The Legislative Branch of Government

PINGUIORIS

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Congress

The Pinguiorisian Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, having a House of Representatives and a Senate making up the legislative branch. Each state of Pinguioris has 3 senators and representatives are based on Population size. All told, there are 27 senators, 56 representatives, and 83 legislative seats.

The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives currently consists of 56 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of representatives each state has in the House is based on each state's population as determined in the most recent Census. All 56 representatives serve a two-year term. Each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. In order to be elected as a representative, an individual must be at least 25 years of age, must have been a Pinguiorisian citizen for at least five years, and must live in the state that they represent. The limit of terms one may serve as a representative is five terms.

Each Representative has 1.225 million people in their district.
Number of districts in each state:
Alesund: 3 - 3.675
Amisia: 5 - 6.125
Cremelo: 6 - 7.35
Deceugre: 7 - 8.575
Dilijan: 4 - 4.9
Norssex: 12 - 14.7
Targan: 1 - 1.225
Watt: 14 - 17.15
Yelapa: 4 - 4.9

The Senate
The Senate is made up of three senators from each state, regardless of population. There are currently 27 senators, who each serve five-year terms. Approximately one-fifth of the Senate stands for election every year. In order to be elected as a Senator, an individual must be at least 30 years of age, must have been a Pinguiorisian citizen for at least 8 years, and must live in the state they represent. The limit of terms one may serve as a Senator is four terms.

Powers of Congress
The Constitution grants numerous powers to Congress. These include the powers to levy and collect taxes; to coin money and regulate its value; provide for punishment for counterfeiting; establish post offices and roads, issue patents, create federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, combat piracies and felonies, declare war, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy, make rules for the regulation of land and naval forces, provide for, arm, and discipline the militia, regulate interstate commerce, and to make laws necessary to properly execute powers. Both chambers must have a majority in favor of a bill in order to pass it. The bill then passes to the President, who may veto it. If vetoed, a bill may pass back through both chambers, passing through with a two-thirds majority in order to become a law. The Senate specifically gets the powers of approving federal judges, Pinguiorisian military officers, and ambassadors to foreign nations.

Type of Voting
Members of both the House and Senate are elected via the Instant-Runoff Vote. Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (also known as preferential voting or ranked-choice voting) involves multiple reiterative counts in which the candidate with fewest votes is eliminated each time. However, voters vote only once. This happens because, rather than voting for only a single candidate, the voter ranks all of the candidates in order of preference. These preferences are then used to transfer the votes of those whose first preference has been eliminated during the course of the count, until someone has a majority.

Current Congress
Color codes for parties:

1. Agricultural Party - AP
2. Central Pinguioris Party - CPP
3. Horse Power Party - HPP
4. National Pinguiorisian Group - NPG
5. Pinguioris First - PF
6. People For Pinguioris - PFP
7. Societal Rights Party - SRP
8. Other