House of Assembly of New Cambria

The Assembly of Deputies of New Cambria is the principal chamber of New Cambria's Parliament. It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems, and it is by far the dominant branch of the Parliament. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution, it has the power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Prime Minister. Since 1977, it has met in Parliament Buildings in Arvant.

Compostition
The Assembly has 100 members. Members are directly elected at least once in every three years by eligible citizens of New Cambria under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote (STV). Membership of the Assembly is open to citizens who are at least 21 years old. A member of the Assembly is known as an Assembly Deputy (AD), or more simply, Deputy.

The Assembly electorate consists of citizens of New Cambria at least 18 years of age who are registered to vote in New Cambria. Assembly elections must occur once in every three years. The Prime Minister can, by making a request to the President, effectively dissolve Parliament at any time, in which case a general election must occur within 30 days.

The STV electoral system broadly produces proportional representation in the Assembly. The small size of the constituencies used, however, usually gives a small advantage to the larger parties and under-represents smaller parties. The multi-seat constituencies required by STV mean that candidates must often compete for election with others from the same party. This increases voter choice, but is accused by some of producing ADs who are excessively parochial. Once, in 1980, an attempt was made to change to the American-syle "First-Past-The-Post" electoral system, but this was rejected in a referendum. By-elections occur under the Alternative Vote system.

Currently, every constituency elects between three and five ADs. The Constitution requires that constituency boundaries be reviewed at least once in every five years, so that boundaries may be redrawn to accommodate changes in population. Boundary changes are currently drafted by an independent commission, and its recommendations are usually followed.

Speaker
One of the Assembly's foremost duties is to elect amongst itself a Speaker. The Speaker's primary job is to ensure the ADs follow the established rules of procedure. The Speaker is expected to observe impartiality during debates, but retains the right to vote.

Powers
While in principle, the Assembly is only one of three components of Parliament (the other two being the President and the Senate), in practice, the powers granted to the Assembly render it by far the dominant branch, meaning that most bills passed by the Assembly will ultimately become law. The President can only veto the bill if it is in conflict with the Constitution.

In addition to its legislative role, it is the Assembly that designates the Prime Minister for referral to the President for appointment. The Assembly may also pass a motion of no-confidence in the Executive Council, in which case the Prime Minister must either seek a parliamentary dissolution or resign.

The Assembly has exclusive power to:
 * Propose the budget (bugetary bills may not originate in the Senate)
 * Ratify treaties (provided they do not conflict with the Constitution)
 * Declare war or permit the state to participate in a war.

Activities
The Assembly determines its own standing orders and its members are protected by certain rights arising from parliamentary privilege. In line with other modern parliamentary systems, ADs do not generally vote first and foremost in accordance with their consciences or the wishes of their constituents, but rather follow the instructions of party whips. Except in exceptional circumstances, the Assembly meets in public.

Until the early-1990s, Assembly debates were rigidly structured, extremely limited, with ADs often read slowly from prepared scripts. Since 1992, however, Assembly debates have been televised, leading to more theatrical and lively discourse. By contrast, debates in the Senate are known for the their much more relaxed atmosphere, and humorous contributions of one or two Senators.

There is a common tactic, well known to journalists, of ADs intentionally breaking the rules and being disorderly, in order to force the Speaker to throw them out of the chamber. This usually is captured as a "news bite" (as intended) and is designed to cast the particular AD in the role of defending his area against the government.