Assembly of the Realm

History
Origins
The marriage of Heloise I of Isselmere to Maximilian of Nieland in 1523 established a personal union between the two kingdoms. They reigned as co-equal monarchs, ruling through not only their respective royal courts but also a new Council of the Realm (or Commonwealth; Curia in consilium de res publica) consisting of the seniormost officers of state and advisors who conducted the majority of the its business in Latin. Instituting a comparable deliberative body for the new realm was considered unnecessary; both the Isselmeric Assembly of the Realm (Ríkesmōt) and Nielandic Great Assembly (Stórþing) could present petitions and offer advice to the Council through their respective representatives, who also could request the calling of a Convention of the Estates of the Realm (Iss. Ríkesdáy, Nie. Ríkissamning).

Inevitably, demands on the royal purse and issues between and within the two kingdoms led to Convention sessions becoming a more regular occurrence. The linguistic divide between the two kingdoms was also diminishing as Convention representatives, parliamentary deputies, and members of the merchant and professional classes became polyglot by necessity. In 1557, Heloise II of Isselmere and Henry of Nieland formally established a formal royal union as the Crown of the Kingdoms of Isselmere and Nieland,°° with Daurmont, Isselmere, as the capital. Conventions met wherever they could in the city and area, from abbeys like Saint Edgar of Tortshill and markets like Bramblefield to palaces like Pechtas Castle, and initially the lords, senior clergy, and burgesses and gentry did not always meet in the same areas. The Reformation accelerated the process of collocation of the lords and burgesses and gentry while the clergy separated itself from secular deliberations, although the monarch remained the head of the churches of Isselmere and Nieland.

In 1653 Edmund II established a legislative union between the kingdoms. The first session of the Assembly of the Realm was held that year in the Hall of Congregation (Iss. Gemēndesāl, Nie. Safnaðarsal) at the newly refurbished Pechtas Castle, opened by the king and queen with great fanfare. The Council of Lords (Iss. Herrenrād, Nie. Herrararáð) installed themselves in the Hall of Counsel (Iss. Rādsāl, Nie. Ráðsal) and the Assembly of Burgesses (Iss. Burgessesmōt, Nie. Borgaramót) in the Hall of Audience (Iss. Ānhōrdersāl, Nie. Áhorfendasal). Edmund himself would seek to avoid having to attend further sessions of the Assembly of the Realm for much of the remainder of his reign, with very little success.

Democratization
From Council of Lords to Senate
The effort to replace the Council of Lords with a more democratic assembly began in 1830 with pressure from the growing middle classes and the steady processes of urbanization and industrialization. In 1839, protests for the extension of suffrage in Daurmont, Felsingborg, and other cities led to harsh crackdowns and a stronger backlash against both the monarchy and parliament, culminating not only in the rise of the Universal [Manhood] Suffrage Movement but also of republican sentiment in the guise of the Radical Party,°°° formed primarily of town and city leaders, industrialists, merchants, financiers, and wealthy members of the gentry. Seeking to stem the tides of unrest and republicanism, the new king gave assent to the Reform Act, 1853, which permitted all male landowners of at least 25 years of age - and, in rare instances, some female property owners of at least 30 years of age - the right to vote for members in the Assembly of Burgesses.

While this expansion of the electorate satisfied some of those who secured suffrage, many more remained discontent. Subsequent Reform Acts (1861, 1867, and 1874) reduced the property qualifications for male landowners, but it was not until 1882 that universal manhood suffrage to vote for candidates to the Assembly of Burgesses came into effect. That same statute, Reform Act, 1881, also brought about the dissolution of the Council of Lords as a deliberative body (and its displacement from Pechtas Castle) and the first Senate election in October 1882; voting in Senate elections was restricted to property owners able to vote in elections to the Assembly of Burgesses in accordance with the Reform Act, 1853.

From Assembly of Burgesses to National Assembly
Despite appearances, the Reform Act, 1881 did not wholly resolve questions of representation. Rural areas were privileged over urban areas and electoral districts were formed to benefit the traditional parties leading to further disruption in the cities. Women, whose work in traditional industries was disrupted by industrialization and whose position in textile factories were often the worst paid, soon took a leading role in labour protests and advanced the cause of women's suffrage. Workers' parties were able to count on the support of ever-growing numbers of urban and even rural labourers that granted them a greater influence on politics than their meagre electoral showing implied. The Reform Act, 1894 introduced representation by population and instituted a non-partisan Electoral Commission to establish fair voting districts and monitor elections.

Women were, however, still kept out of national voting halls until 1923. Threatened by a potential rout at the 1922 election, the governing Liberal Party°°°° sought to benefit from the pressure from the spread of the women's suffrage movement to the middle classes by opening the vote to all adults of 25 years of more. The Reform Act, 1920 failed in its primary aim as a coalition of Radicals and Social Democrats garnered strong support from newly enfranchised working and middle class women.

Among the first acts of the fractious new coalition government was the renaming of the lower house as announced in the 1923 Assembly's first Throne Speech. Further amendments to the electoral system had to wait until the Constitution Act, 1986, which dispensed with first-past-the-post voting in favour of single transferable votes.

Houses of Assembly
Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Assembly, elected from each region - Isselmere, Nieland, and Anguist (since 1986) - by mixed-member proportional representation, with the number of senators for each region being determined by population. Questions of purely regional matters are typically brought before the entire house in the initial and determination phases, but discussions typically involve just that region's members. National matters or those involving two regions are discussed by the whole house.

Some of the key senior officers of the Senate are as follows: the presiding officer is the President of the Senate, who is also the Keeper of the Senate Seal; the Vice-Presidents of the Senate, who preside over the house in the absence of the President; the Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Assembly of the Realm; the Law Clerk and Counsel of the Assembly of the Realm; and, the clerks to the standing committees of the Senate.

National Assembly
The National Assembly is the lower house, elected from each constituency by single transferable vote. Constituencies are determined by a non-partisan National Electoral Commission to be broadly equivalent in size (i.e., number of electors and general population) and "must neither explicitly nor implicitly provide advantage to one party over another."

The presiding officer of the house is the Speaker of the National Assembly. The election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers is the first order of business for each new National Assembly after a general election. Other officers of the lower house, such as the sergeant-at-arms and Clerk of the National Assembly, are appointed by custom or through processes defined by the Public Service.

°Ríke without a modifier tends to mean realm (i.e., the two kingdoms as one) in Isselmeric.
°°In 1562, this became the Kingdom of Isselmere and Nieland, although the kingdoms were still separate and distinct.
°°°The Radical Party supported both economic liberalism (free trade, free market, etc.), moderate republicanism, and social liberalism (expansion of suffrage, reducing the power of the upper house). Later on, it would become economically protectionist.
°°°°The Liberal Party supported economic liberalism - free trade, free market, etc. - rather than social liberalism.