Farun Senate

Farun Senate
8th Farun Senate
Seal of the Farun Senate
Type
Type	Unicameral Legislature
Term limits	None
History
Founded	April 28, 2024 (2024-04-28)
Leadership
Premier	Vacant since October 13, 2024 (2024-10-13)
Opposition leader	Vacant since October 13, 2024 (2024-10-13)
Structure
Seats	9
Political groups	Lib-Cons (6)   Faru in the Stars (1)   Independent Labor (1)   Independent (1)
Length of term	8 Weeks
Elections
Voting system	Plurality Voting
Last election	October 11, 2024 (2024-10-11)
Next election	November 9, 2024 (2024-11-09)

The Farun Senate, also known as the Senate of the Republic of Faru is the sole Legislative Body of the Republic of Faru.

The Senate is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Senators. There are currently nine Senators who are elected via a simple plurality system in each of the country's districts in staggered terms of eight weeks.

The Senate and its Powers are established by Article II of the Farun Constitution, it is in charge of Legislating and appointing certain government officials such as the Premier and Ministers.

History

The Farun Senate was created on April 28, 2024 following the ratification of the Farun Constitution by the Faruan Constitutional Convention. The convention decided to give the Senate staggered terms, as prior to Infaru 4, Chat servers rarely ever lasted very long. At first, the terms were six weeks, with elections every two weeks, however that quickly showed to be too fast paced for the playerbase, and by the 2nd Senate the terms were lengthened to eight weeks and the elections slowed down to every month.

Early Days

The first Senates were dominated by a right wing coalition of Whigs and Liberal-Conservatives, who governed and legislated under the guidance of Premier Velik iz Dunska. During the first Senate, professionalism and seriousness were far from the norm in the Senate, shouting, fighting, and what would be considered unsenatorial behavior today were plaguing meetings, with some Senators qualifying their tenure as "boring" . This changed by the second Senate, where rules of conduct were ratified and powers given to the Speaker, which enabled the body to operate in a more dynamic yet orderly way.

A walkout, which was typical behavior in the early Senate.

The Senate kept being dominated by the right wing, even following the expansion of the Senate from five to seven seats, due to the left being disorganized and failing to win any elections or canvassing enough candidates to even win in any possible scenario. The Liberal-Conservatives did many reforms with this power, and effectively sacked or otherwise weakened institutions that were put forward by the left wing of the Constitutional Convention, such as the Public Assembly and the Presidency, which were meant as balances against the Senate. Despite this, they also instituted policy that revolutionized the country, such as creating a proper currency and reforming elections to be more fair and healthily paced.

First Dissolution

Following the election of the fourth Farun Senate and previous to the second round of a presidential election, then President John McHale dissolved the Farun Senate, as part of a gambit to grab more power for himself. Unfortunately the plan backfired, as people who would have otherwise voted for him voted for his opponent, Priest Viktor, as a result of the decision.

Post Dissolution Era

The dissolution was a major hit to the Liberal-Conservative Party, which lost many races to the short lived Libertarian Party as well as the emboldened New Farun Labor. For the few following terms, the Senate was dominated by the latter, which governed under the guise of many Premiers and coalition arrangements, first with the whigs and libertarians, and later with the Shield Party.

A chart showing the composition of the Farun Senate over time.

• Key
•   Farun Labor Front
•   New Farun Labor
•   Shield Party
•   Libertarian Party
•   Independent
•   Faru in the Stars
•   United Party, later Reform
•   Whig Party
•   Liberal-Conservative Party

With the power to legislate, neolaborites put forward and implemented many progressive reforms, such as parallel proportional elections, senator recall, public referenda as a means to amend the constitution, and recognition of municipal power. The latter being a long standing contentious issue that was largely ignored by the centralist Liberal-Conservatives.

Following the September Elections, New Labor briefly lost control of the Senate, however thanks to the deterioration of attendance to the Senate, and the collapse of the Shield Party, it kept passing major legislation and even appointing favorable cabinet members.

Modern Day

Due to still unknown reasons, New Farun Labor collapsed in late September, leaving no opposition to the Liberal-Conservative Party, which managed to reach a super-majority of two thirds following the October 2024 Senate Elections.

The Senate elected Maon Vukusti as Premier, and with the strongest mandate to rule in the history of the Nation, is seemingly planning on some wide sweeping reforms affecting every aspect of the Republic of Faru.

Membership

See also List of Farun Senators

Map of the Senators' party allegiances
  Liberal-Conservative
  Faru in the Stars
  Independent Labor
  Independent

As per the constitution of the Republic of Faru, seats are apportioned by the Supreme Court of Faru, which draws up geographical districts that are used to elect Senators. Districts are typically of equal population, and elect a single Senator via a majority vote. Alongside this, geographical districts that meet a certain population requirement may vote in party list elections, which often elect additional Senators.

Stagger

Senators are elected in staggered terms of 8 weeks, with the circuits being geographical. The Southern circuit includes the southernmost districts, that being 1, 2, 3 and 4. And is elected alongside the list seats. While the Northern Circuit includes the northernmost districts, that being 5, 6 and 7. The stagger was originally put in place due to server longevity concerns, however it has been the target of many criticisms and attempts at abolition over the time of its existence.

Historical Composition

FMA   FLF   NFL   UP   RP   SP   WP   LCP   FitS   Vacant
05-24	2 1 2
06-24	1 1 1 1 3
06-24	1 2 1 3
07-24	1 1 1 1 3
07-24	3 1 1 2
08-24	1 3 1 2 2
09-24	1 2 1 2 3
10-24	2 1 6
11-24	1 1 1 6