Sondsteadish Senate map

When the 1877 constitution was drafted, one of the most contentious issues was what to do with the upper house. The majority of the delegates agreed that the Lords' Assembly, with membership based on titles of nobility, would be replaced with an appointed body, the Senate, with members appointed for lifetime terms by the state governments.

Apportionment of seats, however, was up in the air. Eventually, a tiered system based on population was set up. Currently, this manifests itself as each receiving four, six, or eight representatives in the Senate; every state receives at least four, states with a population of over a million receive six, and the two largest states, Cheruskerland and Windstrand, receive eight.

The most notable surviving policy of the Pederssünr government, in 1969, the body was reformed, with members being appointed to staggered eight year terms, with half of each state's representatives being appointed or reappointed following every scheduled general election. This took effect in two phases at the 1969 and 1973 general elections.

While most ministers come from the People's Assembly, it has become customary to appoint the senate leader of each coalition member as minister without portfolio. The only Prime Minister to serve from the Senate was Winsent Adriaans-Wiktorssunr, who was appointed as a Senator from Windstrand to enable him to act as Prime Minister during World War I (Asterjüs fan Rügen served his term in office starting June 1st, 1868 from the upper house, but he did so from the Lords' Assembly by virtue of being a titled noble).

The Senate is a less partisan institution than the Peoples' Assembly, with a fifth of it's members being independents, and also more conservative and pro-establishment. It's members are not generally career legislators, and often bring expertise on specific issues and in their fields, useful in the Senate's role as a revising chamber.

The Senate is both by law and by convention much more restricted in it's ability to make law than the People's Assembly; the vast majority of bills originate in the lower house and the People's Assembly is constitutionally granted the sole authority to originate bills dealing with taxation or the appropriation of public funds. The Senate's main roll, rather, is in studying and ammending legislation, and both houses are required to pass legislation before it can be sent to the King for it to be signed.

The main officer of the Senate is the President of the Senate, who is elected every four years when a new Senate meets and by convention comes from the party holding a majority in the Senate but is not the party leader. In the event the President dies, resigns suddenly, or is unable to preside over the Senate, the longest serving Senator from the majority party acts as President pro tempore. The Senate leader of the governing party holds the position of Leader of the Government in the Senate.

To qualify for appointment to the Senate, one must be at least 30 years of age, resident in the state whose government is appointing them (and in Windstrand, resident in the Division they are being appointed for), hold Sondsteadish citizenship, hold at least Kr 10,000 ($1,675) in property, and be "distinguished in their field". The property requirement was set in the 1877 constitution and at the time would have had far greater purchasing power, but has not been ammended to take into account inflation. The requirement Senators be "distinguished in their field" was added in 1923 to prevent the appointment of influential nobility without other qualifications. Senators are granted use of the style of address "the Right Honourable". The baseline annual salary of Kr 515,000 ($86,000) is the same as that of a member of the lower house.

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP;

Socialist Labour Party - 14 seats
Conservative Party - 12 seats
Centre-Liberal Party - 5 seats
Party for Makeland - 3 seats
Christian Democratic Alliance - 2 seats
Green Left Party - 2 seat

Independents - 10 seats

CURRENT SEAT APPORTIONMENT;

Cheruskerland - 8 seats
Windstrand - 8 seats

Chamrland - 6 seats
Makeland - 6 seats
Mideldal - 6 seats
Sitonland - 6 seats

Northeastern Lands - 4 seats
Renmark - 4 seats

Total - 48 seats

RESIDENTS PER SENATOR BY STATE;

Windstrand - 625,742
Cheruskerland - 499,142
Sitonland - 314,128
Chamrland - 250,857
Makeland - 214,276
Mideldal - 174,636
Northeastern Lands - 163,189
Renmark - 154,454