Люксембург Парламентінің тарихы мен құрылымы

National legislature of Luxembourg

The Chamber of Deputies ( or simply D'Chamber, , Abgeordnetenkammer), abbreviated to the Chamber, is the unicameral national legislature of Luxembourg. The metonym Krautmaart (French: Marché aux herbes, English: "Herb Market") is sometimes used for the Chamber, after the square on which the Hôtel de la Chambre is located. The Chamber is made up of 60 seats. Deputies are elected to serve five year terms by proportional representation in four multi seat constituencies. Voters may vote for as many candidates as the constituency elects deputies.

The constitution of 1841 created the Assembly of Estates (Assemblée des États), consisting of 34 members. Under the absolute monarchy of William II, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the legislature's powers were very restricted: it could not take decisions and had a purely advisory role with respect to the monarch. Its consent was necessary in very few matters. Only the sovereign could propose laws. The assembly was in session only 15 days a year, and these sessions were held in secret. In a climate marked by the democratic revolutionary movements in France and elsewhere, a new constitution was drafted in 1848 by a Constituent Assembly. This introduced a constitutional monarchy: the King Grand Duke retained only those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution. The parliament, now called the Chambre des Députés, had the legislative power: it had the right to propose and amend laws. It would decide the budget and received the power to investigate. The government became accountable to the Chamber. In addition, its sessions were now public. These steps on a pathway of democratisation took place in a period of crisis of the monarchy, famine, and difficulties in supplying food. Grand Duchess Charlotte remained the head of state, and the co wielder of legislative power. Most elections between 1922 and 1951 were partial elections. The four constituencies were paired up, North with Centre and South with East, and elections were staggered so that only deputies from one pair of constituencies were up for election at any given time. During World War II, from 1940 to 1944 under German occupation of Luxembourg, the Chamber was dissolved by the Nazis and the country annexed into the "Gau Moselland". The Grand Ducal family and the Luxembourgish government went into exile, first in the United Kingdom, and later in Canada and the United States. The first post war session was opened on 6 December 1944 and was limited to one public sitting, as there was no quorum. A consultative assembly sat from March to August 1945, and new elections were held in October 1945. The post war Chamber proceeded to revise the constitution again, which abolished the country's state of neutrality.

1965 saw the introduction of parliamentary commissions. The establishment of specialised and permanent commissions would facilitate the work of the legislature. The previous organisation of the Chamber into sections, un specialised and with members chosen at random, had not been effective. Another innovation concerned political groups. They were now officially recognised, and received premises, and subsidies based on their proportion of seat. These material means were dwarfed by those established in 1990. Luxembourg is a parliamentary democracy, in which the Chamber is elected by universal suffrage under the d'Hondt method of Party list proportional representation. All laws must be passed by the Chamber. Each bill must be submitted to two votes in the Chamber, with an interval of at least three months between the votes, for it to become law. Laws are passed by absolute majority, provided that a quorum of half of the deputies is present.

Deputies are elected by universal suffrage every five years, with the last election having been held on 8 October 2023. Deputies are elected by open list proportional representation, whereby all electors may vote for as many candidates as their constituency has seats. Each party is allocated a number of seats in proportion to the total number of votes cast for its candidates in that constituency. These seats are then allocated to that party's candidates in descending order of votes that each candidate received.

The Chamber of Deputies holds session in the Hôtel de la Chambre (Luxembourgish: Chambergebai, English: Hall of the Chamber of Deputies), located on Krautmaart (French: Marché aux herbes, English: Herb Market), in the Uewerstad quarter (French: Ville Haute, English: Upper City), the oldest part of Luxembourg City. It was originally built between 1858 and 1860 as an annex to the Grand Ducal Palace, which had, until then, been used as one of many venues for the Chamber's convocations. The building was designed by Antoine Hartmann in a unified historicist style, combining elements of neo Gothic, neo Renaissance, and neo classical architectural styles. The large portrait of Grand Duke Henri was painted by Belgian artist Louis Van Gorp.