National Assembly (United States)

The National Assembly of the Party of the National Union for the Selection of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates, also simply known as the National Assembly, or the National Convention, is a electoral body in the National Union political organisation, convened every four years in September solely for the purpose of nominating the party's official candidates for the United States presidential elections. Currently the National Assembly consists of 5555 electors which are elected by the National Union primary election that occurs every presidential election year. According to the current Constitution of the National Union, all electors are proportionally apportioned according to population to all 48 states and Washington D.C.. In 2005, reforms mandated by the National Commission standardized how electors are distributed to winning candidates, which implemented proportional representation with a five percent electoral threshold across all contests.

Following the nationwide primary election held on the first Saturday of August, all electors are delegated proportionally according to the percentage of the vote that each candidate received in each state. The electors are bound by oath to pledge to vote for their candidate and to follow the instructions of their faction's leadership. The National Assembly traditionally convenes four to five weeks after the primary election, at a predetermined date and venue. Originally this allowed time for the electors to arrive at the venue, but in modern times the pause allows time for the competing factions to negotiate a deal to nominate a President and Vice-President by an absolute majority.

The Constitution of the political party mandates that a maximum of five votes can be held. On the first four rounds, the candidates for President and Vice-President must receive an absolute majority of delegates to be elected. After that, in the fifth round, a plurality of all electors voting is sufficient to win the nomination for the Presidency. If this occurs, it indicates a deeply divided party and the nominee's mandate is weakened. In 2016 at the 25th National Assembly, by the fifth vote no candidate managed to gain the support of majority of electors. In the fifth round, a Christian Labor-Southern Labor joint ticket led by James Wallace was nominated by only 38 percent of the total electors. The subsequent general campaign saw a record seven candidates participate in the election.