Embassy of Balder
- Thread starter Cakatoa
- Start date
- TNP Nation
- HMS_Falmouth
1st Balder Update
Current Government
Council of State
Delegate: Zander
Vice-Delegate: Black Aspens
Minister for Foreign Affairs: North East Somerset
Minister for Internal Affairs: C.I.Cerebella
Minister for Immigration: Black Aspens
Minister for Security: Durkadurkiranistan
Parliament
Lawspeaker: Hileville
Supreme Court
Chief Justice: Vacant
Associate Justice: Eluvatar
Associate Justice: Drop Your Pants
Founding
The history of Balder begins with Lazarus, the sinker region tasked with refounding nations that cease to exist. Lazarus was experiencing difficulties with overpopulation, which was causing delays to the update. In the early hours of October 19th, the regions Balder and Osiris were founded to additionally share the responsibility of refounding. Immediately, nations rushed to be elected to the delegacies of these new game created regions. In the chaos that ensued, the United Defenders League and Europeian Republican Navy, under the leadership of Chief of the Band Unibot and President Rachel Anumia, respectively, seized the chance to establish Balder as a democratic region and bilaterally supported Unibot as delegate until elections could be held. Unibot established as the seat of Balder’s constitutional convention the forum Sovereign Liberties created for Balder and dictated that every nation was entitled to enfranchisement in the convention after taking an oath to have no reservations of foreign influence. Nations moving to and being refounded in Balder saw a poetic creed and our flag crafted by the Delegate upon their arrival:
However the flag was so popular, a competition to for a new flag voted against all the proposed replacements, and it has stayed with us as a lasting symbol of the region:
Interim Government
The constitutional convention began and the forum grew, seeing over 5,000 posts and 94 members in the first two weeks. Creating a constitution for the amalgamation that is our region proved to be an endeavour that needed more time than expected. Belschaft proposed the Articles of Covenant and Convention to establish an interim government to provide legitimacy to the convention and self-government to the region, which was unanimously approved by the convention on October 23rd. The Articles confirmed the ongoing delegate elections and mandated elections for the Committee of Public Safety thereafter. The following were the results:
Interim Delegate
Luxembourg 23
Zander 8
Interim Vice-Delegate
Fotar 21
Zander 9
President of the Convention
Belschaft 16
Sovereign Liberties 15
Vice-President of the Convention
C.I.Cerebella 15
Von Stauffenberg 9
Forum Administrator
Rachel Anumia 16
Sovereign Liberties 13
Unibot 7
Commissioners of Public Safety
North East Somerset 18 (First Round Victory)
Black Aspens 12 (Second Round Run-Off)
St George 11 (Second Round Run-Off)
After an established government and free elections, the root administrator planned an election for his position, however, the region unanimously nominated Fotar for the responsibility so no election was held and the account was transferred on November 15th.
Unfortunately a week later on November 22nd,the Interim Delegate attempted to coup the region, removing the forum‘s link from the World Factbook Entry and attempting to hack Fotar‘s email account for the password of the root administrator account. Luxembourg informed Krulltopia of his actions, who promptly reported them to the Interim Vice-Delegate. After pressure from Balder’s friends across Nationstates Luxembourg abandoned the coup, and surrendered his nation. Luxembourg’s explanation for his actions were the following:
Luxembourg:
Interim Vice-Delegate Fotar replaced Luxembourg in a smooth transition to delegate and Balder returned to the matter of drafting a constitution. The results of the Interim Vice-Delegate election to replace Fotar were the following:
Interim Vice-Delegate
Zander 15
Sopo 11
The convention was not without its share of stalemates and factional debates, most notably the debate on the legislature and election system, however, the region reached a consensus on the main tenets of the government. First drafted by Sovereign Liberties and considerably edited by North East Somerset and r3naissancer, the Constitution was passed on November 30th with only one dissenting vote. The Constitution established a collective executive, a popular assembly, an appointed tribunal, and elections utilizing the Condorcet Internet Voting Service. This system was deemed the most fair for the election of public officials.
Constitutional Government
In the elections for the new government, called the Council of State, Fotar ran unopposed for Delegate and resigned from being the root administrator in order to maintain a separation of powers. The following were the results for those elections.
Delegate
Fotar (Unopposed)
Minister for Foreign Affairs
North East Somerset 18
Notolecta 9
Minister for Immigration
Black Aspens (Unopposed)
Minister for Internal Affairs
St George 17
Charles 10
Minister for Security
Zander 11 against Eluvatar, 18 against Pandemicia
Eluvatar 10 against Zander, 16 against Pandemicia
Pandemicia 3 against Zander, 5 against Pandemicia
Lawspeaker
Kayl Rick 24
Govindia 2
Root Administrator
Rachel Anumia 18 against Eluvatar, 20 against Sovereign Liberties
Eluvatar 14 against Rachel Anumia, 16 against Sovereign Liberties
Sovereign Liberties 11 againstloses to Rachel Anumia, 12 against Eluvatar
Within a matter of days, Fotar resigned the delegacy and retired from NationStates citing a greater focus on real life matters. His resignation initiated a by-election, the following was the result.
Delegate By-Election
Zander 19
Sovereign Liberties 10
Zander then resigned the Ministership for Security, initiating another by election. Durkadurkiranistan won the election, running unopposed.
The Courts
The Council of State set about appointing the Supreme Court after Zander was elected as Delegate. The Council of State nominated C.I.Cerebella as Chief Justice and Drop Your Pants and Eluvatar as Associate Justices and Parliament unanimously approved the Associate Justices and only one vote opposed the Chief Justice. Zander then nominated the Minister for Immigration Black Aspens as his Vice Delegate who was unanimously approved by Parliament.
The Supreme Court heard three cases and made decisions on two while the third is still pending. The first case was presented by Hileville requesting clarification on the constitution regarding the powers of the Council of State and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that part of the constitution in conflict, annulling the Council’s of State power to revoke citizenship, and ruled that the Supreme Court did not have the power of judicial review of the other branches. The second case was presented by Govindia appealing the removal of his citizenship by the Council of State and is still pending. The third case was also brought by Hileville requesting clarification regarding absentions. The Supreme Court ruled that abstentions were not counted as votes with the exception of Deputy Lawspeaker approval votes.
Diplomacy and Security
The signing of the Pan-Sinker Security Pact was the first step towards relations with the outside world taken by the Balder government. The Balder militia has been mobilised twice, the first time to support the internal transition of Delegate. And the second time the Balder militia responded with 10 units to support the return of the TRR delegacy.
Into the future, Balder hopes to secure relations with more of our GCR brother regions outside the PSSP, but also wishes to pursue relations with other regions. We already have an informal “Pact of Friendship” which was voluntary declared and signed by Europeia, TNI, the LKE and The United State of Europe. But we wish to pursue formal two way relations with other regions as well. And to this aim we have opened a number of new embassies with potential partners, and hopefully you will be receiving this update.
Parliament
The Lawspeaker Kayl Ryck resigned from his office on January 21st also citing a greater focus on real life matters. Deputy Lawspeaker C.I.Cerebella took over his responsibilities during the by-election. Hileville successfully ran unopposed in the by-election to replace Kayl Ryck as Lawspeaker. Minister for Internal Affairs St George also resigned his office after Parliament started a vote to recall him due to his conduct. C.I.Cerebella, who resigned after the Supreme Court’s decision on the first case was unpopular, also successfully ran unopposed for Minister for Internal Affairs in the by-election.
Despite the multiple by-elections, Parliament has seen much legislative activity. The following is the record of votes in Parliament:
December 9 World Assembly Voting Act by Christian Democrats Failed 4-17
December 14 Convention on Off-Site Property Security by Sopo Passed 14-0
January 3 Legislation Format Bill by Kayl Ryck Passed 8-2-1
January 7 Pan-Sinker Security Pact by North East Somerset Passed 10-0
January 27 Re-Open Nominations Bill by Hileville Passed 10-0
January 14 Parliamentary Procedure Bill by Kayl Ryck Failed 0-4
February 10 Constitution Reform Bill by Sovereign Liberties Passed 3-0
February 13 Militia Bill by Eluvatar Passed 9-0
February 15 Elector Registration Bill by Sovereign Liberties Passed 6-4
February 17 Delegate Removal Bill by Sovereign Liberties Passed 4-0
February 21 Election Registration Bill by Sovereign Liberties At Vote
This update courtesy of the Foreign Affairs Department of Balder, authored by Sovereign Liberties, and edited by North East Somerset.
