Grand Council (Appenzell Innerrhoden)

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Grand Council Chamber in Appenzell

The Grand Council is the cantonal parliament of the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden . It is based at Marktgasse 2 in Appenzell and meets five times a year. The number of its members has been fixed at 50 since 2015. The current legislative period lasts from June 2015 to May 2019.

tasks

In the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the Landsgemeinde is the highest authority (Art. 19 canton constitution). It is incumbent on it, usually once a year, to decide on draft bills ( mandatory referendum ), to elect the members of the professional ethics committee ( cantonal government ) and the cantonal court (Art. 20 cantonal constitution).

The Grand Council draws up draft laws and constitutional drafts, which are then submitted to the Landsgemeinde for a vote, and examines applications that have been submitted by the professional ethics committee, other authorities or individual voters for processing by the Grand Council or the Landsgemeinde (Art. 26 of the cantonal constitution). . He then determines the rules of procedure of the Landsgemeinde.

Since the passing of laws is a correspondingly complex process, the Grand Council is usually empowered in the laws to pass ordinances and regulations for the implementation of the laws, as these are not subject to any voting obligation (Art. 27 cantonal constitution). The Grand Council also decides whether to join or terminate concordats, determines the boundaries of the districts and municipalities, decides on pardon requests within the framework of the cases provided for by law and grants land rights (Art. 28 cantonal constitution). He is also responsible for monitoring the authorities in the canton. For example, it checks and approves the state accounts (Article 29 of the cantonal constitution).

According to Article 7 of the cantonal constitution, every person entitled to vote has the right of initiative . Such an initiative must be submitted to the Grand Council by October 1st of each year in order to be presented to the next Landsgemeinde.

One-off spending decisions of CHF 1,000,000 or more must be approved by the people, as well as recurring expenses of CHF 200,000 or more for at least five years ( financial referendum ). One-off expenses of CHF 250,000 or more or recurring expenses of CHF 50,000 or more over a period of at least five years are subject to the optional referendum. Such a referendum must be signed by 200 voters within thirty days. However, expenses for the remuneration of state personnel are withdrawn from the optional referendum (Art. 7 ter of the cantonal constitution).

The Grand Council elects the members of the juvenile court as the electoral authority (Art. 6 Court Organization Act).

Rules of Procedure

The constitution stipulates five sessions per year. For the June session, the Grand Council elects its President, the Vice-President and three voting counters for a period of one year (Art. 29bis). Re-election is possible if one rises in the hierarchy; the President cannot be re-elected (Art. 8 Business Regulations of the Grand Council (GGR)). After a new election, the constituent meeting is chaired by the oldest member of the Grand Council present (Art. 6 GGR). The Grand Council is deemed to have a quorum if the majority of its members are present (Art. 14 GGR).

The relative majority applies to the acceptance of an application or a submission, unless the constitution dictates otherwise. Votes in the Grand Council are made by show of hands, unless a secret vote has been decided. The counting of votes can be dispensed with in the case of an obvious majority, unless this is expressly requested by a member or the result is required for the Landsgemeinde mandate (Art. 28 GGR). When electing representatives for commissions and other offices, however, the person who has an absolute majority is considered elected (Art. 29 GGR).

The special feature of the Grand Council of Appenzell Innerrhoden is that a new member is not sworn in or sworn in, in contrast to almost all other cantonal parliaments. Only in the canton of Basel-Stadt is such a vow also waived.

In the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the official ordinance applies to the compensation of government employees. The President of the Grand Council initially receives fixed annual compensation of 3,100 francs. There is an attendance fee of 80 francs for half a day and 160 francs for a full day for all council members. The President receives a surcharge of CHF 20 per half day.

Until 1995, the Landammann (District President) also served as President of the Grand Council.

Members

With a constitutional amendment passed in 2011, the number of members of the Grand Council was set at 50; this rule was applied for the first time in the 2015 renewal elections. The new rule is that each district is entitled to at least four seats, taking into account 4/50 of the population. The remaining 26 seats are allocated proportionally to the remaining shares of the population, with fractions rounded down. Remaining mandates are assigned to the districts according to the size of the rounded fractions. This is based on the number of inhabitants recorded by the cantonal residents' registration office on the last day of the previous year for the renewal election (Art. 22 cantonal constitution).

Until the legislative period 2011–2015, the rule was that each district ( political municipality ) elected one member of the Grand Council for every 300 inhabitants. With a remainder of more than 150, another member was elected. The result of the last census was decisive for the old regulation, so the number of MPs could change after each new census result.

Until 1995, the then nine members of the professional ethics committee (cantonal government) were members of the Grand Council with voting rights.

Constituencies

The constituency boundaries correspond to the boundaries of the six districts in the canton. At the last renewal elections in 2011, the following constituency allocations were in effect

district Population (2000) Mandates
Appenzell 5610 18th
Rute 2992 10
Schwende 1989 6th
Oberegg 1827 6th
Gonten 1402 5
Schlatt-Haslen 1201 4th

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Constitution for the Federal State of Appenzell I. Rh. Of the 24th winter month 1872.
  2. ↑ Court Organization Act of April 25, 2010.
  3. ^ Rules of the Grand Council dated November 21, 1994.
  4. ^ Authority ordinance of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden of June 15, 1998.