National Assembly of the Andorinhões

National Assembly Assembleia Nacional
8th Andorinhean legislature
Emblem of the National Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	June 5, 1914 (1914-06-05)
Preceded by	Parliament of Martlet General Assembly of the People
New session started	September 21, 2020 (2020-09-21)
Leadership
Speaker	Pamela Ovelhas, NA since September 2, 2019 (2019-09-02)
Deputy Speaker	Catarina Serras, NA Fabricio Filgueira, CC Tadeu Pedreira, TC
Structure
Seats	76
Political groups	NA (39)   CC (13)   AD (10)   TC (5)   RNI (3)   NOS (3)   PTN (2)   GRR (1)
Committees	Permanent Committee Committee of the Legislation Committee of the Parliamentary Affairs
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method Closed list
Last general election	September 2, 2019 (2019-09-02)
Next general election	September 4, 2023 (2023-09-04)
Meeting place
Assembly Meeting Chamber Palace of the National Assembly São João das Ilhas, Andorinhões
Constitution
Constitution of the Andorinhões

The unicameral National Assembly (Marabillese: Assembleia Nacional) is the legislative body of the Constitutional State of the Andorinhões. It is the direct successor of the General Assembly of the People and the Parliament of Martlet.

History

The first legislative body to have existed in the Andorinhões are the Estates General called approximately every 6 years by the Order of the Holy Cross. The meetings were mostly used to elect the people on the Sovereign Council and the Chancellor of the Sovereign Land. Thus, there is debate on its official status as a legislative body.

The first official legislative body came at the end of the Lúpulo Revolution with the proclamation of the Martletan Republic. The Parliament of Martlet was a bicameral legislature with the Legislative Assembly being elected and the nominated Legislative Council. The Parliament was established in Colheitas.

The Silent Revolution brought the introduction of socialism principles in the Andorinhões and the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of the Martlets Islands. The biggest change was the abolition of the upper house and the decision to move the legislative body from Colheitas to São João. For these reasons a new building was commissioned and was inaugurated in 1972. It operated for a year before it was renamed the General Assembly of the People.

The coup d'État by Octávio Forte proclaimed the People's Republic of the Andorinhas and elections were abolished. The General Assembly of the People remained but as a nominated institution.

With the reintroduction of democracy in 1991, a new Constitution was drafted which settled on the name National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) and introduced the actual legislative body.

Structure

The National Assembly consists of 76 members. Members are elected by popular vote for legislative terms of four years from the country's twelve constituencies. Except for the constituency for Andorinhean living abroad, which is fixed a two members, the number of voters registered in a constituency determines the number of its members in the assembly, using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation.

Constituencies

The Andorinhões has twelve constituencies for the National Assembly, 11 are in the Andorinhões and the other is abroad.

Constituency	No. of members
Santa Maria–São Vicente	7
Espírito	2
Ordem	5
Glória de Ele	5
Santo Ambrosio–Santa Rosa–Santa Ana	15
Esperança–Trindade–Santa Fé	6
São João–São Miguel	9
São Afonso	9
São Fernando	8
Céu–Sagrada Família–São Domingos	4
Flores de Lírio	4
Mundo	2
Total	76

Deputies

According to the Constitution, Deputies represent the entire country, not the constituency from which they are elected. This directive has been reinforced in practice by the strong role of political parties in regard to Deputies. This shaped the electoral law to state that the seats belong to the political parties and not individual members. As such, Deputies are expected to vote with their party and to work within parliamentary groups based on party membership. Party discipline is thus strongly enforced and insubordinate Deputies are more than likely to lose their seats.

Speaker of the National Assembly

The Speaker of the National Assembly is the second highest elected post, after the Governor, and is elected by secret vote of the Deputies. The Speaker of the National Assembly is aided by three Deputy Speakers, nominated by the other parties represented in the National Assembly. When the Speaker is not present, one of the Deputy Speakers takes the role of speaker.

Current composition

Seating chart and composition of the National Assembly

Political affiliation		Parliamentary Leader	Seats	%
	We Andorinheans	Alícia da Praia	39	51.32
	Conservative Coalition	Leo Sautor	13	17.11
	Democratic Alternative	Tomé Avilar	10	13.16
	Constitutionalist Tradition	Isabel Pecuarista	5	6.58
	National Assembly of Independents	Albano Peres	3	3.95
	New Socialist Option	Meritxell Capela	3	3.95
	National Labour Party	Fausto Dourado	2	2.63
	Republican Reformists Group	Adriano Prateiro	1	1.32

Only political parties which have five or more deputies in the National Assembly can be considered Parliamentary Groups under the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. As of 2021, there are only 4 recognized Parliamentary Groups in the National Assembly.

Latest election

Main article: 2019 Andorinhean legislative election

National summary

Summary of the 2 September 2019 legislative elections results

Political parties		Votes	%
	We Andorinheans	173,537	32.74
	Conservative Coalition	67,125	12.67
	Democratic Alternative	64,910	12.25
	Constitutionalist Tradition	49,405	9.33
	National Assembly of Independents	39,367	7.43
	New Socialist Option	33,856	6.39
	National Labour Party	32,788	6.09
	Republican Reformists Group	26,956	5.09
	Federation of Creditists	14,745	2.78
	League of Progressive Forces	10,174	1.92
	Patriotic Alliance	7,546	1.42
	People's Front of Communal Revolution	6,702	1.26
	Unity of the Cross	3,383	0.64
Total valid		529,495	97.45
Blank ballots		6,034	1.11
Invalid ballots		7,824	1.44
Total		543,353	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		872,042	62.37

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Votes	S	Total S
	NA		CC		AD		TC		RNI		NOS		PTN		GRR		FC		LFP		AP		FPRC		UdC
Céu–Sagrada Família–São Domingos	9,080	2	8,102	1	3,680	-	5,402	1	2,603	-	447	-	780	-	4,461	-	1,369	-	164	-	755	-	77	-	275	-	4
Esperança–Trindade–Santa Fé	16,663	3	5,705	1	6,323	1	4,337	-	5,571	1	4,240	-	2,700	-	1,855	-	1,552	-	934	-	371	-	586	-	159	-	6
Espírito	2,692	1	2,792	1	1,974	-	2,109	-	1,036	-	550	-	1,561	-	249	-	217	-	158	-	154	-	144	-	51	-	2
Flores de Lírio	7,427	1	8,359	2	2,816	-	5,446	1	2,163	-	1,183	-	1,408	-	3,385	-	1,163	-	286	-	511	-	184	-	273	-	4
Glória de Ele	13,089	3	4,384	1	4,942	1	3,336	-	2,995	-	1,933	-	1,420	-	920	-	765	-	373	-	150	-	126	-	115	-	5
Ordem	15,266	3	5,397	1	4,641	1	3,287	-	4,228	-	2,587	-	2,130	-	1,498	-	976	-	519	-	354	-	414	-	109	-	5
Santa Maria–São Vicente	12,537	3	5,182	1	6,138	1	3,886	1	4,347	1	3,719	-	2,750	-	1,702	-	1,415	-	963	-	332	-	540	-	150	-	7
Santo Ambrosio–Santa Rosa–Santa Ana	32,482	7	8,721	1	11,922	2	11,085	2	5,048	-	6,724	1	6,929	1	7,216	1	3,245	-	2,983	-	2,556	-	1,762	-	1,101	-	15
São Afonso	20,799	6	6,089	1	6,358	1	2,762	-	3,492	-	4,029	1	3,017	-	1,301	-	961	-	1,063	-	744	-	731	-	351	-	8
São Fernando	16,967	5	3,155	1	4,834	1	2,091	-	2,396	-	2,882	1	2,818	-	896	-	1,039	-	896	-	527	-	571	-	249	-	9
São João–São Miguel	25,014	5	6,760	1	8,473	1	3,814	-	4,487	1	3,729	-	5,164	1	3,067	-	1,849	-	1,680	-	950	-	1,456	-	493	-	9
Mundo	1,520	-	2,479	1	2,809	1	1,853	-	1,001	-	1,833	-	1,610	-	406	-	194	-	155	-	143	-	112	-	58	-	2
Total	173,537	39	67,125	13	64,910	10	49,405	5	39,367	3	33,856	3	32,288	2	26,956	1	14,745	-	10,174	-	7,546	-	6,702	-	3,383	-	76

See also

• Politics of the Andorinhões