=====  First Congressional Assembly =====

The **First Congressional Assembly** was the first legislature of the Sandbox Republic and convened on July 25, 2010, following the [[election10|2010 General Elections]].  This Assembly is currently in session and is expected to establish many of the procedures and practices to be followed by later Assemblies.




It opened with 25 seats, 10 held by the Socialist Dreamer Party, the plurality of the government. It was also marked by a large amount of independents.

====Composition====

The First Congressional Assembly had 25 members, representing four political parties and a remarkably large bloc of Independents.  No party had a majority although the Socialists did hold a solid plurality.  Following TheDarkMessiah's election to Chancellor, the [[1st Congressional By-election, july 2010|1st Congressional By-election]] was held and the Chancellor's brother, Patches (I), was elected to fill his seat.

As of August 2, 2010, [[offtopic/TheDarkServant|TheDarkMessiah]] (Independent) is [[chancellor|Chancellor of the Sandbox Republic]] and leader of Congress.

^ Party ^ Seats ^ Change ^
| [[Socialist Dreamers Party]] | 10 | N/A |
| [[Royalist Party]] | 3 | N/A |
| [[New Imperial Party]] | 3 | N/A |
| [[Motionless Cthulhu Party]] | 3 | N/A | 
| Independents | 6 | N/A |

==== Election of the Chancellor ====

The first action of the Assembly was to elect their [[Chancellor]]. [[offtopic/09camaro|010camaro]] was nominated by [[sbr president|President]] [[offtopic/Lord Roem]], who was supported by the [[Motionless Cthulhu Party]]. The plurality [[Socialist Dreamers Party]] nominated their own [[offtopic/scifiguy|Penelope]] for the position, but she withdrew before the vote. Independant member, [[offtopic/thedarkservant|TheDarkMessiah]], also put himself into the running expecting other Independents to support him. After discussions with the final two candidates, the Royalists pushed for TheDarkServant while the plurality Socialists split their vote.

A Chancellor was elected on the First Ballot:

^ Candidate ^ Votes ^
| [[offtopic:TheDarkServant|TDM]] | 12 |
| [[offtopic:09camaro|010Camaro]] | 8 |
| Abstentions | 2 | 

**[[offtopic:TheDarkServant|TheDarkMessiah]]** was elected Chancellor.

==== Debates on Constitutional Affairs ====

A proposal by President Lord Roem on the establishment of a Judiciary set off a major debate on how the new Republic should be structured, whether it should have a constitution, and what powers should each branch should have. A 'pro-legislature' side was primarily argued by LightInfa (R) and Douglas (Ind.), while Paladin (NIP) argued for a judiciary. As the debate progressed, the President began to support the idea of a written constitution and announced that he would send a draft to Congress for debate. Nonetheless, he still insisted on maintaining a judiciary in the Constitution. The end result was the [[shared_worlds:establishment_of_an_independent_judiciary_bill|Establishment of an Independent Judiciary Bill]] and the Debate on the Proposed Constitution.

==== See Also ====

[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=161788|Official Thread of the First Congressional Assembly (Sandbox Republic)]]

[[Sandbox Republic]]