Imperial Tekkelien Parliament

The Imperial Tekkelien Parliament is the unicameral legislative assembly of the Holy Tekkelien Empire. It, according to the constitution, has the authority to make laws effective throughout the Empire with regards to budgeting, preserving public order, promoting public health and well-being, and trade between nations. It is a unicameral body elected through proportional representation.

Representatives are not elected personally, but rather as members of a party. The Imperial mainland is divided into 100 electoral provinces of "populations roughly equal in numbers and similar in culture." In the system, the people vote for the political party of their choice. The vote is divided among each province's 10 seats using a rounded percentage.

Major parties are often coalitions of previously smaller parties, with the two dominant ones being the Kadets and the Trudoviks. However, the system and number of seats allows for a decent number of small parties with specific issues or unusual opinions to have a say on the Imperial scale.

Role in Government
The Parliament is expected to primarily ensure that the citizens of the Empire are secure in their enumerated rights.

Regulation
Relatively few restrictive laws are passed each year, most having to do with regulating businesses to ensure a smooth supply, fair playing field and internationally competitive exports. Section 1 of the Constitution specifies that the people are generally responsible for making their own behavioral and social decisions through cultural institutions and values rather than enforcement.

The legislature is also constantly making fine-tuning points and amendments to the existing civil code, since the specific wording of the codex is of highest importance in the Civil Law tradition. There are many minor points about contract law that extend further than other nations, since Parliament has historically gone to great lengths to ensure "protection of word and promise." There are constant negotiations between businesses and Parliament about what public claims they are allowed to make about each type of product, and what terms they are allowed to impose upon customers in contracts.

Economy
The Parliament has the sole authority to levy taxes, distribute the spending of those taxes, and borrow money on behalf of the Empire. They directly decide on the monetary policy of the central bank, depending on the state of productivity and opinions of experts appointed in special councils. There is currently an empire-wide flat income tax of 12%, that was raised to 15% during the Human-Dominion War. Extrasolar colonies are permitted to set their own sales, property and taxes.

The active colonization of the Milky Way requires significant investments in extremely expensive space technology or supply chains that require resources found on many different worlds. Sometimes, it is in the interest of the whole nation for the government to invest in the development of various new and essential industries in order to get them started, keep them alive through difficult times, or extend their supply lines to distant planets. There is extensive debate over economic investment's fair implementation, since it naturally tends to favor existing big businesses.

Military
While the Premier General commands the use of the military, Parliament is responsible for raising, developing and funding it. All major projects and experiments must receive approval from the Parliament, including the development of military infrastructure. The salary of each rank, approved number of recruits, and the numbers of each weapon and vehicle purchased is negotiated through parliamentary debate. The naming of starships is the subject of much politicking, usually the result of influential people who have significant favors to call in.

The Empire places high importance on designing its cities and landscape to be as resistant to foreign invasion as possible, which means there is extensive construction of bunkers, reinforced fighting positions, artificial landforms like mountains and islands, and bases between and within major cities. Military, external and committee experts are frequently called upon to evaluate maps of the Empire's strategic production centers and proximity to their rivals to predict likely invasion routes.

Infrastructure and Public Welfare
The Parliament is finally responsible for ensuring that the Empire is connected and traversable enough to function as a single country, or bring governmental resources from one location to another. This is particularly important in a nation extending over many planets that are too far apart to access without advanced technology. As such, the parliament emphasizes accessibility of transit, providing massive central funding or loans for everything from streetcar tracks and trolleybus wires to commuter shuttles between local system planets.

Using the military budget, Parliament ordered the creation and maintenance of a network of strategic spaceports and orbital stations, usable for military logistics in wartime. The vast majority of space tethers, connecting major space facilities to the surface, are also government operated, and retain the ability to transport extremely heavy and impractical cargo in the event of war.

Seats
1000 of the parliament's 1010 seats are allocated by popular vote per electoral province. The Commission of the Electorate regularly evaluates the cultural and population distribution of the Imperial mainland, and redraws the line of each province to reflect roughly equal numbers of similar people. Each province has 10 seats, and the peoples votes are rounded to the nearest 10%. Each party is then given the proportional number of seats, which they are allowed to fill with whomever they want. Major political parties are based on general philosophies, while smaller ones are dedicated entirely to particular causes. The remaining 10 seats are automatic ones to give certain favored institutions a say in politics. The Stellar Orthodox Church is given 4, and the Army, Navy and Civil Police are given 2 each.

Houses
Since political party is considered more important than individual candidates on an electoral scale, candidates put a great deal of effort into becoming a noticed voice within their own party. This has resulted in deeply-entrenched political houses or families that have significant soft power and influence within the parties themselves. Usually, houses will each resolve to have their own distinct interpretation of their party's philosophy, meaning that its generally possible to predict the policy of a given candidate based on their last name.

Contrary to popular belief, the political families aren't very powerful outside of politics; the major industrial and social figures usually choose not to run for office, creating a separate, distinct political class. Belonging to a political house is not required, but it is exceedingly difficult to ever be noticed in a country of 200 billion people without connections. Inter-house competition is closely scrutinized by the media to see which family is gaining more or less influence within their own party, and it has significant sway in elections based on whose policies are more popular.

Procedure
The Imperial Parliament is recommended by the constitution to convene in its entirety at least once per year, although sessions of so many people aren't nearly as productive, and are usually only for preliminary debate over national agendas or in preparation for a major vote on a bill or resolution. For the general assembly, debate is moderated by the Chairman of the Parliament, a first among equals who is nominated by the ruling party and approved with a 2/3 vote. The role is largely ceremonial and procedural, ensuring that the Representatives stay on topic and respect each other's speaking time, however the position is also second in the line of succession in the event the Premier General and Viceroy are incapacitated.

Every general assembly begins with the singing of the national anthem, God Save the Empire. There are then motions to open debate, set topics, and begin discourse on them. There are often motions for brief unmoderated discussions and recesses, during which it is very common for Representatives to make last-minute negotiations and deals.