by Lukas Rahgen
19 October 2020, 17:45 h

Parliamentary unity and another electoral reform

Not even 24 hours have passed since the World Forum representative of GI-Land, Helene Meise, was able to message the ministry of foreign affairs, the chancellor, the King and Leader, and the parliament the breakthrough, which was made in the WF-Assembly in Grovne yesterday night.
With a bigger majority than expected, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has passed, and with that yet another Gianlucian initiative to work towards peace and stability on the globe we call our home.


Nuclear bombs like the one shown above will soon belong into the history books in GI-Land

Naturally when the members of the Königspalast sat together today in the morning, not all politicians were sharing this viewpoint. Especially the conservative KPHA advertised to keep the nuclear arsenal in the future, referring to threats to global security like Ryccia, Izaakia and the Bailtem Union.
"We are selling ourselves to the evils of this world. This treaty is treacherous and has the potential to make history as the treaty, which cremates and buries the Atlantic and Gianlucian peoples!", said a MP from Lindau.
Generally speaking this viewpoint was not popular to many others. Visibly in the end the ratification of the treaty and the decision to finally destruct all Gianlucian nuclear weapons and stop all aggressive nuclear programs was approved by the entirety of the parliament, except from the KPHA-fraction: 594 votes in favour, 56 votes against the proposed bill by the governing coalition, which "only" holds 399 seats in the parliament.

Another proposal, which was not met well by the fractions of the high house, was the coalition's suggestion to undergo another electoral reform before the "election year" 2021, where all three state parliaments as well as the new Königspalast will be voted upon. The premise is simple: We can and should keep the voting system (PMMP), but we need lesser constituencies. Currently one constituency serves around 42 thousand people, a way too small number in comparison to other countries.
"Also having many MPs automatically means, having to pay their salaries. At the moment each MP gets a salary of 10 thousand Tacks [~11,800 TSP-$] plus several bonuses like driving costs or costs for keeping an office with employees in the constituency - each month. Just taking the basic salary, we are already at yearly costs of 78 million Tacks [~92 million TSP-$] for this one parliament. With a reform, we could cut these costs by a quarter or even at half", reasons Moritz Strabinger (PPG).

Parts of the Social Democrats bemoan this capitalistic view as well as members from the KPHA: "We have one of the most down-to-earth parliaments of Pacifica, with a right amount of MPs, so any citizen can actually feel their representation", says a SDP-MP from a constituency near Osttor. More conservative-leaning members argue differently: "As one can repeat over and over again: Never change a running system. Also the 650-member-mark holds tradition and was used even before the incorporation of Atlantis already. So didn't we more or less have a decrease in the number of MPs with that back in 2011?".


As full as it can be - Parliaments like that can be seen worldwide, but GI-Land talks about a reduction of MPs in theirs

Momentarily there are four proposals for a reduction of the parliament's size in discussion: a reduction from 650 to either 500, 450, 400 or even just 350 MPs. One can certainly be excited, how the talks between each invdividual party will pan out and whether a compromise can be reached.