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Delegate: Wabbitslayah
Officer: Frattastan (Foreign Affairs)
Officer: Marilyn Manson Freaks (Outreach)
Officer: PowerPAOK (Media)
Officer: Relfa (Culture)

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RRA Commander: Wopruthien
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Constitutional draft
Topic Started: Feb 12 2011, 01:10 AM (1,218 Views)
Whamabama
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Keeping in mind that I said I would do this, and also remembering what others have stated what our structure should be, I have drafted this short draft, but one that should fit within the guidelines of previous talks on the subject.



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Whamabama
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The Constitution of The Rejected Realms

Article 1. Preamble

We the members of The Rejected Realms Herby establish, and ordain this constitution in order to provide governance, peaceful coexistence, and liberty to all nations within The Rejected Realms.

Article 2. Citizenship

Citizenship may be granted to any nation within The Rejected Realms, and that has a presence on the forum. Who assents to our constitution, laws, and regulations. Citizens are required to submit an application to the Council of Three for Approval.

The Council of Three

1. The council of three shall consist of 3 citizens chosen by their peers, and should be fair, and sensible in their duties.
2. The Co3 responsibilities are to grant, or deny citizenship to Nations in the Rejected Realms.
3. The rules, and regulations to be used shall be the responsibility of the Assembly.

Article 3. The WA Delegate

1. Controls the regional world factbook entry
2. Shall lead the regional assembly
3. Has Veto powers over the Assembly

Article 4. Officers

1. Officers can be anyone nominated by at least 2 members of the assembly, and confirmed by a majority vote.
2. Officers have no set tasks, they can undertake any task that suits their interests, and helps the community.
3. There shall be no more than 4 officers at any one time.

Article 4. Voting Citizen

1. Membership into the assembly shall be automatically granted to every citizen.
2. The Regional Assembly can create legislation defining it's functions, and responsibilities.
3. The regional Assembly shall create procedures for terminating membership within the Assembly as long as the criteria is clear, and not unreasonable.

Article 5. Challenges

Players interested in challenging the delegate, or an officer for the position has to abide by the challenge rules, and is limited to 1 challenge a month. During the time allotted to the challenge after the announcement, no new citizenship requests will be handled.
Edited by Whamabama, Feb 12 2011, 03:22 AM.
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sedge
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I'll have a go at editing it tomorrow. It needs to expand on the Council of Three's role in deciding on citizenship applications, as well as the make-up of the Co3. The system of elections (for delegate/officers) needs to be added, as well as the powers of officers. Also, we've never agreed on giving the delegate veto powers over the assembly.
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Spartan Termopylae
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Should it specify the frequency of elections? Like the States have them I think every four years, here it is every five, in theory, unless the government calls it early. Is that necessary, or is this just me talking out of my, ah, backside?
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sedge
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We discussed the outline of the constitution here, and the preference seemed to be for a 'challenge' system, whereby there's no set elections, but a citizen can challenge the sitting delegate, so long as they meet certain (fairly simply) conditions.
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Whamabama
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ya, alot of what I first posted, I was going off on pure memory. However after looking around, and being reminded. I have edited it appropriately. Probably doesn't help I was/am a bit sleepy. So I am sure I have missed a few things still, but should be a good step in the right direction.
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Biyah
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I'm not sure I want to keep the Co3 as a permanent fixuture. It gives a lot of power to three people, permanently.

~B
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Northern Chittowa
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A few things popped to mind when looking at this;

1) Is citizenship going to be legally defined in this document, or is that something for the assembly to look at later on?

2) I quite like the idea of keeping the council of three, however i do believe that the Co3 should include the delegate. I also take it that the assembly shall look at whether the Co3 are permanent members or if it is electable after so long, yes?

3) I think the delegate should have Veto power over the assembly and should, for the most part, be the most powerful position in the region. The delegate position is something that people should aspire for and hence the more power it has the more people will want to work hard for the region as a whole in order to have a chance of a successful challenge against whoever the incumbent may be at the time.
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sedge
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Northern Chittowa
Feb 12 2011, 02:50 PM
1) Is citizenship going to be legally defined in this document, or is that something for the assembly to look at later on?
What more needs to be said, aside from requirements/rights, which I think are more or less already there?
Quote:
 
2) I quite like the idea of keeping the council of three, however i do believe that the Co3 should include the delegate. I also take it that the assembly shall look at whether the Co3 are permanent members or if it is electable after so long, yes?

I wouldn't like to have the delegate in the Co3 - it's supposed to be more neutral, so you can't have claims that a delegate is rejecting applications from people who may vote against them. It's why Biblical Importance stepped down from the Co3 when he decided to run for delegate.
Quote:
 
3) I think the delegate should have Veto power over the assembly and should, for the most part, be the most powerful position in the region. The delegate position is something that people should aspire for and hence the more power it has the more people will want to work hard for the region as a whole in order to have a chance of a successful challenge against whoever the incumbent may be at the time.

I disagree. The delegate is empowered to make decisions that aren't practical to have everyone vote on. If the citizens do vote on a law/alliance/constitutional amendment etc., then that is the will of the region, and the delegate should be bound by it. The delegate already has power over the WFE, WA voting policy, and the assignment of roles for officers - plus the prestige of the position. I think that's sufficient.
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Whamabama
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I think having the delegate acting in the position of the executive is a good idea. and is a good counter to the assembly. After all democracy is 3 wolves, and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. It's not much of a counter, but still.
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The Constitution of The Rejected Realms

Article 1: Preamble



Article 2: Citizenship

  • A: Citizenship may be granted to any person that has both a nation within The Rejected Realms and an account on the forums, or is a member of the Rejected Realms Army.
  • B: No individual may hold more than one count of citizenship.
  • C: Individuals fulfilling the above requirements may apply to the Council of Three for citizenship, which will then make a decision on their application.


Article 3: The Council of Three

  • A: The Council of Three shall consist of three suitable citizens, which shall not include the WA Delegate, or citizens challenging for the delegacy.
  • B: Should a member of the Council of Three step down, the remaining members shall choose a suitable replacement.
  • C: The Council is responsible for making decisions on applications for citizenship, and also for the removal of citizenship.
  • D: The Council may deny applications, or remove citizenship should an individual fail to meet the conditions set out in Article 2.
  • E: The Council may deny applications, or remove citizenship should it have any other substantial reason to do so. Substantial reasons include, but are not limited to, refusing to accept the legitimacy of the Constitution, and working to unseat the legitimate WA Delegate of the region.
  • F: Should the individual concerned disagree with the decision of the Council made under the powers in Article 3, Clause E, they may appeal the decision to the Assembly, whose decision will be binding.


Article 4: The Assembly

  • A: The Assembly consists of all citizens of The Rejected Realms.
  • B: The Assembly is responsible for voting on laws, treaties, constitutional amendments, electing Officers and the WA Delegate, and acting as a court of appeal as set out in Article 3, Clause E.
  • C: Votes on laws, treaties and appeals shall require a simple majority vote to pass, while amendments to the Constitution require at least 75% of votes cast to be in favour to pass.
  • D: Votes in uncontested elections shall require a simple majority to elect the individual. Votes for contested elections will result in the individual with the most votes being elected. Should there be a tie, the sitting official shall retain the position. Should there be no sitting official, then the Council of Three shall be responsible for breaking the tie.
  • E: Votes in the Assembly shall be visible to all citizens of the region, and shall last for seven days.


Article 5: The WA Delegate

  • A: The WA Delegate of the region shall act as the Head of Government.
  • B: The Delegate has the right to change the regional World Factbook Entry, and to act on WA proposals and resolutions as they see fit.
  • C: The Delegate shall assign roles to the Officers of the region.
  • D: The Delegate is elected under the Challenge system as set out in Article 6.


Article 6: The Challenge System - Delegate

  • A: Should a citizen wish to become Delegate, they must challenge for the position. In order to submit a challenge, they must have the support of two other citizens.
  • B: Once a challenge has been submitted, the elections procedure is started. No new citizenship applications will be processed until the elections procedure is completed.
  • C: Following the the submission of a challenge, there will be a week for further citizens to submit challenges, which also require the support of two citizens, though this requirement is waived for the sitting Delegate should they choose to run. After this week is up, no other citizens can challenge for the position of Delegate for the duration of the elections procedure.
  • D: After the first week is complete, there will be an additional week of campaigning, during which candidates are encouraged to lobby citizens for their votes.
  • E: The Assembly shall then vote to elect a Delegate, as set out in Article 4.
  • F: Following the successful conclusion of the elections procedure, no new challenges for the position of Delegate can be made for a month, unless the sitting Delegate steps down from their position.


Article 7: Officers

  • A: Officers of the region are responsible for carrying out the governmental functions of the region.
  • B: There shall not be more than four Officers at any one time.
  • C: Officers are elected under the Challenge system as set out in Article 8.


Article 8: The Challenge System - Officers

  • A: Should a citizen wish to become an Officer, they must challenge for the position. In order to submit a challenge, they must have the support of one other citizen. If there are four sitting Officers, they must choose to challenge an existing Officer. If there are less than four Officers, they will run for a vacant position.
  • B: Once a challenge has been submitted, the elections procedure is started.
  • C: Following the the submission of a challenge, there will be three days for further citizens to submit challenges, which also require the support of one citizen, though this requirement is waived for the sitting Officer, if one is being challenged, and should they choose to run. After three days are up, no other citizens can challenge for that Officer position for the duration of the elections procedure.
  • D: After the first three days are complete, there will be an additional three days of campaigning, during which candidates are encouraged to lobby citizens for their votes.
  • E: The Assembly shall then vote to elect an Officer, as set out in Article 4.
  • F: Following the successful conclusion of the elections procedure, the successfully elected Officer cannot be challenged for a month.


Article 9: Rejected Realms Army

  • A: The Rejected Realms Army does not operate under the control of the government of The Rejected Realms, and has sole responsibility for determining its membership, and what actions it undertakes.
Edited by sedge, Feb 15 2011, 11:34 PM.
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sedge
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How's that?
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Whamabama
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I see four things right off. I will mention three now because of my limited time frame at the moment.


The delegate as head of government. In this draft, it's only in title, in actuality the delegate has no more say than any other citizen. If the delegate is to act as executive, then the delegate needs executive power. In other words veto power. We are setting up a very limited government, but there should be at least this one check on the power of the assembly.

Also membership in the assembly mentions members of the RRA who are not citizens are in it. That just doesn't look good. It makes it appear that people not citizens of the region are being granted membership. Perhaps it would be better to simply grant members in the RRA citizenship instead? Then you could add membership in the RRA as an additional method of gaining citizenship.

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Whamabama
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Double post
Edited by Whamabama, Feb 14 2011, 03:24 PM.
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sedge
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Whamabama
Feb 14 2011, 02:15 PM
The delegate as head of government. In this draft, it's only in title, in actuality the delegate has no more say than any other citizen. If the delegate is to act as executive, then the delegate needs executive power. In other words veto power. We are setting up a very limited government, but there should be at least this one check on the power of the assembly.

The delegate does have executive power - the draft states that they're "Head of Government". I didn't explicitly spell out what that means, but it's generally accepted to include such things as running foreign affairs, recruiting (not really applicable to us), internal affairs etc. I disagree with your claim that executive powers = veto powers. The right to decide on legislation (laws, treaties, amendments) is a legislative power. It may be the case that the US President has veto power, but that's more to do with them being Head of State as well as Head of Government.

I don't want the Delegate to have any more say than ordinary citizens over legislation - it sounds entirely wrong to give one person the right to veto majority decisions of our citizens. What the delegate should be responsible for, is the day-to-day running of the region's affairs.

Quote:
 
Also membership in the assembly mentions members of the RRA who are not citizens are in it. That just doesn't look good. It makes it appear that people not citizens of the region are being granted membership. Perhaps it would be better to simply grant members in the RRA citizenship instead? Then you could add membership in the RRA as an additional method of gaining citizenship.

There's very little difference between the two, but yes - I could make that change.
Edited by sedge, Feb 14 2011, 02:41 PM.
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