House of Commons of the Federal Republic of Concadia

The House of Commons (domestically referred to as the Commons or the House) is the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Concadia. Like the upper house, the House of Senators, it meets at Parliament House.

The Commons is an elected body consisting of 550 Members of Parliament (MPs). 503 MPs represent single-member constituencies, and the remaining 47 are elected from a party list. The system used is Mixed-Member Proportional.

The Federal Government is almost entirely responsible to the Commons, with all members of the Cabinet (aside from the Leader of the House of Senators) being members of the Commons. The government stays in office as long as it can retain the confidence of the House.

Relationship with the Federal Government
Whilst the House of Commons does not elect the Prime Minister, the Prime Ministers Act 1815 requires the PM to be a member of the House and therefore answerable to it for the duration of their term. The Act also changed the requirement for a government staying in office, it no longer required the confidence of the upper chamber, only the confidence of the Commons. The Act mandates that the position of Prime Minister should be filled by whomever can command the support of the Commons, meaning that the leader of the largest party in the House is appointed to the position, with the leader of the second largest party becoming Leader of the Opposition.

The Commons may indicate its lack of confidence in the government by rejecting a motion of confidence or passing a motion of no confidence. Such motions are phrased explicitly: 'This House has no confidence in the Federal Government'. There are other pieces of annual legislation that are considered to be confidence tests in the House, most notably the annual budget. If the House loses confidence in the government, the Prime Minister is obligated to either resign or ask the President to dissolve Parliament and call a general election.

The Commons sits for 5 year terms unless a general election is called early for whatever reason. The most common cause of early general elections has been the resignation of a Prime Minister due to the House losing confidence in their government.

If a Prime Minister resigns and a general election is not called, the prime ministership is passed to an MP deemed to be able to command a majority in the House. This usually happens through an internal party leadership election, as the Prime Minister is always the leader of a political party. The usual scenario for such a situation is the Prime Minister announces their intention to resign, they resign as party leader and remain Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen, at which point they will resign the prime ministership.

Senators as Ministers
Due to both chambers being elected, Senators are also prominent members of the government. However, in recent years, Senators are no longer members of the Cabinet unless them being a Senator is intrinsic to the role (for example the Leader of the House of Senators). Given that the House of Commons can easily be dissolved and that MPs terms are shorter than those of Senators, the Commons is seen as the more accountable House, therefore nearly all major government ministers have been members of this House in order for there to be responsible government.