At noon today, the new legislative session convened for the first time. Per the RSI Constitution, a new session of Congress must begin on January 4 in odd-numbered years. In the event that this falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the outgoing session must pass a piece of legislation, which must be signed by the president, allowing Congress to convene on a later date, typically the following Monday.
The swearing-in of the new members of the House of Representatives saw something that has not been seen in roughly 100 years: a coalition. In the November elections, no party won a majority in the chamber, which requires at least 93 seats (50%+1). Following final tallies, the Green Party of Shelley Island (GPSI) secured 91 seats, the Traditionalist Party of the Republic (TPR) secured 85 seats, Unaffiliated candidates secured five seats, while Freedom for New Carolina (FNC), Shelley Islanders for Unification (SIU), and the Monarchist Party of Shelley Island (MPSI) each secured one seat. To secure control of the chamber, TPR formed a majority coalition with the representatives from FNC, SIU, and MPSI, as well as the unaffiliated representatives. Securing the votes of the coalition, Jean-Pierre Williams, the House leader of TPR and a representative from Nouvelle-France’s 1st congressional district, was elected as the Speaker of the House, a first for the state.
November’s election produced a result never seen in the history of the Senate of the Republic: the election of unaffiliated senators. Following final tallies, GPSI secured 39 seats, TPR secured 39 seats, and unaffiliated candidates won the two remaining seats. Stemming from this result, the first coalition in senate history was formed when the two incoming unaffiliated senators agreed to form a coalition majority with TPR, on the condition that they both be given priority in committee assignments. With the votes of the coalition, Leonardo Maretti, the Senate leader of TPR and senator of Nuova Italia Seat 1, was named senate majority leader. Senate tradition holds that the senior senator of the majority party typically becomes president pro tempore. Accordingly, TPR’s Constantine Papadopoulos, who is beginning his third and final term as the senator of Little Greece Seat 2, was elected as the first president pro tempore from the state.
This congressional session marks the first time in the history of the Republic of Shelley Island that majority coalitions were formed in both houses of Congress. When the president learned of this development, he was upbeat and said he was ready to work with congressional leaders on both sides to continue making progress for the people of Shelley Island.
In one of the first acts of the new session, Representative Sofia Rossi (Green, Firenze-10) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 1. This legislation will call for a joint session of Congress to meet in the Hall of the House (the formal name of the House chamber) to hear an address from the president on February 28. This will mark President DMO’s seventh State of the Republic address and the first of his second term as president. The leaders in both chambers expect the legislation to be adopted by the end of the week.
