| Federal Senate of the Federal Republic of Indochina | |
|---|---|
| Sénat de la République fédérale d'Indochine Thượng Nghị viện Cộng hòa Liên Bang Đông Dương ວຽງຈັນຝົນຂອງສາທາລະນະລັດສະຫະພັນອິນດູຈີນ ព្រឹទ្ធសភានៃសាធារណរដ្ឋសហព័ន្ធឥណ្ឌូចិន | |
 Federal Seal of Indochina | |
| Type | |
| Type | Upper house of the Federal Parliament of Indochina |
| Leadership | |
| President of the Senate | Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân, Worker's Party since 3 November 2018 |
| Senate Minority Leader | Dương Trung Quốc, Democratic Party since 3 November 2018 |
| History | |
| Established | 1965 (as the Soviet of the Republics) |
| Structure | |
| Members | 170 |
 | |
| Political groups | Government (60) Worker's Party (60) Confidence and Supply (27) The Greens (27) Opposition (83) Democratic Party (50) Conservative Party (16) Freedom Party (10) Independent (3) |
| Voting system | appointed by province governors or federal district mayors |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Federal Senate Building Hue, Federal District of Ho Chi Minh | |
The Federal Senate, known as the Soviet of the Republics (1965-1980) and Soviet of the Provinces (1980-1981), is a legislative body that represents the interests of the provinces of the Federal Republic of Indochina at the federal level. Along with the lower house, the Federal Assembly, the Senate makes up the legislative branch of the federal system.
The Senate participates in legislation, alongside the populary-elected Assembly, with laws affecting state competences and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of the body. For its similar function, it is sometimes described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the United States Senate, the German Bundesrat or the British House of Lords.
The political makeup of the Senate is affected by changes in power in the provinces and districts. Each provincial delegation in the Senate is essentially a representation of its government and reflects the political makeup of the ruling majority or plurality of each province's legislature (including coalitions). Thus, the Senate is a continuous body and has no legislative periods. Each of Indochina's 80 provinces and 5 districts were given 2 seats each, thus the Senate is composed of 170 senators.
Unlike the Assembly, the Senate does not formally start or end a new session. Senators or Commissioners are appointed by and served as the pleasure of each state's or region's government. The current President of the Senate since 2018 is the Senator from the federal district of Saigon, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, who is the first woman in Indochinese history to serve in this position.
History[]
The Soviet of the Republics was established in 1965, ten years after the establishment of the Union, as a compromise between the member republics of the Indochinese Union. Previously, Indochina has a unicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly, which gave disproportionate power to Vietnam, which alone accounts for four fifths of the population of Indochina at the time. As a reaction to the growing secessionist movements in Kampuchea, the federal government established the Soviet of the Republics. Initially, each of the three republics of Laos, Kampuchea, and Vietnam were each given 20 senators to be appointed by the president of each republic.
Tensions among the republics mitigated since the 1970s as the new Indochinese identity took hold and the legislature being mobilized along party lines instead of nationality or identity. This trend towards federalization is further enhanced by the anti-secessionist laws that banned political participations at the federal levels for pro-independence and regionalist groups.
Following a constitutional referendum in 1980, the Soviet of the Republics was briefly renamed as the Soviet of the Provinces and was reorganized to represent the provinces instead of the now-dissolved republics. Each province, irrespective of their population or location, is assigned 2 senators to be elected by the province's legislature. It adopted the current name, Federal Senate, in 1981.
In the early 2000s, due to the growing power of the metropolises, five federal districts of Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon were each given 2 senatorial seats similar to other provinces.
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