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The Recalls and Referendums Amendment Act

The Recalls and Referendums Amendment Act

Title
1. This Act shall be cited as the Recalls and Referendums Amendment Act.

Recalls and Initiatives

2. The following text shall be appended to Article IV of the Fundamental Laws of Wintreath:

Initiatives

4. Any Citizen which voted in the previous regular election as defined in Article I Section 3 shall have the right to petition to place a non-binding proposal on the ballot of the next regularly scheduled election.

5. A proposal shall be included in next regular election if the greater of 30% rounded down or 6 Citizens who voted in the previous regular election, including the petitioner, sign the petition within 48 hours of its creation. The Monarch shall verify that all signatories to a petition voted in the previous election.

6. A proposal which fails to gather the requisite number of signatures may not be petitioned again until after the next regular election.

Recalls

6. Any Citizen which voted in the previous regular election as defined in Article I Section 3 shall have the right to petition for the recall of any member of the Underhusen unless unless there are fewer than twenty-one days left until the next regular election.

7. A recall election shall be immediately triggered if the greater of 30% rounded down or 6 Citizens who voted in the previous regular election who remain Citizens, including the petitioner, sign the petition within 48 hours of its creation The Monarch shall verify that all signatories to a petition voted in the previous election.

8. The recall election shall compose of a 48-hour nomination period in which candidates may stand for election, followed by a 72-hour election period. The winner of the recall election shall assume the seat in question upon its conclusion.

9. No member of the Storting may run in a recall election unless the member is the incumbent challenged by the recall.

10. No member of the Underhusen shall be subject to more than one recall election per session.

This is just something I threw together being tired, but it covers one area that we neglected to add to the original Fundamental Laws: recalls. It also adds initiatives, or the ability of Citizens to place proposals on the ballot of the next election. Even though the proposals are non-binding, it's still one way for our Citizens to bring something to the entire region, and I can imagine it being used to voice protest against a decision in government or to bring attention to a specific issue or idea.

I still recall when recalls were next to impossible in Spiritus due to high thresholds, so thinking back on that I tried to create a system that be fair but is difficult to abuse. Both initiatives and recalls require the approval of 6 or 30% of voters in the previous election, whichever is greater. I think that's a very reasonable number. I also based it off voters for the previous election because in a way it makes good sense to have the people that voted in the initial election deciding the question, but more practically it would prevent people from bringing in new Citizens to sign petitions unless they stuck around for a few months. I also added a 48-hour time limit on petitions, so they can't just linger around forever.

Of course, all Citizens would actually vote in recall elections and ballot measures. Those restrictions are simply on who can sign a petition.

Another thing I did was streamline the process for recall elections. If we were to go by the regular procedures, we would spend at least three weeks on it, from launching the petition to concluding the election. I feel this was unacceptable considering that Underhusen terms are only two months and a regular election schedules could take up nearly half of that time. I also scoured the proposed amendment and attempted to close any potential loopholes, such as situations that would allow one person to hold two different seats in the Storting, or allowed non-Citizens to sign a petition if they were a Citizen and voted in the previous election for example. That is why the amendment is so long.

Still, it's just something I threw together at 3am...I'm happy to discuss opinions, changes, ideas, etc.

:thumbsup:

I like this, definitely increases the representation of the system whilst encouraging participation, something lacking in the real world and in the game world

I'm a bit confused on what Initiatives are, and about number 9.

Initiatives are effectively what's known as referendums in the UK and other countries. A question is proposed by a citizen or group of citizens/pressure group (special interests in the US) and the government will consider creating a nation-wide polling of citizens on the subject matter.

The upcoming Scottish Independence is a great example of this. As for 9, it means that if you're challenged, you stand in the recall election but no-one else who's sitting can stand in it, because they've already got a seat.

"Incumbent challenged" would probably be better phrasing...I wrote this at 4am.

I likes it...

I changed the wording of number 9 slightly to make it clearer.

I could just as easily call them referendums if people would like. The definitions seem to be very similar.

If there's no further debate to be had, I humbly request that someone introduce this in the Underhusen.

I think we stay with Initiatives. I'll introduce this into the Underhusen.