This paper argues that welcoming attitudes to the rise of the unelected are misguided because they undervalue the systemic importance of elected bodies for a proper functioning of the SoP. The paper argues that parliament is a normatively critical site for law-making for constitutional democracy; ad that is necessary to theorize the separation of powers with an eye to the broader context of normative political theory. This, contrary to much recent scholarship, requires a defence of the usefulness of the traditional tripartite model.