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Instant runoff'd be cool... although I think that it might be a bit more complex than the current "just list your [five] people," mostly because it might create some sad people who don't like being ranked last on someone's list... in terms of a feelings scale I think that the current system is "nicer," do you know what I mean? 

But again, an Open Assembly is what I support right now, mostly because we're not large enough to create a system of representative government...

What this is proposing is an open assembly and an instant runoff, meaning that the only position that'd actually be elected the Speaker post for now. As such, we wouldn't have to list five people if we didn't want. And as always, an instant runoff election allows us to rank as many or as few of the available candidates as we want, so we won't have to worry about someone being last if they're not ranked at all.

In a way it's the same with the system we have now though...what about the feelings of the people that nobody list on their ballot? If people don't want their rankings to be known, private voting will remain.

In a way it's the same with the system we have now though...what about the feelings of the people that nobody list on their ballot? If people don't want their rankings to be known, private voting will remain.

Very true

So are there any other issues to discuss?

Obviously none that anyone cared enough to mention. What's next?

Well, I suppose the next step is for the Storting to consider it after the election ends.

We wait until the election concludes, and then we debate a little bit more, and hopefully get everything finalized within a week. It doesn't have to happen that quickly, of course, so we don't rush on a bad idea.

But on the other hand, seeing as we've been discussing parts of this proposal for a month, I would hope people that thought it was a bad idea would already have contributed.

At the moment the only real thing I'd like to see added is a one week period before new citizens are accepted into the Storting and a three week trial period after that in which a majority decision can revoke their voting rights for another month, whereupon they go through the whole induction process again after that month is over.

Beyond that, I think fitting Houses into the Storting could be a possibility; the current draft allows for the creation of Officers to oversee specific areas (much like our current Jarl/Thane set-up, although without the Monarchical appointment) and perhaps it'd be worth looking into an Office of the Houses or something along those lines, wherein Patriarchs/Matriarchs or their chosen representative can discuss House-related legislation as well as propose House-related legislation.

That said, I don't know how much usage such a thing would have, so it's probably best for the new Storting to create that Office as and when it seems needed

I also just realized that an amendment is technically not necessary for an Open Assembly....the Procedural Rules of the Underhusen could just be amended to allow this. Elections would still occur, but they would be for potential Judges...

The Houses could have a voice outside of any binding legislative body. We could hold our own councils, and then share our views on many different issues within the region and NS in general, and in that way have the Houses have more of an impact, but not in any way that could have a House abusing any real power. The influences Houses can have could still be considerable.

So I am trying to gather all the things that would need to be changed or clarified to allow a General Assembly UH from the Procedural Rules

• Voting would need to be clarified and expanded
• The ability to speak would need to be expanded to all citizens
• The ability to make motions would need to be expanded to all citizens
• The Speaker would need to be essentially stripped of power, with another 'Speaker' being a Citizen elected one after elections.

The speaker point is mainly to get around one of the things required in the Fundamental Laws, Article I, Section 4 (it reads)

4. Upon the conclusion of the election, the Underhusen shall, under supervison of the Monarch, select a member of its own to preside over the Underhusen. Further procedure shall be declared in the Procedural Rules of the Underhusen.

No law has defined the term, 'preside over the Underhusen'. As such this legal technicality means that as long as a Speaker is elected by the UH from it's own members (which must be elected), this condition is satisfied, even if that speaker lacks any actual power.

Other than Membership (which can't really be expanded without an amendment) and Speakership (which also can't really be removed or changed without an amendment), everything else is based upon the Procedural Rules.

For an amendment to remove the Speaker technicality, I would suggest changing it to something like:

4. The Underhusen shall, under supervison of the Monarch, select a eligible citizen of Wintreath to preside over the Underhusen. Further procedure shall be declared in the Procedural Rules of the Underhusen, along with the term eligible citizen.

This merely removes the election requirement (allowing a Speaker to serve a limit as defined in the Procedural Rules) and allowing anyone to serve as Speaker, as allowed in the Procedural Rules.


Of course, this is just my thoughts, I would like to hear @Laruentus 's thoughts on this as well.

I think you misspelled @Laurentus

Most interesting, though for the sake of simplicity, I think that if we can do it via constitutional amendment, it would be better. (?)

I'll echo tau's thoughts on the matter.