IaN - OPAL

Pacifica
, , ,
5

ORDINANCE ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND ELECTORAL ACT (2024)

DISPOSITIVE: AUTHOR: High Duke Dawson Ernst. DATE: 01.01.2024. PROVIDED: Ayala Moran. STRENGTH: Constitutional Legislation

Table of Contents:

CONSTITUENCIES & SEATS

1 Voting Constituencies in the Grand Duchy of Nasphilitae are consisted of the following offices: Communal Councils, Regional Councils and Urban Councils.
2 Voting Constituencies for the office of Communal Councils are termed “Communal Voting Constituencies”, for the office of Regional Councils “Regional Voting Constituencies” and for the office of Urban Councils “Urban Voting Constituencies”.

COMMUNAL, URBAN AND EARLDOM GOVERNANCE

3-a There are four “Urban Voting Constituencies” in Nasphilitae: Fort Masontown, Agorport, Suhavenster, and New Sorthane, together holding a total of 126 Communal Voting Constituencies.
3-b Each of the Four Urban Voting Constituencies are represented by a Mayor, as the people are represented in both the respective Communal Councils and the respective Urban Councils and will of which is enforced solely by the Communal Commissions and Urban Commissions, respectively.
3-c Officers of the Communal Councils and those of the Urban Councils are elected separately.
3-d Communal Commissions and Urban Commissions are consisted of members nominated by Officers of the Communal Councils and Urban Councils, respectively.
3-e The Mayor of the Urban Voting Constituencies is elected directly by all citizens of the Cities, as such he may be accountable only to the will of the citizens and no other Office.
4-a There are 75 Earldoms, each represented by an Earl before the Peerage, as the people are represented in each respective Regional Councils.
4-b The will of the Earldom is enforced in conjunction with the Regional Commission and the National Cabinet.
5 All Communal, Urban and Earldom governances & officers are held accountable to the National Offices of the National Parliament and the National Cabinet.
6 All Communal, Urban and Regional officers are elected using an multi-round exhaustive ballot until two candidates are left, after which the candidate with a relative majority is elected.

NATIONAL PARLIAMENT

6 The National Parliament is comprised of two Houses: The Upper House, whose Members represent the will of their respective Communal Voting Constituency and is nominated by the respective Communal Council; And The Lower House, whose Members represent the will of the Grand Duchy of Nasphilitae.
7 The Upper House is comprised of 631 Members, elected in each of the 631 total Voting Constituencies, which mirror those of Communal Constituencies.
8 The Lower House is comprised of 225 Members, elected in each of the 15 total Thanes, wherein each Nominating Ballot nominates 15 candidates per Thane to be represented on general elections, for a total of 225 nominees.
9-a Nominees for The Lower House are subsequently subject to two-round national general elections, wherein the two nominees with the most votes proceed to the second round.
9-b 76 of the 225 seats are allocated among nominees which have received less than the aforementioned top two nominees using the Webster Method.
9-c 149 of the 225 seats are allocated among the two second round nominees using the D’Hondt Method.

ELECTION DATES & CANDIDATES

10 Elections for Officers of Communal and Regional Councils is held on 23rd of May, which must be called a minimum two months in advance.
11 Elections for the Officers of Urban Councils is held on 23rd of September, which must be called a minimum one month in advance.
12 Elections for the MPs of the Upper House is held on 15th of January, which must be called minimum two weeks in advance and with relative majority approval from the Lower House.
13 Elections for MPs of the Lower House is held every 1st November, which must be called a minimum six months in advance.
14 Officers may not hold any other elected nor executive public office.
15-a MPs of the Upper House may not hold any other elected nor executive public office.
15-b MPs of the Lower House may not hold any other elected public office.
16 Nominees and Officers for the Offices of Communal Councils and Regional Councils may only be members of local political parties.
17 Nominees, Candidates and MPs for the National Parliament may only be members of nation-wide political parties.
18 Nominees and Officers for the Office of Regional Councils must be members of either local or nation-wide political parties.

COALITIONS, CENSUS & EXECUTIVE FORMATION

19 All pre-electoral coalitions on all elections are prohibited.
20 Threshold census for all elections is 7.5% of total voter turn-out.
21 Sub-national Executive Commissions may consist exclusively of elected Officers in the respective Councils, regardless of political affiliation.
22 The National Cabinet is comprised of 11+1 Offices of the Cabinet, Heads of which must exclusively be MPs of the Lower House, nominated by the Upper House and upon joint approval from both the Head of Government and the Head of State.

FUNCTIONS OF THE ELECTED

23 The National Parliament is a Committee-type of a legislative, representative body.

COMMITTEES, DISMISSALS, IMMUNITY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

24-a The National Parliament is a Committee legislative body, wherein all MPs of the Upper House are required to participate in Committees, each which mirror the aforementioned 11+1 Offices of the Cabinet.
24-b All MPs of the Lower House, which have not been nominated to the Offices of the Cabinet, are required to participate in the Plenary Committee.
25 The Plenary Committee is a permanent body of the National Parliament which serves to communicate, negotiate and compromise on legislation proposed by The National Cabinet, if disagreement on such legislation arises among Upper House Committees.
26 Each Head of an Office of the Cabinet is accountable to the Head of Government, the Head of State and the collective interest of Nasphilitae.
27 Collective accountability & subsequent dismissal of The National Cabinet is enforced only by Ordinance of the Head of State by discretion.
28 All elected Officers and MPs may be dismissed by: Relative majority on a nation-wide popular referendum; Unanimous agreement by all members of the Peerage; Their Ballot Nominees or Chairmen of their Political Parties.
29 Any Head of Cabinet, Officer nor MP enjoy legal immunity from investigations involving crime deemed as felony in domestic or foreign law.

VOTER ELIGIBILITY & TERM LENGTHS

30 All citizens of Nasphilitae, 16 and older, have the unalienable right to active voting.
31 All citizens of Nasphilitae, 25 and older, with no felony criminal record and membership in a political party, have the unalienable right to passive voting.
32 All persons elected to serve in sub-national Offices have a term of two years, with possibility for re-election of up to two additional times per lifetime, for a total of six years.
33 All persons elected to serve in the National Parliament or in The National Cabinet have a term of five years, with possibility of re-election of up to once per lifetime, for a total of ten years.
34 The Head of Government serves for a term of seven years with no chance of re-election.
35 The Head of Foreign Affairs serves for a term tied to the term of the Head of State, which is life-time.

HEAD OF GOVERNMENT AND THE HEAD OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

35 The Head of Government is nominated by the Head of State among members of the Lower House, conditional on relative majority approval from MPs of the Upper House.
36 The Head of Government serves as a channel of communication between The National Cabinet, The National Parliament, The Head of State and The Peerage.
37 The Head of Government is the Head Speaker of the Parliament, which includes both Houses, and the Speaker of The National Cabinet.
38 The Head of Foreign Affairs is selected by the Head of State with majority approval from The Peerage and The Earls.
39 The Head of Foreign Affairs is the Chief of Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Nasphilitae and the Chief of the Diplomatic Corpus.
40 The Head of State is the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Nasphilitae, the High Chief of the Ambassadorial & Consulate Corpus, and the Executive Director of the Agency for Documentation & Identification.

POLITICAL PARTIES: BUDGETING AND GERRYMANDERING

41 All political parties and their non-public activities, including electoral campaigning, are funded by private incentives.
42 All political parties which fail to pass the 7.5% threshold census are eliminated from the Registry with a suspension of re-registration of one year.
43 Internal organisation & structure of political parties falls under their own domain, as such any felony criminal activities committed by its members privately or itself are also liable to investigation, by guilt of association.
44 All funding received from private entities must be publicly announced, freely available and accessible for all citizens of Nasphilitae.
45 Internal borders of Thanes, Earldoms, Communal Voting Constituencies, Regional Voting Constituencies and Urban Voting Constituencies are fixed and any attempt at their restructuring is prohibited & a priori nullified.
46 Misdemeanors, inflicted by any public official, upon journalists, is considered a felony.
47 All forms of informal communication between any public official and any employee in whichever Court of Nasphilitae is strictly prohibited and considered a felony, including private relations.
48 Slander is permitted only during elections and limited to opposing participants for a public office.
49 Wages of Sub-National Officers & Staff is fixed to the average median salary of their respective voting constituency, provided by the respective voting constituency Budget.
50 Wages of all National Officials & Staff is fixed to the gross median salary of Nasphilitae, provided by the National Budget.

AMENDING AND NULLIFYING THE ACT

A- The Act may be amended by addition under the following procedure: Initiation by The National Cabinet or a relative majority of MPs in the National Parliament, with approval from the Head of State and Head of Government, before receiving absolute majority approval on general national referendum.
B-The Act may be amended by rectification under the following procedures:
P1: Initiation by referendum with at least 5% of the total population signatories, upon which a Privy Council is formed by the Plenary Committee, tasked with drafting the desired changes, before receiving absolute majority approval on general national referendum.
P2: Initiation by absolute majority of MPs in the National Parliament, with relative majority approval from the Peerage, before receiving absolute majority approval on general national referendum.
P3: Initiation by the Head of State or a relative majority of the Peerage, before receiving relative majority approval on general national referendum.
C-The Act may be nullified in its entirety, initiated either by referendum of at least 5% total population signatories or by relative majority of the Peerage, with a week of time-frame given to the Plenary Committee and The Head of Government for drafting a new technical replacement, which will act for a maximum of one month before a new replacement Act is enacted.

ANNEX I, II & III

ANNEX I: HEREDITARY TITLES & SUCCESSION

Nasphilitae recognizes two “high noble” titles and three “low noble” titles.

  • The High Duke is a high noble and the Head of State, whose title is not directly hereditary. The High Duke is nominated among the Fifteen Peers, two of which are subsequently placed upon approval among the 75 Earls, before contesting the general national election. The High Duke is elected for life and upon death, the election is held again. Among others, The High Duke is the Aerial Aircraft High Commander of the Royal Armed Forces, akin to the Marquis-Generals and Baron-Admirals.
  • The Peers are high nobility, comprised of Fifteen Peers, collectively called “The Peerage”. Each Peer is tied to one of the Fifteen Thanes. Both the Title and the Thane are hereditary, with the successor chosen by the Peer if a Royal Testament exists. In cases where no such Royal Testament exists, law of Absolute cognatic primogeniture is followed. Each Peer is tied to the Thane they own and is prohibited from abandoning it.
  • The Earls are low nobility, comprised of 75 Earls. Each Earl is tied to one of the 75 Earldoms. The Title is hereditary, following the same order of succession as that of the Peer. The Earl owns loyalty to the Peer in whose Thane they are bound to. Each Earl is prohibited from abandoning the land they own without approval from their suzerain Peer.
  • The Marquis-Generals & Baron-Admirals are low nobility without land, awarded by merit in the Royal Armed Forces. The Titles are conditionally hereditary, as they are subject to approval from the Peerage and the Earls. Marquis-Generals are Land Army High Commanders of the Royal Armed Forces. Baron-Admirals are Maritime Naval High Commanders of the Royal Armed Forces.
  • Knights are the lowest nobility, non-hereditary and with land awarded to them during knighting, which is hereditary. It is a ceremonially awarded title by merit, usually to NCOs which served under a Marquis-General or a Baron-Admiral.

ANNEX II: DIPLOMATIC, SECURITY & MILITARY PERSONNEL

The Royal University of Fort Masontown, The Royal Preparatory College & The Royal Primary Education Centers are barred from enrollment for non-nobles. Infant nobility is subject to rigorious training and education starting from age 4, when they are sent to Fort Masontown until they turn 19 and pass the ceremony of passage, after which they may leave Fort Masontown temporarily.
After the ceremony of passage, the noble is required to enroll into the RUFM. The RUFM consists of Program For the RAF, Program For the Foreign Affairs, and Program for the ADI. At age 12, each noble is guided for either of the two services, as selected by the wider Peerage upon assessing the infants abilities.
RUFM education is finished upon the age of 30, after which the Noble is no longer obliged permanent residence in Fort Masontown.

ANNEX III: CENTERS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE

  • The National Parliament is now seated in Suhavenster, formerly the Palace of The Royal Privy Council. Situated on a plateau which was once sloped and surrounded by a circular park which was once a forest of 3 kilometers in length, the entrance faces East.

  • The Royal Mint, National Treasury & the Central Bank are seated in Agorport, where The National Parliament once resided. Together with the foreclosed Peoples Grand Harbour, National Center for Import-Export Balance, Royal Maritime Port, and (the only active) Open Internal Market, they formed the first industrial zones in Nasphilitae. Each of the buildings entrances face each other, forming a half-circle.

  • The High Court, along with the High Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are all seated just south of New Surthane, on the highest hill from the aforementioned centers. Entrances have been constructed as for all three buildings to look towards the other three cities; The High Court towards the National Parliament, High Court of Appeal towards Agorport, and the Supreme Court towards the RUFM.

3 Likes