Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Parliament Passes Increased Representation Law, aims to bring numbers of seats to 434.
August 5639

Fort William - The Parliament of Luthori recently passed an Act which was signed by His Majesty the Emperor today. That Act, a promise of Prime Minister Olivia Hall and her National Labour Party aimed at "reversing" the controversial decision from the then-outgoing MacGregor ministry, through the Representation of the People Act 5616. After her electoral victory in 5635 and the formation of a coalition government with both the Liberals and Greens, one of the coalition's key policies was to increase representation within the lower house, by empowering the electoral commission and ending the 400-seat cap in Luthori's Chamber of Representatives. The Senate, whipped by the Government Senate Leader, narrowly passed the Act after heavy backlash from Conservative Party in the Senate. The Prime Minister, rejoiced at this victory stated that the "representation of the people" in Parliament was secured.

The Increased Representation Act, proposed by the Secretary of State for Home Department, Stanley Houghton and counter-signed by the Parliamentary Secretary for Constitutional Reform, Emmeline Wilson, would see that the Luthorian Chamber of Representatives' number of representatives being fixed at 434 Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Members of Parliament - MPs), an increase of 34 members of Parliament from the 400 members of Parliament that were sitting in the First Chamber ever since the enactment of the Representation of the People Act 5616. The Bill notably didn't cover the Senate. The Second Chamber's opposition to the Bill was so intense that the provisions enabling the creation of a committee aimed at the discussion of potential Senatorial appointment and peerage were scrapped upon request from the Senate Majority Leader, Lord Wintingham.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Government Senate Leader described the situation in the Senate as "doomed" if the Prime Minister didn't come itself to negotiate with the Opposition, led by the Conservative Leader of the Opposition, the Earl of Windbury, who described the Bill as a travesty, the Prime Minister allowed the Senate Majority Leader to enter negotiations with the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberals' segments of the Coalition that broke ranks with the Prime Minister on this particular issue, bringing themselves to vote alongside the Conservatives against the first reading of Section 24.B, aiming at reforming the peerage system. As stated earlier, as the Prime Minister confirmed to the Opposition that the provisions about the Senate would be scrapped, with the Bill focusing solely on the Chamber of Representatives.

Another provisions of this Bill, alongside the increase of seats in the lower house would be the empowering of the Boundary Commission of the Chamber of Representatives, to propose, after every 10 years, after the decade Luthorian census is held, a modification of the size of the First Chamber, if they saw fit. Again, the Chamber of Representatives would have the authority and need to vote on every recommendation on its size made by the Boundary Commission, would will also be tasked with the drawing of constituencies that would be awarded a seat in the Chamber of Representatives. With the new reform, the Representation of the People Act 5616's provisions on the mixed-member proportional representation system that Luthori uses for its elections, that stipulates that half the members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected through a first-past-the-post electoral system and the rest is elected through proportional representation, have been reaffirmed by the Increased Representation Act, with no changes in that.

As such, the Boundary Commission now receives the mission, by Parliament to draw 217 constituencies that would each represent, on average 687.345 inhabitants, the Chairman of the Commission, Richard Myers (LAB) MP was relatively pleased by this new mission, announcing that the Commission would be pursuing this mission by creating new, neutral constituencies in which no political parties would receive an enormous advantage through gerrymandering. This Act is a great victory for the Prime Minister, as her time is slowly but steadily running out before the 5640 general elections, in which the National Labour Party is projected to lose their plurality in favour of the Conservative Party under the Earl of Windbury, that would, if poll numbers reveals to be right, become Luthori's next Prime Minister after these elections, although Prime Minister Hall also showed the Luthorian people that she had the capabilities to defeat these projections, no matter how bleak they could be.