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The Parliament
The Parliament is composed of 3 distinct elements,the Queen1 the Senate and the House of Representatives.2 These 3 elements together characterise the nation as being a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy and a federation. The Constitution vests in the Parliament the legislative power of the Common- wealth. The legislature is bicameral, which is the term commoniy used to indicate a Par- liament of 2 Houses. Although the Queen is nominally a constituent part of the Parliament the Consti- tution immediately provides that she appoint a Governor-General to be her representa- tive in the Commonwealth.3 The Queen's role is little more than titular as the legislative and executive powers and functions of the Head of State are vested in the Governor- General by virtue of the Constitution4, and by Letters Patent constituting the Office of Governor-General.5 However, while in Australia, the Sovereign has performed duties of the Governor-General in person6, and in the event of the Queen being present to open Parliament, references to the Governor-General in the relevant standing orders7 are to the extent necessary read as references to the Queen.s The Royal Style and Titles Act provides that the Queen shall be known in Australia and its Territories as: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.* There have been 19 Governors-General of Australia10 since the establishment of the Commonwealth, 6 of whom (including the last 4) have been Australian born. The Letters Patent, of 29 October 1900, constituting the office of Governor- General, 'constitute, order, and declare that there shall be a Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over' the Commonwealth. -
Namibia Presidential and National Assembly Elections
Namibia Presidential and National Assembly Elections 27 November 2019 MAP OF NAMIBIA ii CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................. V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 INVITATION .................................................................................. 1 TERMS OF REFERENCE ....................................................................... 1 ACTIVITIES .................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2 – POLITICAL BACKGROUND............................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 3 BRIEF POLITICAL HISTORY ................................................................... 3 POLITICAL CONTEXT OF THE 2019 ELECTIONS ................................................ 4 POLITICAL PARTIES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CONTESTING THE 2019 ELECTIONS ....... 5 CHAPTER 3 – THE ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK AND ELECTION ADMINISTRATION ............................................... 6 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ELECTIONS ..................................................... 6 THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION -
Case Study Women in Politics: Reflections from Malaysia
International IDEA, 2002, Women in Parliament, Stockholm (http://www.idea.int). This is an English translation of Wan Azizah, “Perempuan dalam Politik: Refleksi dari Malaysia,” in International IDEA, 2002, Perempuan di Parlemen: Bukan Sekedar Jumlah, Stockholm: International IDEA, pp. 191-202. (This translation may vary slightly from the original text. If there are discrepancies in the meaning, the original Bahasa-Indonesia version is the definitive text). Case Study Women in Politics: Reflections from Malaysia Wan Azizah Women constitute half of humanity, and it follows that any decision-making, whether at the personal, family, societal or public levels, should be mindful of and involve the participation of women in the making of those decisions. Women’s political, social and economic rights are an integral and inseparable part of their human rights. Democracy is an inclusive process, and therefore in a functioning democracy, the points of view of different interest groups must be taken into account in formulating any decision. The interest and opinions of men, women and minorities must be part of that decision-making process. Yet far from being included in the decision-making process, women find themselves under-represented in political institutions. Numerous challenges confront women entering politics. Among them are lack of party support, family support and the "masculine model" of political life. Many feel that Malaysian society is still male dominated, and men are threatened by the idea of women holding senior posts. In the political sphere this is compounded by the high premium placed on political power. This makes some men even less willing to share power with women. -
Terms of Service for Members of the House of Representatives in the 117Th Congress
Terms of Service for Members of the House of Representatives in the 117th Congress October 1, 2021 The table below includes Members of the House of Representatives sorted by number of terms of service (in descending order by beginning of service) and then alphabetically by last name. Bold text denotes individuals elected in special elections. Italic text indicates non-consecutive service. Terms of Service for Representatives Last name First name Terms of State Party Congresses (inclusive) Beginning of service present service Young Don 25 AK Republican 93rd to 117th March 6, 1973 Rogers Harold 21 KY Republican 97th to 117th January 3, 1981 Smith Christopher H. 21 NJ Republican 97th to 117th January 3, 1981 Hoyer Steny H. 21 MD Democrat 97th to 117th May 19, 1981 Kaptur Marcy 20 OH Democrat 98th to 117th January 3, 1983 DeFazio Peter A. 18 OR Democrat 100th to 117th January 3, 1987 Upton Fred 18 MI Republican 100th to 117th January 3, 1987 Pelosi Nancy 18 CA Democrat 100th to 117th June 2, 1987 Pallone Frank, Jr. 18 NJ Democrat 100th to 117th November 8, 1988 Neal Richard E. 17 MA Democrat 101st to 117th January 3, 1989 100th to 103rd; 105th Price David E. 17 NC Democrat to 117th January 3, 1997 DeLauro Rosa L. 16 CT Democrat 102nd to 117th January 3, 1991 Waters Maxine 16 CA Democrat 102nd to 117th January 3, 1991 Nadler Jerrold 16 NY Democrat 102nd to 117th November 3, 1992 98th to 103rd; 108th Cooper Jim 16 TN Democrat to 117th January 3, 2003 Bishop Sanford D., Jr. -
Poland at a Crossroads? Analysing the 2019 Parliamentary Election
UCL SSEES Press Briefing Poland at a crossroads? Analysing the 2019 parliamentary election Press briefing 15 October 2019 BACKGROUND TRIUMPH OF THE RULING PARTY On 13 October 2019, Polish voters went to Professor Aleks Szczerbiak (University of the polls to re-elect the 460-member Sejm Sussex) (the lower house of pArliAment) And the 100- member SenAte (the upper house). KEY POINT PiS Achieved this remarkable electoral success As they were the sole pArty The ruling nAtionAlist-conservative LAw And not only campAigning about, but Also with a Justice (PiS)-led coAlition retAined its majority record of delivering on, the sociAl needs thAt in the lower house, winning 235 seAts, but, many Poles care most About. with 48 seAts, lost its majority in the SenAte. It wAs the PiS-led coAlition’s second electoral 1. PiS wAs Able to score A victory despite victory After gAining An Absolute majority in Accusations About undermining Polish both houses in 2015. democracy put forwArd by both domestic And externAl Actors. The main opposition bloc, the Civic CoAlition, came second with 134 And 43 seAts in the 2. PiS populArity wAs predicated on its lower And upper houses, respectively. The success in fulfilling its generous Left coAlition Also gAve A strong enough welfAre pledges while in office. Also, performance to enter pArliAment. the pArty “redistributed prestige” by providing A sense of importAnce to the Voter turnout wAs A record 61.7% – the sociAl groups previously highest of the post-1989 pArliAmentAry condescended to by the governments elections in PolAnd. led by liberal urbAn elites. -
Poland Parliamentary Elections, September 2005 Inga Kwiatkowska | Program for Representative Government August 1, 2006
International Snapshot: Poland Parliamentary Elections, September 2005 Inga Kwiatkowska | Program for Representative Government August 1, 2006 ABSTRACT Poland held elections to its parliament in September 2005. Its lower house, the Sejm, is elected proportionally from closed lists. The Senate is elected in two- or three-member winner-take-all districts. While this feature of Senate elections should discourage small parties from running candidates, more and more parties contest elections with each passing cycle. Despite a relatively high threshold of 5% to enter the Sejm, small, ideologically similar parties proliferate, and coalition-building remains a challenge. This paper looks the intersections of Poland’s electoral system and party behavior, coalition-bulding, and turnout. It also considers the potential implications of a change to the formula used to allocate Sejm seats. Inga Kwiatkowska interned with FairVote’s Program for Representative Government during the summer of 2006. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Poland held parliamentary elections in September 2005. In that vote, the center-right Law and Justice party took power away from the governing Democratic Left Alliance, winning 155 out of 460 seats. Law and Justice formed a coalition with the populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and far right League of Polish Families parties. The election results were a reflection of disappointment with former post-communist government and longing for more social welfare. POLISH ELECTIONS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Poland held its first semi-democratic elections in 1989, when the ruling communist party allowed 35% of seats in the Parliament to be elected in free voting, while the remaining 65% of the seats were reserved for the communist party. -
Austria | Freedom House
Austria | Freedom House https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/austria A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 12 / 12 A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4 Executive elections in Austria are generally free and fair. The president is elected for a six-year term and has predominantly ceremonial duties. The president does, however, appoint the chancellor, who also needs the support of the legislature to govern. Austria’s current president is the former head of the Green Party, Alexander Van der Bellen, who was elected after a close and controversial poll that featured a repeat of the run-off between Van der Bellen and FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer. The run-off was repeated after the Constitutional Court established that there had been problems with the handling of postal ballots. Following the 2017 elections to the National Council (Nationalrat), the lower house of parliament, ÖVP head Sebastian Kurz became chancellor with support of the right- wing, populist FPÖ. A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4 Legislative elections in Austria are generally considered credible. The National Council has 183 members chosen through proportional representation at the district, state, and federal levels. Members serve five-year terms. The 62 members of the upper house, the Federal Council (Bundesrat), are chosen by state legislatures for five- or six-year terms. Snap elections to the National Council took place in 2017, one year early, following the collapse of the coalition between the SPÖ and the ÖVP. Animosities between the two former coalition partners were reflected in an antagonistic, heavily-fought election campaign. -
Women in Parliament in 2020 Parliament Reached an All-Time High of 25.5 Per Cent
HIGHLIGHTS Globally • 2020 was marked by continued gradual progress for women in parliament (+0.6 points) despite the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. The global average for the proportion of women in Women in parliament in 2020 parliament reached an all-time high of 25.5 per cent. Women The year in review won 22.6 per cent of all seats up for renewal in 2020 in 701 chambers across 57 countries. Women took 22.9 per cent of the unicameral or lower chamber seats up for renewal, and 21.6 per cent of the upper chamber seats. • COVID-19 created extensive challenges for elections and campaigning (especially online violence and harassment against women in politics) but raised public awareness and debate about many gendered aspects of governance and political leadership, such as the ability to combine private and public life, as well as the need for gender-awareness in recovery planning. • Of the 57 countries that held elections in 2020, 25 implemented legislated quotas (either reserved seats or candidate quotas). On average, parliaments with legislated quotas elected 11.8 per cent more women to single and lower chambers than parliaments with no legal quotas (27.4 per cent v. 15.6 per cent), and 7.4 per cent more women to upper 2020 elections in New Zealand saw an unprecedented increase in the numbers of women and traditionally chambers (25.6 percent v. under-represented groups both in parliament and in government, reflecting people’s demand for due 18.2 per cent). representation of all sectors of society in a time of pandemic. -
10 / 12 B. Political Pluralism and Participation: 11 / 16
Namibia https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/namibia A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 10 / 12 A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4 The president is both chief of state and head of government, and is directly elected for up to two five-year terms. In the 2014 election, Hage Geingob defeated numerous rivals for the presidency, winning 87 percent of the vote. The polls were deemed competitive and credible by election observers, though some logistical glitches with electronic voting machines were reported. A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4 The National Council, the upper chamber of the bicameral Parliament, is comprised of 42 seats, with members appointed by regional councils for six-year terms. The lower house, the National Assembly, has 96 seats filled by popular election for five- year terms using party-list proportional representation. The 2014 polls were seen as competitive and credible by election observers, though some logistical glitches with electronic voting machines were reported. SWAPO won 80 percent of the vote, giving it 77 National Assembly seats. The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia (DTA) followed, winning 4.8 percent of the vote for 5 seats, and eight additional parties won the remaining seats. While voter intimidation was not reported, opposition parties had some difficulty achieving visibility due to the dominance of SWAPO, which some observers said was reinforced by provisions of the Third Constitutional Amendment. A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 3 / 4 The 2014 polls were the first held under the Third Constitutional Amendment, which increased the number of members in Namibia’s bicameral legislature by 40 percent. -
United States Government Primer
1 United States Government Primer United States Government Primer Consortium for Ocean Leadership – 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 The Three Branches of Government 3 Legislative Branch 4 U S Senate 5 U S House of Representatives 5 How a Bill Becomes Law 5 Committees with Jurisdiction over Ocean Research and Policy 8 Creating and Funding Federal Agencies 9 Executive Branch 10 Federal Agencies Involved in Ocean Research and Policy 11 Judicial Branch 12 Major Ocean and Coastal Policy Legislation 13 Videos (by Crash Course on Government and Politics) 15 United States Government Primer Consortium for Ocean Leadership – 3 INTRODUCTION This primer outlines the key points of the U S political system, including the three branches of the federal government prescribed by the Constitution The legislative branch includes the Senate and the House of Representatives and is charged with drafting and approving laws (see Schoolhouse Rock video) The executive branch, including the president and his/her Cabinet, implements and enforces laws Finally, the judicial branch contains the court system that interprets and applies laws The basics of the political process are explained in the following summaries THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT The federal government consists of three parts: legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch Together, they function to provide a system of lawmaking and enforcement based on a system of checks and balances The separation of powers through three different branches of government is intended to ensure that no individual, or body of government, can become too powerful This helps protect individual freedoms in addition to preventing the government from abusing its power This separation of power is described in the first three articles of the Constitution 3Branches of Government The U.S. -
Unicameralism and the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850 Val Nolan, Jr.*
DOCUMENT UNICAMERALISM AND THE INDIANA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1850 VAL NOLAN, JR.* Bicameralism as a principle of legislative structure was given "casual, un- questioning acceptance" in the state constitutions adopted in the nineteenth century, states Willard Hurst in his recent study of main trends in the insti- tutional development of American law.1 Occasioning only mild and sporadic interest in the states in the post-Revolutionary period,2 problems of legislative * A.B. 1941, Indiana University; J.D. 1949; Assistant Professor of Law, Indiana Uni- versity School of Law. 1. HURST, THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN LAW, THE LAW MAKERS 88 (1950). "O 1ur two-chambered legislatures . were adopted mainly by default." Id. at 140. During this same period and by 1840 many city councils, unicameral in colonial days, became bicameral, the result of easy analogy to state governmental forms. The trend was reversed, and since 1900 most cities have come to use one chamber. MACDONALD, AmER- ICAN CITY GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 49, 58, 169 (4th ed. 1946); MUNRO, MUNICIPAL GOVERN-MENT AND ADMINISTRATION C. XVIII (1930). 2. "[T]he [American] political theory of a second chamber was first formulated in the constitutional convention held in Philadelphia in 1787 and more systematically developed later in the Federalist." Carroll, The Background of Unicameralisnl and Bicameralism, in UNICAMERAL LEGISLATURES, THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL DEBATE HAND- BOOK, 1937-38, 42 (Aly ed. 1938). The legislature of the confederation was unicameral. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, V. Early American proponents of a bicameral legislature founded their arguments on theoretical grounds. Some, like John Adams, advocated a second state legislative house to represent property and wealth. -
Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress: Perspectives and Contemporary Analysis
Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress: Perspectives and Contemporary Analysis Updated October 6, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R40504 Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress Summary The 12th Amendment to the Constitution requires that presidential and vice presidential candidates gain “a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed” in order to win election. With a total of 538 electors representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 270 electoral votes is the “magic number,” the arithmetic majority necessary to win the presidency. What would happen if no candidate won a majority of electoral votes? In these circumstances, the 12th Amendment also provides that the House of Representatives would elect the President, and the Senate would elect the Vice President, in a procedure known as “contingent election.” Contingent election has been implemented twice in the nation’s history under the 12th Amendment: first, to elect the President in 1825, and second, the Vice President in 1837. In a contingent election, the House would choose among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. Each state, regardless of population, casts a single vote for President in a contingent election. Representatives of states with two or more Representatives would therefore need to conduct an internal poll within their state delegation to decide which candidate would receive the state’s single vote. A majority of state votes, 26 or more, is required to elect, and the House must vote “immediately” and “by ballot.” Additional precedents exist from 1825, but they would not be binding on the House in a contemporary election.