Senate of Howland

The Senate of Howland is the upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Howland. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The Senate consists of 27 members, called Senators. The senators are popularly elected under a modified party-list single transferable vote system of proportional representation. Senators serve fixed six-year terms, with elections staggered such that one-third of the Senate faces election every two years. Like the House of Representatives, elections are held on the last Saturday in June.

Unusually for an upper house in a parliamentary system, the Senate is vested with significant power, including the capacity to block certain legislation initiated by the government in the House of Representatives. Certain provisions in the Constitution, however, allow for the House of override a decision in the Senate.

The present Senate is the 33rd to be convoked since Howland gained independence in 1949. The 33rd Senate was elected on June 30, 2013, and sat for the first time during the 129th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of Howland on August 5, 2013. The next scheduled elections to the Senate will take place on June 28, 2015, and the 34th Senate will be convoked on August 5, 2015, during the 131st Ordinary Session.