National Assembly (Mespalia)

The National Assembly of Mespalia (Mespalian: Mechpælæn nasônalicquicocouz, : Assemblée nationale du Mespalie) is a special legislative body in Mespalia. Unlike the Parliament of Mespalia which is almost always in session, the National Assembly is only convened when needed. According to the Mespalian Constitution, it has three duties: to elect the King after the death or abdication of the previous ruler, to amend the Constitution or to legislate on matters that the Parliament determine to be so important that they require national consensus.

Convening
The National Assembly can be convened in three ways: the King can convene it by issuing a decree, the Parliament can convene it with a vote and the Mespalian population can convene it by submitting a petition with signatures from at least 5% of the voting age population.

After any one of these methods to convene the Assembly takes place, an election for elected representatives of the Assembly is automatically scheduled for the next Sunday six months from the date the Assembly was called. Invitations are also sent to those members who are ex officio members of the Assembly. Parliament or the King can delay the convening for a maximum of three months, or for six months during wartime. After the election has been held, the new assembly must convene within two weeks.

Composition
Membership of the National Assembly is specified in the Mespalian Constitution. Originally, the Assembly only consisted of nobles, bishops and elected representatives, but the 15th National Assembly introduced delegates from various professions and civil society groups into the Assembly. Since then, the Assembly has consisted of around 1300 members.

Princes
Princes is one of the smallest groups in the Assembly. It cosists of children of the ruling King, as well as children of previous Kings.

Hereditary Nobility
Hereditary nobility forms the largest group in the Assembly. It consists of heads of Mespalian noble families with the title of baron or higher. Its membership is identical with the noble members of the Assembly of the Estates.

Knights of the Estate
Knights of the Estate are knights are non-hereditary nobles appointed by the King to sit in the Assembly of the Estates.

Royal appointments
Royal appointments are both nobles and non-nobles, who are appointed by the King to sit in the National Assembly. They range from members of other noble families to various experts, scientists and entrepreneurs.

Clergy
Clergy consists of 50 bishops of the Church of Mespalia.

Foreign Clerics
Since 1994, six foreign clerics representing religions other than Christianity have been represented in the Assembly.

Board of the Bank of Mespalia
Members of the Board of the Bank of Mespalia are ex officio members of the Assembly.

University Rectors
Rectors of the 18 "traditional ancient universities" founded before 1920 are ex officio represented in the Assembly.

Representatives
Representatives are members elected directly by Mespalians over the age of 21 from the same constituencies used in the elections to the General Assembly.

Unlike in parliamentary elections, parties can't nominate individuals to the Assembly. Instead, all candidates run as independents, though in practice they are usually affiliated with a party. To run, an individual needs to gather 100 signatures and submit them to the National Electoral Board. Because there are no parties, elections can't be run under proportional representation used in general elections. Instead, is used.

Representatives choose to sit in one of four groups in the Assembly:
 * Socialists, that consists of members of the Socialist Left Party and the Social Democratic Workers' Party
 * Liberals, that consists of members of the Liberal Party, Party of the Latin Minority and The Greens
 * Populists, that consists of members of the People's Party
 * Conservatives, that consists of members of the Conservative Party and the Patriotic League

Delegates
Since 1941, the Assembly has included 190 delegates from various professional and special interests groups, who elect various delegates to the Assembly. The delegates were first concieved as a way to represent groups whose input was considered important but whose voice could be lost within the ordinary electoral process. The introduction of delegates was heavily inspired by ideas of corporatism that were popular in Mespalia at the time.

The delegates are divided into multiple groups, depending on their area of expertise:
 * Labour Delegates (40) represent labour unions
 * Industrial and Commercial Delegates (30) represent employers unions and corporations
 * Agricultural and Fisheries Delegates (25) represent farmers' and fishers' associations
 * Cultural and Arts Delegates (20) represent various cultural and artistic associations
 * Financial Delegates (20) represent the interests of banks and other financial institutions
 * Charities Delegates (20) represent various non-profit private charities and non-governmental organisations
 * Educational Delegates (15) represent student unions, teachers and professors
 * Public Administration Delegates (15) represent civil servants working for state or municipal governments
 * Military Delegates (15) represent enlisted personnel, NCO's and officers of the Royal Mespalian Armed Forces
 * Health Delegates (15) represent doctors, nurses and other experts working in the health industry
 * Law Delegates (15) represent lawyers, judges and other legal experts

Procedure
There are two kinds of national assemblies. Royal assemblies are convened to elect a new King, and temporal assemblies are convened to vote on a legislative matter. The two types of assemblies cannot be combined: a national assembly elected to vote on a new king cannot also vote on new legislation.

Royal assemblies
Royal Assembly begins with assemblymembers voting on a president and three vice-presidents to lead the assembly. The election is held under a secret system. After the president and the vicepresidents are elected, assemblymembers may begin nominating potential candidates. A candidate must be:
 * Mespalian citizen
 * Male
 * At least 35 years of age
 * Known to be an honest and just member of the community
 * Willing to accept the nomination

The process of accepting all the nominations usually takes several days. After all nominations have been filed and accepted, they are voted on. The candidate must recieve an absolute majority of the votes to be elected King. If no candidate gets a majority, new rounds are held every day until one candidate reaches the majority. If after several rounds no one candidate gets a majority, the president may begin disqualifying those candidates with very few votes, potentially until only two candidates are left. After a candidate is elected with an absolute majority, they become the king-elect and their coronation must be held within one month of the election.

Temporal assemblies
Temporal assemblies begin the same way as royal assemblies, with the assembly electing a president and three vice-presidents. After this, debate begins on the issue at hand. Each member is allocated between two and ten minutes for a speech, though many members choose not to speak at all. Because of the amount of members in the assembly, the proceedings often last over a week. After the speeches, voting commences. An absolute majority is required for the proposal to pass, and if it is reached then the proposal becomes a law.