Congress

The Congress is the national legislature of the Kingdom of Lovia. Congress was erected only in 2003 and has since become Lovia's most powerful political body. It is responsible for all bills and constitutional amendments being signed into law, as well as for several other (executive) powers. Congress convenes in the Downtown Noble City Capitol.

Congress is elected yearly by the people of Lovia in federal elections in January. As of 2008, mid-term elections have been held in May or June, in which a couple of new candidates is elected to join Congress. The number of Members of the Congress is usually between eight and sixteen. The ruling monarch, King Dimitri, is Member by Right and holds his seat without being elected.

The 2010 Congress was elected in January and May 2010. It underwent many changes, including party renamings and restructurings, party hopping, and members leaving Congress. It currently consists of four Neo-Marxists, three Waldeners, two members of the Liberal Arts Party and two from the Conservative Christian Party of Lovia, as well as an LU member and three non-partisans.

Structure
Lovian Congress is a unicameral parliament. All Members are elected to one and the same Congress and participate in the same debates and votes. There are no subdivisions or committees attached to Congress.

Chambers
Congress does have two chambers, although they serve a different function than those of a bicameral parliament. The First Chamber is the proposal and debate room, in which Members of the Congress as well as plain citizens can propose bills or open a debate on possible bills. Only Members of the Congress are fully entitled to participate in the debates. It is the proposer's intention to gain support for his or her bill in the First Chamber, and to give Congress time to correct or amend the proposal.

The Second Chamber is where the bill goes if it is believed to be carried by a majority. All Members of the Congress have the duty to vote on the bill, either in favor ("pro") of it or opposing it ("contra"). Members can abstain from voting as a third option.

History
Still u.c. Please don't edit, nor make up articles matching the red links.

Predecessors
The Royal Congress was a council of ten advisors to the young King Arthur II of Lovia, that ruled the nation almost entirely for six years, from 1887 to 1893. Its members were appointed by local leaders, who were chosen by the Lovian communities. In 1937, one year before his death, Arthur II established the Royal Legislative Council. From 1937 onwards, the council produced most laws passed by the king. Its members were appointed by the monarch himself, but he relied on the suggestions of the towns’ majors. Queen Lucy I, who succeeded the king in 1938, made less use of the council in the first years of her reign. In the mid-1940s, she appointed five more members to the council, which now had 14 members. By 1949, she foresaw the election of seven of those members by the citizen population of Lovia. At the time, the results of the first such election in 1950 were heavily debated.

After Queen Lucy deceased, and during the 1950s famines, the council was abolished on the people’s request. Only in 1957, when King Arthur III ascended to the throne, order was restored. King Arthur re-installed the Royal Legislative Council, consisting of five personally appointed members and the five state governors or a representative of them. The council’s duties were limited to assisting the king in his political powers. Most bills were written by the RLC, but King Arthur made sure he passed no bills he personally supported. In 1982, though, he expanded their powers by giving them the formal right to overrule his decision if they found a eight-member majority against his decision. The tool has never been used, in part because King Arthur took a more democratic and progressive stance since then. It must be noted that a lot of policy-making occurred on state level, where Governors were elected by the people. They had great authority over their states. In the states’ histories, there have been occasions when the inhabitants eagerly wanted to give the Governors, who ruled on their own, less influence. Instead, many supported a national council or parliament.

In 1992 the democratization process finally begun, and only slowly. The RLC was expanded to 14 members, now including the three members elected by the people in Sylvania, two from Kings, and one from each other state, as well as six royal appointees, the majority being Noble City intellectuals. The new Royal Legislative Council had more tools to make policy and to pass laws. Still, as is customary in most monarchies, the ruling monarch had to sign each bill before it was considered approved.

Creation and first years of the Congress
Finally, in 2001, the former Governor of Sylvania and then-member of the RLC Rick Frances proposed to establish a fully-democratic legislative body. It took more than a year to finalize the proposal, which was accepted by a unanimous majority in the council in mid-2002. In January 2003, the first nation-wide election polls were opened. The 2003 Congress consisted of fourteen members – the number was fixed by the law. There were five MOTCs from Freedom First (F1), the libertarian party led by Frances. F1 formed a coalition government with the Northern Lovian Party (NLP). Other parties in Congress were the monarchist King’s Party (three MOTCs), the Lovian Democratic Party (two) and the Lovian Communist Party (one). King Arthur III remained Member by Right until his death in 2007. The Frances Government followed a very libertarian course, allowing only minor government interferences in the economy and blocking most social legislation. The party and Frances were re-elected three more times. In 2004, they maintained their seven-member coalition and in 2005 they opened up the coalition for the Republican Alternative. In 2006 Freedom First again formed a coalition with the NLP only. In late 2006, a popularly supported social security bill was blocked by the government coalition, to the general dismay of the people. The King’s Party, the Republican Alternative and the Lovian Democratic Party all supported the bill. In the Federal Elections, 2007 then, F1 lost three seats to the opposition parties. The King’s Party held four seats and went into a difficult government coalition with the Freedom First party, who agreed to passing the bill if they could push through their libertarian agenda.

Transition
When King Arthur III died in August, Congress began a long argument over the continuance of the monarchy. It was unclear who would succeed King Arthur. The first in line was the young Prince Dimitri of Lovia. Both the libertarian F1 party, who believed Prince Dimitri was a classical liberal who would support their agenda, and the King’s Party favored his ascension to the throne. The Republican Alternative, the Oceana Christians, the NLP and the LDP instead wanted to consult the people in a national referendum. They failed to pass a motion requiring such a referendum and in November 2007, Prince Dimitri was crowned according to the Constitutional articles on the succession to the throne. By that time, the RA had abandoned their seats in Congress. The 2007 Congress did not pass any bills, with the exception of the new Constitution authored by the young monarch.

In the 2008 federal elections, none of the parties with a seat in Congress were elected (!). Only six MOTCs were elected, of which four were independents and two members of Yuri Medvedev’s Progressive Democrat Party. Oos Wes Ilava, previously with the Oceana Christians, was the only member who maintained his seat, now as an independent. Analysts linked this unprecedented election event to the public unhappiness with the way Congress had worked in the past year, and especially in relation to the succession matter. The majority of the people had been in favor of the monarchy, which they felt was more on their side than the politicians were. Another factor was the retreat of Rick Frances, who felt "a new generation had to stand up for Lovia."

List of Congresses
Under King Arthur III:
 * 2003 Congress (February 1 2003 - January 31 2004)
 * 2004 Congress (February 1 2004 - January 31 2005)
 * 2005 Congress (February 1 2005 - January 31 2006)
 * 2006 Congress (February 1 2006 - January 31 2007)
 * 2007 Congress (February 1 2007 - January 31 2008)

Under King Dimitri:
 * 2008 Congress (February 1 2008 - January 31 2009)

During the short republican era:
 * 2009 Congress (February 1 2009 - August 1 2009 never elected due to political problems concerning discussions about whether to elect a new congress every two or every one year, consisted of members of the 2008 congress, and fell in August, but was immediately reinstalled as the 2009 Republican Provisional Congress)
 * 2009 Republican Provisional Congress (August 2 2009 - November 9 2009, was replaced on own request by a new, demissionary provisional congress that would govern the country in the months before the elections, called the 2009 First Provisional Congress)

After the restoration of the monarchy:
 * 2009 First Provisional Congress (November 10 2009 - January 31 2010)
 * 2010 Congress (February 1 2010 - January 31 2011)
 * 2011 Congress (February 1 2011 - January 31 2012, projected)

Since King Dimitri's coronation
Clickable timeline showing the historic MOTCs since the signing of the new Constitution under King Dimitri's reign.

 ©DimiTalen