Parliament of Ibagli
 This article is a part of the Politics and Government of Ibagli series. |
| Executive |
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Monarch (King Charles III) |
| Legislative (Parliament) |
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House of Commons (Speaker) |
| Judicial |
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Supreme Court (Chief Justice) |
The Parliament of Ibagli is the legislative branch of the Ibaglian government. According to section 7 of The Constitution Act, 1955, Parliament consists of the Sovereign, the Senate, and the House of Commons.
Senators are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister. There may be no more than seventy Senators at any time. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the people of Ibagli. Of the 60 members of the House, 30 are directly elected by the people using the first-past-the-post method, and 30 are elected by proportional representation.
The House of Commons is the dominant chamber of Parliament. The Senate rarely refuses to approve bills passed by the lower house. There have been several recent moves to abolish the Senate.
History
The first legislative body in Ibagli was the Executive Council, which was established in 1903. In 1910, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly were created. Most of the functions of the Executive Council were transferred to the Legislative Council, which consisted of four ex officio members and three representatives of the community. The Legislative Assembly consisted of seven members elected by males who were British subjects. The Legislative Assembly was expanded to 15 in 1922, and the first political party in Ibagli - the Reform Party - was founded. It won a majority of seats in the Assembly, and its leader, William Patterson, was appointed Colonial Secretary. Successive colonial secretaries were chosen in a similar manner after successive elections, and the holder of the office became colloquially referred to as Premier. This term became official in 1944. The ex officio members of the Legislative Council were removed in 1936 and replaced with members appointed by the Governor.
In 1953, all-party negotiations on the question of fully self-governing status within the Commonwealth (the word "independence" was not used at the time) began. Though Edward Brixton, the Liberal premier, wished for the new parliament to be a unicameral body comprised solely of elected members, he faced strong opposition from the Conservative Party, which desired that the appointed Legislative Council be retained. The Conservatives were unyielding, and the Colonial Office advised that it would not assent to a new constitution without broad agreement on the shape of the government. This disagreement would shape Ibaglian constitutional reform attempts for years to come.
The agreement, reached in 1954, called for an elected chamber, originally called the House of Assembly, and a Senate. The House of Assembly was renamed the House of Commons in later drafts of the Constitution Act. Premier Brixton stated that the new name would "brings forth the imagery of the great debating chambers in the sister dominions of Britain and Canada and demonstrates to the whole world the fully equal status of Ibagli among them and the nations of the world." The House of Commons would have 60 seats, an increase from the 40 that the Legislative Assembly had contained since 1944. The Senate would have 20 seats with all of the holders appointed by the Governor-General. Members of the Legislative Council (then numbering eleven) would continue as Senators. Brixton stated after leaving office that he originally hoped to pack the new Senate with members of his own party in order that the chamber could be abolished soon after the Constitution Act took effect.