The House of Commons

Legislative powers are vested in a bi-cameral Parliament, which is comprised of a House of Lords and a House of Commons.

The House of Lords is comprised of hereditary Peers who are ennobled by the Sovereign and serve in hereditary succession. The Lords not only bring significant experience and specialist expertise to discussions, but safeguard traditions against rash change.

The House of Commons is the larger of the two chambers, and is drawn from Burgesses (vote-qualified, adult Citizens) by lottery.

Three political parties presently exist: the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, and the Social Party - though there are also many independents. A standing session of Parliament may last up to five years, though it may be dissolved sooner by the Sovereign on the advice of the Government. In such a case, the House of Commons is drawn anew.

Vote tabulation in Parliament is based on an electoral system. The Parliament as a whole consists of eighty (80) electoral votes, with twenty (20) assigned to the House of Lords, and sixty (60) to the House of Commons. These electoral votes are applied to a potential Act-of-Parliament in proportion to their votes in their respective Houses. Since forty-one (41) electoral votes are the minimum Parliamentary majority, this means that the House of Commons alone can conceivably pass Acts-of-Parliament, with a 68.3% majority of its membership. The Sovereign, however, may be more hesitant to grant His Assent elevating such an Act to a forceful Statute if it has no support at all in the other House; such issues are taken case-by-case.

The official Parliament building will be the Octonovakros, which is also a metonym for the Parliament iself. It will be the center-piece of the future capital city St. Ambrose.