Constitution
Under the Constitution of Finland, the 200-member unicameral parliament exercises supreme decision-making authority in Finland. Sovereignty belongs to the people and that power is vested in the parliament. It passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may alter the constitution, bring about the resignation of the Council of State, and override presidential vetoes; its acts are not subject to judicial review. Legislation may be initiated by the Council of State, or one of the members of the Eduskunta. To make changes to the Constitution, amendments must be approved twice by the Eduskunta, in two successive electoral periods with a general election held in between.
Members of parliament enjoy parliamentary immunity: Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings, or be arrested or detained except for serious offences.
Read more about this topic: Parliament Of Finland
Famous quotes containing the word constitution:
“The real essence, the internal qualities, and constitution of even the meanest object, is hid from our view; something there is in every drop of water, every grain of sand, which it is beyond the power of human understanding to fathom or comprehend. But it is evident ... that we are influenced by false principles to that degree as to mistrust our senses, and think we know nothing of those things which we perfectly comprehend.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)
“Can you conceive what it is to native-born American women citizens, accustomed to the advantages of our schools, our churches and the mingling of our social life, to ask over and over again for so simple a thing as that “we, the people,” should mean women as well as men; that our Constitution should mean exactly what it says?”
—Mary F. Eastman, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4 ch. 5, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)