After a week and a half of extensive reviews by various electoral boards and outside election reviewers, the final results of the recent elections in the Kingdom of Auria have been ratified, and the peaceful transition of power has begun. Acting Prime Minister Jaques Arquette presented the credentials of all 125 members of the new Representariat to Queen Katherina I earlier this morning, signaling the beginning of a new legislative session.
However, this new session is already rife with discussion and debate, as the three-week Delēn Conventions (pejoratively labeled by some as “Bonnet’s Grandstand”) have resulted in a series of seven documents that call for sweeping reforms to be made in Aurian governance. The requested policies include:
-Diminishing the power of the Masterial to specific cultural issues, appointments, and war declaration
-Granting the Prime Minister the power to appoint half of the members of the Masterial
-Setting a limit on the number of hereditary peers that can serve in the Masterial
-Removing the formal power of life peers over their granted territories
-Abolishing the Masterial’s Regional Committees
-Splitting the nation into five regions and forming regional governments as such
-Removing the formal military power of the Monarch from the Aurian Army, Navy, and Air Force (leaving them with control of the Golden Guard and various military merit orders)
These issues (and their legality) will be hotly debated in the coming weeks as the new members of the Representariat take their seats. The current makeup of the elected house of Parliament is as such:
United Aurian Commune (Party Head: Alain Bonnet): 24 seats
National Social Democrats (Party Head: Ana Limaja): 31 seats
Aurian Greens (Party Head: Jean-Klad Duvie): 6 seats
Aurian Reason (Party Head: Jaques Arquette): 34 seats
The Party of Farmer and Sailors (Party Head: Helen Blanšet): 6 seats
National Truth (Party Head: Aleksander Petrov): 21 seats
Independents: 3 seats
(One additional member of “Aurian Reason,” Emalija Jansone, stepped down from their seat in order to gain the speakership for this term, forfeiting her voting rights in Parliament)
These incoming members will face an interesting conundrum: will their decisions on the implementation of the Delēn Reforms require approval from the Masterial? The Aurian Constitution requires all constitutional reforms recommended by convention to be approved by both houses of Parliament and the Monarch. However, it also provides that under “urgent and/or extraordinary circumstances,” the Representariat can pass legislation that would normally require the Masterial’s approval unilaterally, pending judicial review. Given that only 54 of the original 125 members of the outgoing Masterial currently hold their seats, and that the reforms would make substantial changes to appointments to the chamber, the precise definition of “urgent and/or extraordinary circumstances” will certainly come into question as debates over the reforms heat up in the coming days.
