As Emperor Joseph stated that a Constitutional Convention would come with the new year, the region let out a collective sigh of relief. The Constitutional reforms have since gone to vote and faced the judgement of the people. A vast majority of the reforms, 70%, ended up passing, with only three rejected. Here we'll dive into those changes and how they'll affect you, as a citizen.
#1: The Senatorial elections are split so that one half of the Senate is elected via party preference and the other half is elected via STV (Single Transferable Vote: a system of individual candidates, as opposed to parties).
Half of the Senate would be elected via our prior system, whereas the other half would be elected by an individual-based preferential system, wherein the highest ranked candidates win. This amendment failed to reach the two-thirds threshold, obtaining only thirty votes saying yes, and twenty-one saying no.
#2: Minor grammatical edits.
This amendment fixes up the grammar of the Constitution. Unlike this article, our Constitution didn't go through a grammar correction stage (hi -xad), meaning the bulk of it, including various later additions, was poorly-written. This amendment managed to pass the two-thirds threshold, with forty-seven out of fifty-one voting yes, and four grammar-hating Nazis voting no. Glad to see that the New Western Empire has its priorities set straight.
#3: The Senate is prohibited from writing legislation that can affect the operation, success, or sustainability of the Official Regional Roleplay.
This roleplay amendment is a part of the Government's plan to shift how the executive operates. This amendment would allow for the creation of a Roleplay Department, something former Deputy Prime Minister Saharan Republic and Prime Minister Texas both support. Roleplayers have built up a community of their own, and when they are placed under the government there is fear that the Senate will attempt to regulate the Roleplay, which this amendment would prevent. This amendment failed to reach the two-thirds threshold barely, with thirty-two voting yes and nineteen dissenting.
#4: More defined process on the ratification of treaties (check out Article I Section III, Subsection 4, Article II Section I Subsection 2, and Article III Section I Subsection 3.)
This amendment adjusts how our treaties are ratified. In the past, due to High Court Constitutional Challenge 1, the Senate was only allowed to review treaties, not approve of them. 'Review' being defined as viewing from the Emperor or Prime Minister, but they are not required to review a treaty for it to pass. A treaty can only be ratified if the Prime Minister or Emperor signs it. This changes it so that the PM or Emperor can propose treaties and only require a simple majority of the voting citizenry to pass. This Amendment received forty-three out of fifty-one voting yes and eight voting no, putting it past the two-thirds threshold.
#5: The Emperor shall serve as the Head of State and act as a non-partisan, non-government supervisor and mediator between the branches of government.
This amendment fixes an issue of balance of powers. With the previous Government going hardcore against the Emperor, the Prime Minister was left with the most power out of all the institutions. This balance of power means that the current administration could theoretically do as they please, since the Emperor was meant to be the primary "mediator" between branches. With this amendment we achieve what was designed, fixing a problem that could destroy NWE. This amendment passed the two-thirds threshold with forty-two voting yes, and nine voting no.
#6: The Emperor shall retain the power to revoke any actions or orders carried out by the Executive if they bring harm to the region or community, or are essentially redundant. This decision may be overturned by the High Court.
This amendment deals with the same thing as #5. The Emperor has next to no control over the Executive, and this amendment will allow the Emperor to ensure that the Executive doesn't do anything that can harm the region or take the region off-track. This amendment also has a safe guard built in so the High Court can reverse the action if they believe it isn't justified. This amendment passed with forty voting yes and eleven voting no, over the two-thirds threshold.
#7: The requirements to run for an office in Cabinet shall be: citizenship, informing the Emperor they wish to run, and having a Deputy selected to be on their ticket before the election.
This amendment is another move from Prime Minister Texas. The idea is that to prevent having to do a by-election every time a Director resigns, they will always have a Deputy to replace them. This amendment also makes sure that the Deputy is one that the people will like, as, during voting, the candidate and their selected Deputy will be on the ballot at the same time. This amendment passed the two-thirds threshold with forty assenting and eleven standing in opposition.
#8: The addition of the requirement to endorse the Emperor and the World Assembly Delegate, and be a member of the Official Discord discord (to become citizen)
This amendment adjusts how Citizenship is handled. On NationStates, regional influence is determined by how many endorsements the World Assembly Delegate has. The World Assembly is also a requirement for citizenship. When a member that has endorsed you leaves the WA, that nation gets a notification, allowing for easier tracking of Citizens. This amendment failed to reach the two-thirds threshold, with twenty-nine voting yes and twenty-one voting no.
#9: Nations who have their citizenship revoked may file a challenge of the revocation (Article X Section I Subsection 3 Part 1)
This amendment hopes to fix a patch in the Emperors power. Citizenship may be removed by the Emperor and the nation cannot do anything about it. This amendment gives that nation a voice, allowing for them to challenge this unilateral decision. This Amendment passed the two-thirds threshold with some to spare. Forty-eight people voted yes and three no.
#10: Removing the two-month cool-down for proposing amendments to the Senate.
This amendment removed the cool-down on amendment proposals. Beforehand, if an amendment wished to be placed before the Senate, it must meet the two requirements of being either two months after the previous amendment, or receiving waiver from the Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Emperor. This amendment removes the two-month cool-down period and allows amendments to be proposed back to back. This Amendment passed the two-thirds threshold with forty-two out of fifty voting yes.
The aforementioned amendments are from the first patch of changes forwarded by the Constitutional Convention, with more to come in the future. The final Amendment was a poll on the name of the Prime Minister, with the options of "Prime Director," "Chief Director," "President," and "None of the Above". The President preformed the best out of all of the names, but the "None of the Above" option surpassing it by one vote. With more amendments and adjustments to come later, we found ourselves in a fantastic start to our journey in constitutional reform. Texas ❤
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