The People Chamber

(Year 229) Another year means the opening of the People Chamber. This is a mini Parliament that has the power to decide laws and what not - the absolute top of the Mazaloom community structure along with the Royal Chamber and the High Court (formerly known as The Court Chamber). I'll share more details some other time - after all there is an election coming up next year. I just built this room, so a picture thread might be in place.

The Monarch is not a member of the People Chamber, but he is the President's protector and will normally attend the opening in Spring. On this day His Royal Majesty King Tarriot will show his support to their important work. The first opening after a 5 years election will include investing the President, but the other 4 years this event is less formal.

The room is not very big, and I pretend it was built around Year 120, and probably renovated along the way. The Year 120 election was the very first true election, and back then there were only 2 parties, LEFT party and RIGHT party. Eight years later the MIDDLE party was established, so the idea of each party using one half of this room quickly stranded.

King Tarriot held an inspirational speech, reminding everyone that the past good decades made it possible to build a better community, but that Mazaloom should also prepare for tougher years to come. The 8 regions already serve and complete each other through produce, culture, sports, tourism, education and trades.

King Tarriot mentioned the long anticipated regional reform, and asked them all to keep in mind that while a better regional system is needed, some regions might still depend on the existing network.

Well, the problem with the regional structure is that only Region 12 has a city, meaning this region has a huge population compared to the other regions. Region 12 do have more seats in The People Chamber, but it is still not balancing well politically. For instance, San Myshuno has no more votes for the Region 12 Council than each of the other 4  districts. It seems wrong to treat a city and a village with the same medicine. There used to be more than 12 regions, there are currently 8. They should either be reorganized to be more equal in population numbers, or the smaller might be combined, making for even fewer regions. Perhaps there are other ways to spread the political power in a better way. There is no time for changes in time for the upcoming election, so they still have a few years to debate this all.

The sitting man (above picture) is President Laurent Pepperstone. He is the LEFT party's first President ever from Tredony (Region 3), but both the past Year 225 and Year 220 elections were extremely close race, so he might be replaced in a year, already. Due to the ECO trend the MIDDLE party is expected to steal more members from both LEFT and RIGHT, and it is impossible to predict which of the two bigger parties will get most People Chamber seats after that expected leak. The winning party gets the President for the coming 5 years, while the runner up gets the Vice President, who will assist and control the President.

The Year 225 election was the best ever for the MIDDLE party, which is the ECO friendlier alternative. They won 8 Hood Contacts which rewarded them 3 seats for the current period.

People Chamber has 21 members including the President. Right now there are more than 21 chairs, so perhaps the room still needs a little fine tuning. I wanted each party to be grouped in the room, and with a colored plumbob lamp representing their party color, they are easily located.

So, let's look for some familiar faces...

The LEFT party is seated left as seen from the President podium. Region 12 Councilor Fanny Silverbone is one of the People Chamber members. She never planned to join politics at all, but after 3 periods she has become a clear and popular political voice, today leading the Health & Welfare dept.. She has not yet announced whether she wants to run again, although Nomination Day was 1st day of Spring so she must have made up her mind.

Behind Fanny you see Anaya Jang, Hood Contact at Arts Quarter, and I think this is her 3rd period in this Chamber despite never being a regional Councilor. Because of its size, San Myshuno has more seats in the People Chamber, than their one Councilor. Jang leads the Culture & Entertainment dept..

You might wonder what a gnome is doing there? Well, tradition is that the President's seat must be occupied by a gnome while he is taking the lead position on the main podium. Also the Vice President's seat is empty at times, but not occupied by anything special.

And there is another familiar face - Bjorn Bjergsen! He has been on the Windenburg regional Council for several periods, and probably with a seat in this Chamber, too. He is now an elder and can not be reelected next year.

On the opposite side of the room is another Region 12 Councilor, Charlotta Crumpleton from Gloomville. This is her first period on the Council and in The People Chamber. Frankly, I have no idea how she likes it, as a Loner she normally prefer working alone...

This is Rizhira Jupiter, Hood Contact from Oasis Springs. I'm not sure what she is ding here as she is not a member of The People Chamber. Perhaps she visited to hand over some Oasis Springs demand. Rizhira works as a Journalist and is among the wealthier residents of her district.

Finally, Region 12's Mayor, Charloman C. Dougham is a very successful politician and is still young enough for many periods to come. Like his sister, Charlotta Crumpleton, Charloman has the Loner trait and easily gets tense when there is a crowd. So far so good, but I had many a laugh when noticing how tense he gets from leading the Council House meetings. Btw; He is featured on my "As Sims Go By" video series.

Well, I see details that could need adjusting, but I think a political system like this adds a lot to my game. It makes the Politician career more interesting, and even adds indirectly to the noble system. The upcoming election will get bigger than before because I have so many more households now, political campaigns including adjusted N.A.P.s will start soon.

Here's more info on the current Region 12 Council.