The Veche

Functions of the Veche

The Veche is the lower house of the State Assembly, the Novegradian parliament. Bills are introduced into the Veche for consideration from the President, Prime Minister, the ministries, a high level court, or from within the Veche or Council of Nations. The bill may be debated and amended, and commissions and hearings set up. Upon passage of the bill by simple majority (226 votes), it is passed to the Council of Nations.

If the Council does not pass the bill, a reconciliatory commission may be set up to modify the bill, after which it is returned to the Veche. Otherwise, the Veche may override the decision of the Council of Nations by a three-quarters vote (338 votes). A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both the Veche (300 votes) and the Council.

The same rules apply for the passage of a constitutional amendment, except that each house needs to pass the bill with a two-thirds majority and the Veche cannot override the Council.

The Veche is also responsible for approving the president's nomination for prime minister.

Election of the Veche

The Veche consists of 450 seats, 225 of which are distributed by region and 225 of which are distributed on the basis of proportionality of parties.

The 225 regional seats are distributed among the oblosts based on their population, where oblosts with larger populations will be able to fill proportionately more seats than oblosts with smaller populations. The number of seats each oblost receives is determined by a modified version of the Sainte-Laguë method.

The remaining seats are divided proportionately among parties and are filled by party representatives. The total number of votes each party received across the country is tallied, and the seats are distributed by the D'Hondt method of apportionment.

A threshold of 5% exists in parliamentary elections, meaning a party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to receive any Veche seats at all. A party that fails to reach 5% nationally but which manages to get 20% of the vote in at least one oblost may qualify.

Summary of Current Veche