The Grand and General Council ( it, Consiglio Grande e Generale) is the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term.

History

From the fifth century

was ruled by an assembly composed by all the family heads known as the

Arengo The Arengo was the name of the assembly that ruled San Marino from the fifth century A.D. to 1243, and of the popular councils which regulated the political life in Northern Italy free ''comuni'' in the Middle Ages as well. It was made up of the h ...

. However, as population grew, such a body became more and more dysfunctional, with its functioning being crippled by feuds between families. While the exact timing is unknown, there is historical evidence that by the early 13th century the citizens of

elected an assembly called Council of the LX, which was also known as the Grand and General Council. In this first stage the power was shared between the

and the Council, with the latter gaining more and more power over the centuries. This process culminated in the 1600 statutes which defined the Council as the "supreme, absolute and unique prince of the community" attributing to it "the right over life, death and goods of every citizen" together with every power needed to rule and manage the country. Until the 17th century, members of the Council were periodically elected by the

, then the 1600 Statutes established that the Council could autonomously nominate its members by co-optation. This led to an increasing concentration of power in the hand of the richest families, which were also the only ones that could afford to pay for the necessary education. The oligarchic nature of the council became even clearer when, between the 17th and 18th centuries, laws were passed to formally establish a noble class with 20 seats reserved to it. This situation ended on 25 March 1906 when the Arengo was summoned once again after centuries and in which householders were asked whether the system of co-option of councillors for life should continue. The proposal was rejected by 90.65% of voters, consequently, the country's first modern election was conducted on June 10, 1906. During the fascism period, between 1923 and 1943, the Grand and General Council was dissolved and a new legislature called the Prince and Sovereign Council (Italian: ''Consiglio Principe e Sovrano'') was formed, with all its 60 members belonging to the

Sammarinese Fascist Party The Sammarinese Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Sammarinese) or PFS was a fascist political party that ruled San Marino from 1923 to 1943. History The party was founded on 10 August 1922 and led by Giuliano Gozi, a Sammarinese World War ...

. Suffrage was extended to women in 1959, granting to them the possibility to vote for the first time in the 1964 elections.

Electoral system

The country's electoral law is based on the electoral system of Italian municipalities. Between 1945 and 2007, San Marino used

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. A majority of at least 35 seats is given to the winning coalition of parties which receives an absolute majority of votes at the first or the eventual second round of elections. Within single coalitions, seats are divided between the parties using a

D'Hondt system The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...

. A 3.5% threshold exists, together with guarantees for female candidates.

Powers

The Council appoints from among its members the

Congress of State A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

, which is the executive branch of the government, and the Captains Regents, who serve as the heads of state.

Electoral results

In the 2019 election, two electoral alliances were formed:A San Marino si vota l'8 dicembre 2019 su queste liste. Candidati e programma
Libertas, 30 October 2019 *Libera, an alliance of the

Democratic Socialist Left Democratic Socialist Left ( it, Sinistra Socialista Democratica, SSM) was a political party in San Marino, founded as an electoral list for the 2016 general election, including United Left, Progressives and Reformists and Democratic Laboratory ...

Civic 10 Civic 10 ( it, Movimento Civico10) was a list of political parties in San Marino, political party in San Marino. It has been described as Centre-left, left-leaning and populist, and also advocated for e-democracy and a basic income. History The ...

and Socialist Ideals Movement and Reforms and Development *Noi per la Repubblica, an alliance of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

Party of Socialists and Democrats The Party of Socialists and Democrats ( it, Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici, PSD) is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in San Marino. It is a member of the Socialist International, and observer member of the P ...

, Democratic Movement San Marino Together and

We Sammarinese We Sammarineses ( it, Noi Sammarinesi, NS) is a conservative-liberal political party in San Marino. In the 2006 general election NS won 2.5% and 1 out of 60 seats and stood in opposition to the 2006-2008 governing coalition of the Party of Soci ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grand And General Council 13th-century establishments in Italy

Government of San Marino