National Assembly

The National Assembly (Santonian: Assemblée nationale) is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Saintonge. Members of the National Assembly are called deputies (députés). The National Assembly sits at the Champagne Palace (Palais de Champagne) in central Saintes.

Powers

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Even though the National Assembly is ceremonially lower, it is more powerful than the ceremonially higher House of Lords of Saintonge. The powers of the National Assembly include: formation of the government, legislation, and selecting appointees to high government positions.

Government Formation
The National Assembly has the power to confirm or reject proposed governments. During government formation, the monarch, after meeting with parliamentary leaders, appoints an MP to try to form a government (typically the leader of the largest party in Parliament). This proposed government is then presented to the National Assembly for approval. If approved, the government is confirmed. If rejected, the process starts all over again. The upper house has no role in government formation.

The National Assembly may dismiss a government by passing a vote of no confidence, only if the Assembly is able to elect a prospective government that will follow it (motion de censure constructive). Otherwise, if the Assembly is unable to elect a new prospective government after passing a vote of no confidence, the National Assembly must be dissolved as well. The government is also dismissed when the National Assembly defeats a government on a budget bill (since governments that are unable to fund themselves must resign). In such cases, another government formation attempt must be made. If the attempt fails, the National Assembly will also be dissolved.

Legislation
All legislation (except popular initiatives) must emanate from the National Assembly. Budget bills are the sole responsibility of the National Assembly.

Appointments
Appointments to certain high government positions (example, the highest courts of Saintonge) are recommended by the appropriate National Assembly committees. The nominees and shortlist will be sent to the House of Lords for debate and eventual appointment.

Composition

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Deputies to the National Assembly are elected via direct universal suffrage with a two-round system by electoral districts (circonscriptions électorales), for a five-year mandate, subject to dissolution. The departments of Saintonge are divided into one to several electoral districts; the city of Saintes has the most, 30; while the Huisne, the Haut-Rhâne, and the Vauperté have only one. One member is elected by Santonians abroad.

The size of the National Assembly is not fixed; it varies every 10 years, after the decennial census is conducted and the Royal Elections Institute (IRE, Institut royal des élections) reapportions each department into electoral districts. All departments are guaranteed at least one deputy, and so the IRE uses the population of the least-populated department (currently the Haut-Rhâne) to ascertain the number of deputies a department is entitled to. The populations of each district within a department must not vary by more than 10%; however, given how the apportionment of seats to departments is done, the populations of districts between departments may vary significantly.

Elections

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Deputies are elected in two rounds. In the first round, all candidates will be on the ballot. Given the requirements of being a candidate to the National Assembly, usually, only three to four candidates are on the ballot. (Santonian electoral law has mechanisms to discourage regional parties, single-issue parties, and small parties.) To be elected in the first round of voting, a candidate must obtain at least 50% of the votes cast, with a turn-out of at least 25% of the registered voters on the electoral rolls. If no candidate is elected in the first round, the two highest-placing candidates in the first-round vote will be on the ballot in the second round of voting. In the second round, the candidate who receives the most votes is elected.

Current Officers

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The National Assembly selects from amongst themselves a President (Président), which presides over the National Assembly and directs its activities (analogous to Speaker in some other countries). The President is a powerful post in the Santonian National Assembly; so much so that the President is usually selected from the government party or coalition in power. While the President may be partisan and can vote, the Santonian National Assembly has entrenched rules in place that cannot be changed easily to suit the party/coalition in power.

Position	Holder	Party	Constituency
President	Sophie-Anne Laliberté	National Party	Basses-Brômes-1
Leader for the Government	Paul-Geoffroy Barèges	National Party	Seudre-3
Leader for the Loyal Opposition	Paul-Lenthéric Baumann	Liberal Party	Lauter-2
Vice-President	Matthieu-Gauvain Lamblin	National Party	Haute-Loine-1
Vice-President	Michel-Fernand Roux de Bézieux	Liberal Party	Sarine-8
Vice-President	Jean-Étienne Genêt	Radical Party	Saintes-23
Vice-President	Iseult Jaffrelot	Green Party	Haut-Rhâne