The Italian Parliament is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946), the transitional National Council (1945–1946) and the Constituent Assembly (1946–1948). It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members and a small number of unelected members (parlamentari). The Italian Parliament is composed of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic. The two Houses are independent from one another and never meet jointly except under circumstances specified by the Constitution. Following a referendum on 21 September 2020, the number of MPs in the Parliament will be reduced from 630 to 400 in the Chamber of Deputies and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.