, the Chief Justice presides. If a majority is unable to elect a President, the Princess may appoint one of her own choice until the next election.

Wintermore House of Represenatives

The leader of the House of Representatives is a Speaker. Unlike in most legislatures, including most other legislative bodies in the Commonwealth of Peoples, the Speaker is a expected to be partisan and serves as the leader of the majority party. The current speaker is Jane Griswold.

The Conservative Democratic Party holds only 63 seats in the House in its own right. However, they manage to hold the Speakership with the help of supportive regional and minor parties. However, because the Conservative Democrats hold the Senate in their own right, there is no need for any of these regional and minor parties to be allowed into the Cabinet.

The qualification for members of the House are that a person must be at least 18 years of age, be qualified to vote in Wintermore and have been a resident in the district for which he is chosen for at least one years prior to the date when he is to be sworn in as a member of the House.

History

The Wintermore Congress was established in 1785 by order of the Princess of Wintermore. Originally, only titled nobles were allowed to vote for Senators or sit in the Senate and lower house was referred to as the House of Commons. In 1801, commoners gained the right to vote for Senators but not to sit in the Senate. In 1902, a system similar to the current system was adopted and the name of the House of Commons was changed to the House of Representatives.

Sessions

Each house of Congress meets in a regular session. Each house convenes on 2 February and adjourns on 3 November. However, the sessions of either house may be prolonged beyond 3 November if the motion to adjourn does not carry. Neither house, however, may convene before 2 February.

Elections

Elections for all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the Senate take place in every even numbered year. If a seat becomes vacant between elections, the Princess of Wintermore has the right to appoint a person to fill that seat until the completion of the term of office. In the case of a Senator, this does not merely mean until the next election but until the next election in which that particular seat would otherwise have been contested. By convention, the Princess appoints a replacement member of either house on the recommendation of the local leadership of the party which won that seat last in the district which that seat represents.