Parliament of Recommendations

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Going four pages back gives us, by my count, an 80-seat Parliament:

Democratic: 27 (33.75%)
Republican: 12 (15%)
Socialist: 9 (11.25%)
Green: 4 (5%)
Libertarian: 3 (3.75%)
Constitution: 2 (2.5%)

Other: 9 (11.25%)
Independent: 14 (17.5%)

Left-of-center posters are likelier to recommend my posts on politics; right-of-center posters are likelier to recommend my R&P and Forum Community posts.

This isn't the case for the actual posters in question, but for the sake of a more realistic left-right split, let's imagine that in this fictional country the independents are all right-of-center ex-Republicans reelected on their personal vote during some sort of ongoing collapse of the Republican Party. Let's give the "others" a 6/3 split between "miscellaneous left" and "miscellaneous right".

Democratic+Socialist+Green+Miscellaneous Left=46 (57.5%)
Republican+ex-Republican+Libertarian+Constitution+Miscellaneous Right=34 (42.5%)

The most coherent coalition is Democratic+Socialist+Green with confidence and supply from the miscellaneous left. The coalition itself has exactly 40 of the 80 seats; paging Benjamin Netanyahu! Also, since the Republicans include people like RI and DC, there might be a wider majority for redistributive and/or dirigiste economic policy than the party standings imply.

Not sure which of the Democratic posters in my recommendations would make the most sense for Prime Minister. Maybe afleitch since he's a mod, PR since we know each other off-forum, or Mung Beans since of the red avatars he's one of the closer to me On The Issues?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Doing this again counting each individual recommendation this time. Went back to the same post I went back to last time, which is on the sixth page now because I have posted a LOT today. This yields a parliament with 213 seats.

Democratic: 74 (34.74%)
Socialist: 31 (14.55%)
Republican: 28 (13.16%)
Green: 9 (4.23%)
Libertarian: 9 (4.23%)
Constitution: 2 (0.94%)

Other: 22 (10.33%)
Independent: 38 (17.84%)

What an unhealthy political spectrum. It looks like in this country the Democrats are a dominant centrist party, with smaller left and right wings, spread (at least in this particular election) in such a way that there's no natural coalition other than the Democrats just picking a side to ally with for the moment. It's the sort of result that you might see in the Dail Eireann after an especially embarrassing campaign for Fine Gael or something. Still, it could be so, so much worse.

In this case, since most of our red avatars are in fact left-of-center, I think the most natural coalition is Democratic+Socialist+Green, which has 114 seats or 53.52% of the house.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Doing a bicameral parliament, Chamber of Deputies counting each individual recommendation and Senate counting each unique poster. By happenstance, if I go 100 posts back the Chamber is exactly twice the size of the Senate, like in Italy.

Chamber of Deputies: 146 seats

Democratic Party: 49
Socialist Party: 25
People's Democratic Party (right-leaning orange avatars plus Smilo and TimTurner): 14
Republican Party: 13
Farmer-Labor Party (left-leaning orange avatars): 7
Libertarian Party: 5
Green Party: 1
Constitution Party: 1

Independent Left: 26
Independent Right: 2

Non-Inscrits: 3

Senate: 73 seats

Democratic Party: 30
Republican Party: 10
Socialist Party: 9
People's Democratic Party: 5
Farmer-Labor Party: 4
Libertarian Party: 2
Green Party: 1
Constitution Party: 1

Independent Left: 8
Independent Right: 2

Non-Inscrits: 1

My guess is that there are serious apportionment issues in the Senate that favor Republican constituencies (just like in the good old US of A!). The Democrats are probably a tepidly center-left "natural party of government" like in Donerail's post. A straightforward coalition with the Socialist Party yields narrow majorities in both houses but the Democrats might prefer to form a minority government instead, given that the somewhat-more-moderate Farmer-Labor Party and the high concentration of left-leaning independents in both houses mean they should be able to pass most center-left priorities easily without needing Socialist support. The People's Democratic Party, a Christian democratic outfit but one with at least a few prominent lawmakers of other religions, is probably in a semi-permanent center-right coalition with the Republicans.

Parrotguy, Antonio, and Cath are in a three-way tie for most recommendations given, so Parrotguy is PM, Antonio is Speaker, and Cath is Leader of the Opposition.

The nominal "left over right" topline in each house is 111/35 in the Chamber and 53/20 in the Senate if we count the Democrats as "left", but if they're understood as an opportunistic centrist party at heart then it becomes a somewhat more (normal, sane) 62/49/35 and 23/30/20.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Last 50 posts.

Senate: 67 seats (individual posters)

Democratic Party of Nathania: 34 seats
Socialist Workers' Party: 12 seats
Independence Party: 7 seats
Republican Party: 4 seats
Libertarian Party: 1 seat
Green Party: 1 seat

Mixed group (Labor Party, Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Center): 7 seats
Non-inscrit: 1 seat

Chamber of Deputies: 134 seats (individual recommendations)

Democratic Party: 67 seats
Socialist Workers' Party: 33 seats
Independence Party: 10 seats
Republican Party: 9 seats
Libertarian Party: 1 seat
Green Party: 1 seat

Mixed group: 12 seats
Non-inscrit: 1 seat

The Democratic Party holds a one-seat majority in the Senate and exactly half of the seats in the Camera. It probably governs with support from the mixed group (likely the "Labor Party" posters, Al and Ses). Most opposition parties are left-wing; even the Republicans (represented exclusively by VAR, Averroes, RI, and Joe "I have no empathy" Biden) are more left than right on material issues, differing from the country's extremely strong center-left-to-left consensus only on cultural issues.

Discovolante and Mr. X are tied for most recommendations given so Mr. X is PM and discovolante is dragged to the Speaker's chair in the Camera. KaiserDave has only one fewer recommendation given so he's Deputy PM and government leader in the Senate. President of the Senate is probably Unbeatable Titan Luis Arce.