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Hello there candidates! You may remember this thread from the previous elections, and you may find the questions familiar if you ran before, but for traditional purposes, I'm going to ask them again for curiosity sake.

1) As part of the Underhusen, you'll have the ability to introduce different legislation into the Underhusen.  What are some particular issues that you wish to address during your term in the Underhusen?

2) What makes you an ideal candidate for the Underhusen?  This doesn't mean why you think you're better than a specific candidate (nor why they shouldn't be considered above you), but why you think you deserve to be the one that people vote for?  What is it that makes you stand out?

Thanks for your time!  And if anyone else has questions for multiple candidates, they're welcome to ask them in here as well. 

1) As part of the Underhusen, you'll have the ability to introduce different legislation into the Underhusen.  What are some particular issues that you wish to address during your term in the Underhusen?

It's not an issue per se, but I'm especially interested in investigating the possibilities of political alliances during elections. This matter is of course extremely delicate and I want to clearly stress that the intention here is not to undermine the power of the voters, but to research the possibilities of creating stronger Storting by having candidates unify for shared interests.

I feel that while progression is most easily observed by legislation that passes, what we need more is ongoing forward discussion about the already established matters and all the possibilities that regardless of their feasibility here, helps our resolve grow stronger and nourishes the foundation that we so proudly stand upon. It is always beneficial to learn more about alternatives, who knows what unexpeted inspiration can be found from equally unexpeted sources.

2) What makes you an ideal candidate for the Underhusen? This doesn't mean why you think you're better than a specific candidate (nor why they shouldn't be considered above you), but why you think you deserve to be the one that people vote for?  What is it that makes you stand out?

I'm relatively new and unknown. That is both my greatest strenght and my worst weakness. This election is a perfect kickstarter for me to rapidly become known better, regardless of the outcome of the election. I think of myself as the wild card of this election: vote for me and see what happens.

This idea of yours of political alliances interests me! Can you tell me more about it? It is something I would certainly support in principle.

My goal this term is to close the gap between the people and the Underhusen. My overarching goal from the last term regarding a more transparent government and legislature is of course something that I will try to work on throughout the entire term.

@Hugsim - Do you believe that there is a gap between the people and the Underhusen?

To everyone:

1) To those that are running for re-election, what would you list as your accomplishments for this outgoing term? How does that compare to the platform that you previously ran on?

2) In general, what do you feel your contributions to the regional community have been in the past two months?

3) Are you currently involved in any other regions? If so, how are you involved?

@Hugsim - Do you believe that there is a gap between the people and the Underhusen?

To everyone:

1) To those that are running for re-election, what would you list as your accomplishments for this outgoing term? How does that compare to the platform that you previously ran on?

2) In general, what do you feel your contributions to the regional community have been in the past two months?

3) Are you currently involved in any other regions? If so, how are you involved?

I feel that it might perhaps be a bit hard for regular citizens to be heard sometimes, yes. Closer cooperation between the government (Including the UH) and the people is always good.

1/2) My accomplishments this term and what I have contributed to the community has been the establishing of the Better Archive and managing to somehow become acting speaker for most of the term. The Better Archive was exactly what I said that I would do before this term.

3) I am currently not involved in any other regions.

2) In general, what do you feel your contributions to the regional community have been in the past two months?

Considering I went inactive on purpose, I didn't contribute much, however I did help bring changes to the Underhusen and have attempted to better the region.

3) Are you currently involved in any other regions? If so, how are you involved?

I am, the only other region I'm involved is citizenship(and technically I'm a 2nd Successor should the current Head of State disappear along with the second in line.)

1) As part of the Underhusen, you'll have the ability to introduce different legislation into the Underhusen.  What are some particular issues that you wish to address during your term in the Underhusen?

Well I want to allow people to remove their own bills from the floor explicitly(since right now the speaker has to allow it), just in case they submit the wrong version or if they realize that the bill was a bad one and wish to withdraw it to work on it.

While not an issue I would also like to form a few holidays for Wintreath, something that we have things to celebrate, like the passing of the Fundamental  Laws, the founding of the region, things like that.

I also plan to bring to the table the right to representation act, again albeit re-written. I will try to bring other Skrifa into this when re-writing it and attempt to get opinions from my fellow skrifa as well as to what I should change. The Act will allow people to have representation.

2) What makes you an ideal candidate for the Underhusen?  This doesn't mean why you think you're better than a specific candidate (nor why they shouldn't be considered above you), but why you think you deserve to be the one that people vote for?  What is it that makes you stand out?

Well considering the fact that I tend to be steadfast in my political opinions, only changing due to a change of heart. I will usually post my reason for voting Nay if I do. I am also fast and good at writing legislation thus I can usually make sure there is something to debate on in the Underhusen.

What makes you an ideal candidate for the Underhusen?  This doesn't mean why you think you're better than a specific candidate (nor why they shouldn't be considered above you), but why you think you deserve to be the one that people vote for?  What is it that makes you stand out?

I am active, have experience acting in the government of other regions, and have a level head. I'm not afraid to call out petty, silly, or inane bullshit when it comes up.

In general, what do you feel your contributions to the regional community have been in the past two months?

Gameside, pretty much nothing -- given that my WA is required elsewhere for obvious reasons.  I don't post often, but I am an active user of our IRC channel (and an op, since you made me one awhile back :p).

Are you currently involved in any other regions? If so, how are you involved?

I am Pharaoh of the Osiris Fraternal Order, a Red Guard (and forum owner) of the New Galactic Empire, and a citizen of the South Pacific.

This idea of yours of political alliances interests me! Can you tell me more about it? It is something I would certainly support in principle.

Certainly. There are many ways that legitime political contracts (or alliances) could benefit both citizens and Skrifas. During elections, alliances could be used to campaign jointly, extending to sharing the received votes in the manner stated in their alliance agreement.

While in our current system it would still be difficult to acquire enough votes to get both the stronger candidate elected with the lowest required amount of votes as well as the supported ally candidate with the leftovers, there are some other possible ways to utilize them, such as establishing a system for assistants that lack the authority of Skrifas, but possess closely matched publicity.

Another plausible direction of political grouping would lead to forming political parties, which would naturally require internal structures to handle rank, membership, recruitment and of course, internal political debate. With enough interest to form such parties, voting could also be remodeled to better suit the new organizations. Large enough parties could however turn out difficult to form, as the family system might suggest. Still, I think it's an idea worth to investigate further.

I thought it would be fun to compile some debate questions from the very first Underhusen election. The circumstances may have changed int he past year, but the questions are still perfectly valid.

Debate 1: Wintreath and Defenderism
As you know, Wintreath is a newly-formed defender region. In your opinion, what are the the current issues facing defenderism as a whole, and what can Wintreath do as a region to address them and to improve defenderism in general? What do you believe Wintreath can contribute to the defender alignment?

Debate 2: The First Session
You are running to be part of the very first session of the Underhusen in the region, with no previous legislation to build on and the sky as the limit. Other than the Underhusen procedures, what is the very first issue you believe the Underhusen should tackle and why?

Debate 3: Threats to Wintreath
As our region grows, expands, and hopefully prospers, what do you feel are the potential threats our region will face, either internal or external, and what solutions will you offer to resolve them? Do you feel our greatest threats will be internal in nature, or external?

Debate 1: Wintreath and Defenderism
As you know, Wintreath is a newly-formed defender region. In your opinion, what are the the current issues facing defenderism as a whole, and what can Wintreath do as a region to address them and to improve defenderism in general? What do you believe Wintreath can contribute to the defender alignment?

In reality I don't know. While I'm an Ex-WHR I'm Inactive in the R/D side of NS, thus the only things that I could think of that is an issue is Defender Unity, which was a problem at the time I was active.

This one is one that I don't have an answer to, which IIRC is the same as when I first answered this question.

Debate 2: The First Session
You are running to be part of the very first session of the Underhusen in the region, with no previous legislation to build on and the sky as the limit. Other than the Underhusen procedures, what is the very first issue you believe the Underhusen should tackle and why?

Well I know that this isn't the first Underhusen but my main issues are with current Storting procedure, of which I wish to refine. I also feel as if there should be some framework from Legal Representation in Wintreath. I also think that there should be a fall-back in case the Underhusen fails to pass a seating bill in time.

The reason for refining procedure is to allow for a greater range and allowance of actions, such as when I amended the Procedure to allow debates to be extended any amount of time, instead of just 48 hours. I also feel that having legal representation should be done, if not just to make sure that if someone happens to be bad at wording things or maybe they just can't actively take on a court case(whether you are on the defense or prosecution), for whatever reason and you want someone to represent you. Also for the seating bill, while it hasn't happened I'd prefer a way to be able to make sure the Underhusen can take more time on a seating bill, debating the seats. While the UH has usually been 5 seats...I wouldn't mind seeing more or less seats for the next election.

Debate 3: Threats to Wintreath
As our region grows, expands, and hopefully prospers, what do you feel are the potential threats our region will face, either internal or external, and what solutions will you offer to resolve them? Do you feel our greatest threats will be internal in nature, or external?

Our greatest threat at this time is Internal. With the feuds between several members(of which I am apart of), can tear Wintreath apart politically and through members. If members can not get along, especially those in the Underhusen, Overhusen, or Riksrad, then there will be problems.