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| General Congress Общий Съезд Obshchy Syezd | |
| XXX Convocation | |
| |
| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
|---|---|
| Houses | Senate (Upper House) State Duma (Lower House) |
| Leadership | |
| Chairman of the Senate | Boris Sashin (DMS) |
| Chairman of the State Duma | Irakly Kantor (Evergreens) |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 267 (54 Senators) (213 Deputies) |
| |
| Senate Political Groups |
DMS (29) |
| |
| State Duma Political Groups |
Evergreens* (102) |
| Elections | |
| Voting System | FPTP |
| Last Election | March 7, 2021 |
| Next Election | March 3, 2024 |
| Elections | |
| |
| Kapitoly Alaski New Archangel, Sitka, Alaska | |
The General Congress (Russian: Общий Съезд, Obshchy Syezd), colloquially abbreviated as Obsyezd (Обсъезд), is the federal legislature of Alaska. The body is bicameral, comprised of the Senate (upper house) and the State Duma (lower house).
History[]
The predecessor to the General Congress was established in 1905 as part of the October Manifesto, which gave Russian America a degree of autonomy within the Russian Empire. The first elections resulted in a majority of seats being won by reformists and republicans, causing tensions with Nicholas II of Russia (who dissolved the body within a year). For the next decade, tensions between the democratic body and the autocratic Tsar would continue.
The most significant piece of legislation passed by this early parliament was its unilateral declaration of Alaska's independence on March 8, 1917. Throughout the Alaskan Wars, the early parliamentary system would gradually reform into a more Americanized body of two equal chambers.
The first session of a unified General Congress began in 1931, with the ninth session (1955-1958) being the first to include all areas of modern day Alaska.
Composition[]
Senate[]
The Senate (Сенат, Senat) is the upper house. This chamber is currently comprised of 54 senators (сенаторы, senatory). This chamber was modeled after the United States Senate, whereby all of the governorates have equal representation (regardless of their population or national prowess). As it currently stands, each governorate is guaranteed three seats.
Senators are elected to serve a nine-year term, and timed so that a third of the chamber is up for election every three years (with each governorate having an open seat every election cycle).
At the beginning of each legislative session, one of the sitting senators is elected by the chamber to serve as the Chairman of the Senate (председатель Сената, predsedatel Senata). For all intense and purposes, the chairman is almost always one of the leading members of the majority political party (though this is not a requirement). The current Senate Chairman is Boris Sashin of the Movement for Peace and Freedom, with Kiril Shumer of the Evergreens as the minority leader. The Chairman of the Senate is next in line for presidency, should the incumbent be unable to continue serving the office (be it death, impeachment, resignation, etc.).
State Duma[]
Chamber of the State Duma.
The State Duma (Государственная Дума, Gosudarstvennaya Duma), colloquially known as the Gosduma (Госдума), is the lower house. This chamber is currently comprised of 213 deputies (депутаты, deputaty). This chamber was modeled after the United States House of Representatives, in which all sets are proportionally given to the governorates based on their population (though all are guaranteed at least one seat to start). The number of seats are determined following the completion of the decennial census, with any changes taking effect the following election cycle. Based on the number of seats they are allocated, the governorates are than partitioned into as many electoral districts (избирательные округа, izbiratelnyye okruga), with each having (as close as possible) the same population as the others.
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Current Seating Allocation.
All seats of the State Duma are up for election every three years, with those taking place in-between presidential elections being called midterm elections (среднесрочные выборы, srednesrochnyye vybory). Alaskans of each congressional district vote for a single member using first-past-the-post voting.
At the beginning of each session, one of the sitting deputies is elected to the position of Chairman of the State Duma (председатель Государственной Думы, predsedatel Gosudarstvennoy Dumy), which is colloquially known as the Speaker (спикер, spiker) to distinguish them from the Chairman of the Senate. For all intense and purposes, the chairman is almost always one of the leading members of the majority political party or (as is the case since 2018) an electoral fusion of multiple parties. The current speaker is Irakly Kantor of the Evergreens, with Ruslan Falcher of the Party of Dougs and Tories being being a co-chair (both are currently in a congrssional fusion party). Zhanna Shakovskaya of the Movement for Peace and Freedom is the leader of the opposition.
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