Grand Besaid Council of Delegates

	Council of Delegates
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
President of the Council (Vice President of Grand Besaid)	Matthew Koirbe, Independent; since December 2, 2009
Vice President of the Council	Nommaai Nueamaninia, Independent; since December 2, 2009
Coalition Leader	Emery Durison, BCP; since December 2, 2009
Opposition Leader	Michael Maliwui, BRP; since December 2, 2009
Dean of the Council	Grant Haliford, BCSP; since December 2, 2009
Structure
Members	2676
Political groups	Besaidian Christian Party (861) Besaidian Republican Party (446) Besaidian Democratic Party (176) Besaidian Liberal Christian Party (174) Besaidian Constitution Party (128) Besaidian Green Party (108) Besaidian Socialist Party (99) Besaidian Taxpayers' Party (87) Besaidian Liberty Party (84) Besaidian Labor Party (82) Besaidian Patriots' Party (63) Minor Parties and Independents (368)
Election
Last election	October 17, 2009
Meeting place
	National Capitol, Besaid, Oyen, Grand Besaid
Website
	www.councilofdelegates.gbe.gov

The Grand Besaid Council of Delegates, also known as the Council of Delegates of Grand Besaid and just as the Council of Delegates, is the upper house of the National Assembly of Grand Besaid, though its power is nearly equal to that of the lower house, the House of Representatives. It is responsible for the creation and abolition of laws, and for approving most major federal appointments.

Membership[]

The Council of Delegates currently has 2676 seats. One half of the delegates in the Council of Delegates are elected by the entire nation through open list proportional representation. The other half are elected by the states through open list proportional representation, with every state and the capital region of Besaid electing 223 delegates.

"The Council of Delegates shall be comprised of members who are elected every four years. The electors of the entire nation shall, using open list proportional representation, directly elect one-half of the members of the Council of Delegates. The electors of each state shall directly elect the other one-half of the members of the Council of Delegates through open list proportional representation; each state shall receive an equal number of delegates in the Council of Delegates."

- Constitution of Grand Besaid

Legislative Procedure[]

Any Member of the Council of Delegates can propose a resolution or motion, after doing so it will either be refered to a committee or be voted on by the entire chamber, depending upon the will of the other members. If the motion passes by a majority vote, then it will be sent to the House of Representatives who must also pass it by a majority vote. Once passed by both houses, the President will then have the opprotunity to veto it or submit it to a popular referendum. The National Assembly can override vetoes of the President by a two-thirds vote in both houses; however, the National Assembly can not overturn the results of a popular referendum.

Parties[]

Ruling Parties[]

The Besaidian Christian Party currently holds the most seats in the Council of Delegates with 861, although the party does not hold a majority of the seats, only forming a minority government within the Council of Delegates. The "Democratic Christian Coalition", a government coalition formed by the Besaidian Christian Party and the Besaidian Liberal Christian Party, is considered to be the ruling faction, even though it does not hold a majority of the seats in the Council of Delegates.

However, both the Constitution Party and the Democratic Party have worked with the Democratic Christian Coalition extensively. The Democratic Party commonly works with the coalition on fiscal issues, and the Constitution Party commonly works with the coalition on social issues.

Official Opposition Party[]

The Besaidian Republican Party is currently the Official Opposition in the Council of Delegates with 446 seats. The Democratic Christian Coalition commonly submits initiatives to them for scrutiny and review, and the two have worked together on social issues.

Committees[]

The Council of Delegates has a number of standing committees to help it critique, review and analyze legislation. Every committee also has sub-committees which help it to better carry out its function. The following are the current standing committees of the Council of Delegates:

Agriculture
Appropriations
Armed Services
Budget
Commerce, Banking and Trade
Immigration and Citizenship
Domestic Security
Education and Labor
Energy
Entertainment and Culture
Foreign Affairs
Health and Human Services
Intelligence
Judiciary
Natural Resources and the Environment
Oversight and Government Reform
Rules and Ethics
Science and Technology
Small Business
Transportation and Infrastructure
Urbanization and Housing
Veterans' Affairs
Welfare and Taxation

Representation[]

As seen in the table to the right, the distribution of representatives to the states is independent of population, causing the state delegates to the Council of Delegates to greatly under-represent some states, while greatly over-representing other states. Currently, there is about a 1:43 ratio of the number of people a delegate from Zukumi represents as opposed to the number of people a delegate from Oyen represents. This has caused many people to denounce the state delegations of the Council of Delegates as "undemocratic" and "unrepresentative" in nature.

However, this was largely intentional, acting as a check on the delegates of more popular states, preventing them from oppressing the smaller states in even more undemocratic ways. Others dismiss the "undemocratic" accusations against the Council of Delegates by saying that the House of Representatives accurately represents population, and that the larger states have a much larger impact on national representatives in the Council of Delegates than the smaller states do. These arguments have caused most people to see the disproportionate representation in the Council of Delegates as "moderated" and "necessary to a degree".

A number of critics also claim that the Council of Delegates is "too proportional", making it difficult to form strong coalitions. This leads others to complain about the fact that the Council of Delegates cannot dissolve itself and call for new elections, stalling government operations at times because of the lack of a coalition. Others assert that this was intentional to not only moderate legislation, but also to make sure that it had a wide consensus before passing. Other critics insist that the constituencies of the Council of Delegates are too broad for the delegates to represent accurately and faithfully.

State	Population	State Seats	People per Representative
Oyen	10,486,765,944	223	47,025,856
Besaid	3,640,000,000	223	16,322,870
Adinoa	2,827,852,006	223	12,680,951
Olgmar	1,008,605,244	223	4,522,893
Tesuma	320,778,254	223	1,438,468
Zukumi	248,663,749	223	1,115,084
Total	18,532,675,197	1338	13,851,028