FD - Electoral Elligibility Reform

[mr_sniffles]

Drawn up by Grosse:

Bill Section 1. A new Clause E to Section 2 of TNP Law 5 is added as follows:

Section 2. Declarations and Nominations of Candidacy

A - Any member Nation of the Region that is a registered voter and that is not ineligible to serve by any limitation of service provision or additional qualification for office in the Constitution, may declare its candidacy for Prime Minister or any elected Cabinet Minister.
B- Any member Nation of the Region that is a registered voter who has elected membership in the Regional Assembly and that is not ineligible to serve by any limitation of service provision or additional qualification for office in the Constitution, may declare its candidacy for Speaker of the Regional Assembly or for a seat on the Security Council.
C - Any member Nation with UN member status located within the Region that has registered to vote and that is not ineligible to serve by any limitation of service provision or additional qualification for office in the Constitution, may declare its candidacy for UN Delegate or UN Vice Delegate. Such Nation that has UN membership shall have resided in The North Pacific for at least three months, and shall have been active on the Regional off-site forum for at least one month at the time of nomination or declaration of candidacy for election to the office of Delegate or Vice Delegate.
D- Such declarations may be made during a seven day period starting 10 days prior to the designated voting period for the election cycle for the next term of office. Alternatively, any three Nations that are registered voters may nominate a Nation as a candidate for UN Delegate, UN Vice Delegate, Prime Minister, a specific elected Cabinet Minister, Speaker of the Regional Assembly or for a seat on the Security Council during a seven day period starting 10 days prior to the designated voting period for the election cycle for the next term of office. The Election Commissioners or their designees shall verify the eligibility of each Nation that declares or is nominated as a candidate, and shall publish the certified list of candidates for each office or position one day prior to the beginning of the voting period.
E. In no instance may a candidate declare, be nominated for, or be elected to more than one office during any given election cycle, whether such office is the Office of UN Delegate, the Office of UN Vice Delegate, the Office of Speaker, or any Cabinet-level position, as defined in the Constitution. This limitation does not apply to candidates for the Security Council.

Bill Section 2. Section 2 of TNP Law 5, is amended to add a paragraph C as follows:

C - Any member Nation with UN member status located within the Region that has registered to vote and that is not ineligible to serve by any limitation of service provision or additional qualification for office in the Constitution, may declare its candidacy for UN Delegate or UN Vice Delegate. Such Nation that has UN membership shall have resided in The North Pacific for at least three months, and shall have been active on the Regional off-site forum for at least one month at the time of nomination or declaration of candidacy for election to the office of Delegate or Vice Delegate. In addition, any candidate for UN Vice Delegate must meet the requirements for the Office of Delegate, including any term limitations that might apply to that candidate.

Bill Section 3.
Section 3 of TNP Law 5 is amended to add a paragraph C, as follows:

Section 3. Voting Procedures

A - No later than the day immediately preceding the beginning of a voting period in an election cycle, the Election Commissioners or their designee shall post a topic on the Regional off-site forum for voting in the election describing the procedure for casting votes. The Election Commissioners shall determine whether a separate thread will be used for UN Delegate and UN Vice Delegate election voting from all other voting in the election. Nations may also vote by private message to a designated user account at the off-site regional forum, and the Election Commissioners shall post each such vote received in the official tally of the election returns.
B - One week following the opening of the voting period, the Election Commissioners shall close the voting thread and tally the votes. Once the results are ascertained, the Election Commissioners shall post a certificate of results at the off-site regional forum and shall declare which candidates have been elected. It will include a statement concerning the voting period for any required runoff election where the results so require.
C - In elections for the Security Council, where there are candidates for the Security Council who are also a candidate in the same election for either the office of UN Delegate, or for the office of Speaker of the Regional Assembly, and who is elected either as Delegate or as Speaker, the Election Commissioners are directed to disregard any votes cast for such candidates in determining which candidates have been elected to Security Council.

Bill Section 4.
Section 2, Clause H of TNP Law 16 is amended to read as follows:

H - Designees for Deputy Minister must adhere to the same requirements as for Ministers, including term limitations, in the event a Deputy Minister must serve as a Minister during the term of office in accordance with Article III of the Constitution.

Bill Section 5.

Article III, Sectiion 3 of the Constitution is amended to read as follows:

Section 3. Term Limitations.

1) No person, through one or more Nations, may hold any Cabinet-level position for more than two consecutive terms.
2) For purposes of this section, service by a person, through one or more Nations, in a Cabinet-level position for more than one half of a term to which some other person was originally elected or appointed, shall be treated as a complete term in that office.
3) For purposes of this Constitution, "Cabinet-level position" is construed to refer to the UN Delegate for the Region, any UN Vice Delegate who has acted as UN Delegate for the Region for more than half of an elected term of office, the Prime Minister, any Cabinet Minister of the Regional Government, any deputy Cabinet Minister who has acted as a Minister for more than half of an elected term of office, or the Attorney General.
4) The Vice Delegate must be eligible for election as Delegate in order to be elected as Vice Delegate.

Bill Section 6.

Article III Section 1, Clause C of the Constitution is amended to read as follows:

C - All Nations who have joined the Regional Assembly under the provisions of Article II, Section 2, of this Constitution and who reside in The North Pacific, or are active members of The North Pacific Army or The North Pacific Intelligence Agency, shall be entitled to submit a single vote for each general election regardless of UN status. Any such Nation who is both resident in The North Pacific or are active members of The North Pacific Army or The North Pacific Intelligence Agency, and is also a member of the United Nations may vote in elections for UN Delegate and Vice Delegate. No person shall be permitted to cast more than one vote, through one or more Nations.

Very sorry, but I just seemed to have completely forgotten about this one. Hope it hasn't slipped too far from everyone's attention.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

Except for the NPA endorsement period, which starts on 1 April, and the determination of Election Commissioners by the 15th (and that isn't a problem this time because FEC and I are term limited and will therefore serve as the Election Commissioners), we have almost a month to complete action on this proposal. We need to keep in mnd that the first four parts of the bill amend the election Law, and the last two bill section amend the COnstitution.

The primary issue is whethet there's any controversy sfficient to seprate the bill sections into separate votes.