House of Councillors: seat distribution and party federations.

Reform in the lower house and its consequences for Ebenthali politics.

The three main political parties of Ebenthal as of early Feb 2023.

Initiated in December 2022 and finally completed now in February 2023, the new reform of the House of Councillors, lower house of Konkrëse, motivated by the intensification of political-party disputes that have lasted since the second half of last year and which culminated in the emergence of of the New Democratic Party and its rise to power, were fully implemented with the promise of changing the country's political culture. What did the reform change?

The reform of the House of Councillors was implemented through the parliamentary vote on the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. Through this, the distribution of Councillors' seats is no longer equal, that is, 2 seats for each province, and has become proportional in the following method: each province elects 1 councilor for every 0-10 inhabitants. Thus, provinces such as Malmünd and Minen, with more than 30 inhabitants each, elect 3 councilors each; Eichenham, Herrenwald and New Switzerland, with between 10 and 20 inhabitants each, elect 2 councilors each; Schwarzberg, Nëbensee and Grünhufe, each with less than 10 inhabitants, elect 1 councilor each.

As presented and discussed in Konkrëse, this change represents, on the one hand, the recognition by the State of the political power held by the three largest provinces to the detriment of the smaller ones, and on the other hand, an advance of representative democracy by the principle of proportionality between voters and elected. The reform also covered, although not directly, but as a consequence inherently linked to it, the country's political parties, which formed federations, merging and giving rise to new ones. The Conservative Party, founded in 2014, united with rogue members of the Moderate Party and the Republican Party and formed the new National Party, while the Moderate Party united with the New Democratic Party and absorbed elements of the Worker's Party which, also founded in 2014, it was dissolved. With the Republican Party lacking parliamentary representation, Ebenthal became a de facto two-party state. That is, until the recent formation of the Democratic Union, a binational party that operates in both Ebenthal and Marienbourg, made up of Worker's Party members who did not join the New Democratic and who gained support from former politicians of the long-defunct Progressive Party. The parliamentary reform also allowed the entry of independent politicians, that is, without a political party. Note: The amendment also changed the structure of the House of Aristocrats, whose members no longer represented specific constituencies and were prohibited from representing political parties, although they are free to profess their ideologies. In addition, the upper house now has unlimited seats.

Whose initiative was the reform and what was the approval process like?

The amendment project that amended the constitution and reformed the lower house came from The Most Worthy Mr. Daniel Vilela, member of the House of Councillors for Minen. According to internal sources, there is a conflict in the still young New Democratic Party that stems from the desire of the current Prime Minister, The Most Worthy Mr. Rupert Ruschel, to achieve greater representation for the Swedish-Ebenthalis to the detriment, at times, of his fellow Brazilian-Ebenthalis in the party. Daniel would then have introduced the bill allegedly to, among other factors, strengthen the party with strong politicians in order to weaken Ruschel's control over him, strengthen his image as a courageous and reformist proponent, and further weaken conservatives by forcing them to seek alliances with moderate rogue elements that the New Democrats count on will not last long. Finally, after 5 sessions of discussions centered on this theme and two rounds of voting, the 22nd Constitutional Amendment was approved with 7 votes against 5 and 2 abstentions. Among those who approved the bill were members of the opposition such as the President of the Moderate Party, His Grace The Duke of Sternachten. The President of the Worker's Party, His Grace The Marquess of Liuva, abstained, still disgusted by what he considers to have been a betrayal by former Prime Minister The Duchess of Frumar, who left the Worker's presidency to found the New Democrats .

What does the opposition think?

When the amendment bill was presented at the special session on December 30, 2022, the opposition formed by the Moderates and the Workers' did not speak up and boiled down to asking for time to carefully analyze the bill. The Conservative Party, then allied with the New Democrats in power, was entirely against it as proportional representation would take them a seat in Schwarzberg, a province that historically votes for the Conservatives. In addition, His Highness Prince Fernando, President of the Conservatives, in a statement, foresaw the need to negotiate with moderates for the survival of his party's relevance. In an unexpected turn of events, the opposition found itself divided and without action, while the government's own allied base was against it. The behind-the-scenes intricacies of these dissensions are unknown, although there are rumors that the New Democrats relied on opposition inaction and division to attract pro-reformers to their party. And they were relatively successful in that, not counting only that, with the approval of the reform, former Prime Minister Henri Sãens, would migrate precisely to the successor of the Conservatives, the National Party, and not to the New Democrats, as did the former President of the Moderates, The Duke of Sternachten.