Stoa parliamentary rules

This is an overview of Stoa parliamentary debate rules. It should be noted that these rules are paraphrased from the original, accessible on Stoa's website, [here]. They are intended merely for a guideline. All Stoa parliamentary debaters should make themselves fully familiar with the official rules.

Eligibility
In addition to the standard eligibility requirements for Stoa, parliamentary debate competitors are also required to be at least 16 years of age, or have 2 years of debate experience, or have written consent for their participation from a coach.

Resolutions
Parliamentary resolutions may be either value, policy, or fact. They will be about current affairs or philosophy, and are intended to be general enough for the average highschool debater to understand. They may be literal or metaphorical.

Debate objective
The government team should affirm or defend the given resolution, by presenting a clear case. The opposition team must negate or deny it, and/or attack the government's case. At the end of the round, if the government has clearly upheld the resolution, they will win; if not, the opposition will.

Preparation
All parli teams will gather in the designated Parliamentary Resolution Announcement Room at a specified time before the round. After the resolution is read, teams will have 15 minutes, plus whatever time the tournament director deems necessary for walking to competition rooms, to prepare.

Stoa places no restrictions on how a team prepares for the round. Electronic devices, such as laptops and cellphones, are allowed. However, individual tournament directors may ban the use of electronics during prep.

There is no in-round preparation time in Stoa parliamentary debate.

Supporting materials
Parliamentary debaters may not take any materials into the round other than notes handwritten during prep. They must restrict the information they present to information that may be deemed a matter of public knowledge. Any references to outside materials, however, should be limited. The debate should be centred on common sense, general knowledge, logic and analysis. Debaters are not permitted to read published materials to support their claims. It is permitted to take and use notes during the debate round.

All electronic devices must be turned off during the round.

Speeches
A parliamentary round consists of six speeches, as follows:


 * Prime Minister Constructive (PMC) - 7 minutes
 * Leader of the Opposition Constructive (LOC) - 7 minutes
 * Member of the Government Constructive (MGC) - 7 minutes
 * Member of the Opposition Constructive (MOC) - 7 minutes
 * Leader of the Opposition Rebuttal (LOR) - 5 minutes
 * Prime Minister Rebuttal (PMR) - 5 minutes

The Prime Minister must state the resolution in his/her first speech. New arguments are permitted in all of the constructive speeches. However, the rebuttals should be used solely for refuting the arguments already brought up by the opposing team. New supporting examples, analogies, analysis, etcetera, that support previously made arguments, are permitted in rebuttal speeches.

Points of information and order
Each speaker may be interrupted by speakers on the opposing team during his/her speech, at any time between the culmination of the first minute and the beginning of the last minute. This protected time will be signaled by the timer slapping loudly on the table.

The speaker who has the floor may choose to either accept or deny a point of information (POI). However, they may not deny a point of order (POO).

If a speaker wishes to present a POO, they shall designate it by stating, "Point of order," while rising. Points of order are intended solely to point out rule violations or gross misinterpretation.

POOs and POIs both have a maximum time limit of 15 seconds. The time is taken from the speaking time of the speaker on the floor.

Feedback
Judges and observers may participate in the round by responding to a point with gestures or audible feedback, but it must not interrupt the speaker or overly distract the judge.