[DRAFT] TNS - January 2019 General Elections [WIP]

[Marcus Antonius]

REWRITE

January 2019 General Elections

by Marcus Antonius, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications


The January 2019 elections were, once again, a spectacular event with a large turnout of candidates.

Eluvatar and Owenstacey served as Election Commissioners.

Delegate Results

Pallaith v's Mad Jack

The candidates for Delegate were St. George, Bluie Gamer, abc, Bobberino, BMWSurfer, Pallaith and Praetor.

St. George (Mad Jack) has been in NS for many years and has served as Delegate previously in Osiris in 2012.
He provided a well written campaign speech/plan and certainly gave Pallaith a run for his money in gaining 36.36% of the regions voters.
Bluie Gamer was going to run on the last election but was struck by the 'forum apocalypse'.
He ran a 'joke' campaign where he advised the region not to vote for him, but still succeeded in securing a solitary vote.
Abc, has been a member of TNP for two years and has held the positions of Speaker and Minister of Home Affairs.
He received some criticism from his term as Speaker when he 'vanished', leaving Wonderess to basically take over the office.
This may reflect why the voters only gave him the one vote.
Bobberino ran another 'funny' campaign where he declared himself 'Spammer in Chief!'. He still managed to attract four votes.
BMWSurfer, our hard working Minister of Home Affairs, Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs and relative 'newcomer' to TNP, managed to sway
six votes despite having quoted on his campaign that “Some people will be on my cabinet, some animals.”
Praetor withdrew his bid for Delegate on the first day of voting as apparently he never intended to actually run.
Pallaith, the in office Vice Delegate and Security Councillor, was always going to be a very strong contender for the Delegacy.
His commitment, work ethic and the fact he has been Delegate on two previous occasions, proved a popular choice for the voters.
He claimed victory with 52.73% of the vote.

So at the end of voting we have a new Delegate of TNP in Pallaith, who secured 58 of the 110 total votes cast.
St. George came second with 40 votes. BMWSurfer, third with 6 votes. Fourth place went to Bobberino with 4 votes.
The last place positions were shared by abc and Bluie Gamer with 1 vote apiece. There were 7 Abstains.

Vice Delegate Results

Syrixia gives SiberianFedRep some sound advice.

The candidates for Vice Delegate were Brendog, Sil Dorsett, SiberianFedRep, Bobberino and Bootsie.

Brendog, a former Minister of Home Affairs and has previously pursued the Vice Delegacy,
provided a sound but intriguing campaign in relation to the running of the Security Council. This achieved him 14.16% of the vote.
SiberianFedRep is a newcomer and his campaign showed this and he, sadly, gained no votes. He should not take this to heart.
A brave attempt is better than no attempt at all. Syrixia gave him some sound advice “I think it's great that newer users are trying their hand in the political process.
The ability for users like you to do this is what makes TNP great.
That being said, I highly recommend you get involved in the Executive Staff and other theaters of government before putting your hat in the ring for top dog jobs,
so you learn and gain more experience.”
Bobberino, the cheeky chappie, not only threw his hat into the Delegate' voting arena but also the Vice Delegate' race as well.
Unfortunately he did not submit a campaign thread for this race to entertain us. But he did achieve 9.73% of the vote.
Bootsie has been on the Security Council for three years and has served as Vice Delegate. As Sil Dorsett, a fellow Security Councillor,
was running for the Vice Delagacy as well, he tactically withdrew from the contest so as not to split the votes between them.
Sil Dorsett is a current server on the Security Council and 'father' of Madeline, the Discord Bot.
He has been Involved in TNP for over two years and has been a Minister of Foreign Affairs and World Assembly Affairs.
The voters of TNP agreed that he was indeed 'The Right Person in the Right Job'. With the withdrawal of Bootsie,
the race for Vice Delegate was left open for Sil Dorsett to romp home with 76.11% of the vote.

So at the end of the Vice Delegate voting Sil Dorsett is the new Vice Delegate with 86 of the 113 votes cast. Brendog came second with 16 votes,
and Bobberino gained third place with 11 votes. There were 4 Abstains.

Attorney General Results

General COE discussing legal matters with Yuno

There were only two candidates for the position of Attorney General, Yuno and Crushing Our Enemies.

Yuno is relatively new to TNP and she didn’t want COE running against himself.
To prove herself knowledgeable and understanding of TNP's Legal Code, Yuno summarized the document in her campaign.
This must have impressed the voters as she achieved 27.96% of the vote which equates to 26 votes.
Crushing Our Enemies was the sitting Attorney General and was seeking re-election to the office.
Four months ago, he promised to centre his work as Attorney General around the values of Compassion, Objectivity, and Efficiency,
as opposed to Crushing etc. The voters of TNP acknowledged his appeal and he won, accumulating 67 of the 93 cast votes of which there were 23 Abstains.

So Crushing Our Enemies has been re-elected as the Attorney General.

Regional Speaker Results

Wondress, Dinoium and Artemis settle things in the Speakers Office.

The current Speaker, Wondress and her Deputy, Artemis including Dinoium from the Speakers Staff all, entered the fray for election for Speaker.
This particular race was to become very interesting, if not controversial.

Wonderess has been in the position of Speaker for the region for a few months now, having to have stepped up to the plate under unfortunate circumstances.
He is very keen to be re-elected as he would like to publish a successor to the Regional Assembly Digest .
Artemis also known as Oracle to some. He currently serves as a member of the Security Council, Election Commission, Deputy Speaker,
and is a former Minister of Culture. He fully intends to surround himself with active Deputy Speakers.
And hopes to blend the make-up of the Deputy Speakers with experienced members and newer individuals to help train future speakers.
Dinoium has had experience as a Deputy Minister of Communications, Deputy Attorney General, Ambassador and on the Speaker Staff.

When the voting started it became obvious that it was going to be a very close race indeed.
At the cease of voting there was only 4 votes separating the winner and the last placing.
Wonderess was defeated taking 34 votes which equates to 31.48% of the total vote of 108 total votes. There were 9 Abstains.
Artemis and Dinoium could not achieve a clear majority with the 36 and 38 votes achieved respectively at the cease of the voting period.
This then led to a Run Off vote.

Speaker Runoff Results

Dinoium takes on Artemis

The Runoff vote between Artemis and Dinoium got off to a good start and very quickly it appeared as though Dinoium was going to secure the victory.
A few days into the campaign, Dinoium attempted to concede his candidacy.
This is illegal, a candidate cannot concede once the voting has started in a Runoff.
Dinoium would have had to drop his citizenship or not take his oath if elected.
If he dropped his citizenship, the voting process would have to be re-started.
If he was victorious in the voting and was awarded the Speaker position and then not taken his oath,
this would have triggered a Special Election a week after the Oath Taking period had lapsed.
At the close of voting the votes are as follows: Abstains 1, Artemis 44 and Dinoium 30.

Artemis is the new Speaker.



[Work In Progress]

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January 2019 General Elections


by Marcus Antonius, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications

The January 2019 elections were, once again, a spectacular event with an unprecedented turnout of candidates.

The candidates for Delegate numbered 7. They were St. George, Bluie Gamer, abc, Bobberino, BMWSurfer, Pallaith and Praetor.

The candidates for Vice Delegate numbered 5. They were Brendog, Sil Dorsett, SiberianFedRep, Bobberino and Bootsie.

Bootsie withdrew his candidacy on the 2 January.

The Speaker Wondress and his Deputies, Dinoium and Artemis, all entered for candidacy. This particular race was to become very interesting.

There were only two candidates for the position of Attorney General, Yuno and Crushing Our Enemies.

The candidacy declaration period started on January 1 and finished on January 4, 2019.

The voting started on the 6 January, marked by the withdrawal of Praetor in his bid for Delegate, apparently he never intended to actually run.. The same can be said about Bluie Gamer who ran a 'joke' campaign but stayed the course.

By the time voting ended on the 11 January, the battle for Delegate between St. George and Pallaith ended with the latter being the victor.

Pallaith took 58 of the total of 110 votes cast to the 40 votes gained by St.George.

The race for Attorney General was won by Crushing Our Enemies scoring 67 of the 93 cast votes.

With the withdrawal of Bootsie, the race for Vice Delegate was left open for Sil Dorsett to romp home with 76.11% of the vote, which translates as 86 of the 113 votes cast.

The most interesting race was that of the Speaker.

This turned out to be a very close race indeed.

With only 4 votes separating first and last place

Wonderess was defeated taking 34 votes.

Artemis and Dinoium headed off to a run off with 36 to 38 votes respectively at the cease of the voting period.

At the cease of voting on 11 January, Pallaith had been elected Delegate, Sil Dorsett Vice Delegate and Crushing Our Enemies has been re-elected Attorney General.

Voting opened on Jan 12 2019 - 17 2019 in a runoff election for Speaker between @Dinoium and @Artemis.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = St. George

So this is a bit weird, innit? Me, standing for delegate? I certainly didn’t expect this to happen even 3 months ago, but it seems like I’ve been granted a second chance. What better way to spend this second chance in the service of my online home for much of the last four and a half years?

A lot has changed since I was last a GCR delegate, way back in 2012 as Pharaoh of Osiris. The game - especially in TNP - is much more technical, with endorsement tools and automated telegrams and the like. I would very much like to learn more of that side, as I’m hopefully soon to start a Computing and IT course in my offline life, and it’s a side of the game I’ve never really been familiar with - as I’m sure the likes of Darcania and Sil Dorsett can attest to, with my ham-fisted attempts to help them run bots in the TNP RP discord!

But the fundamentals are the same. Successful regions - successful GCRs - require security, activity and a little bit of innovation to truly thrive. We have the security down. With the success of the World Assembly Development Program - the greatest single government initiative in any region in all of NS - and our dedicated Security Council, TNP is more secure than it has ever been.

On the activity front, TNP boosts excellent amounts of activity in several areas, with defined communities in Roleplay, on the RMB and on Discord. We can always do better, however.

Many of these platforms tend to break down what each candidate is going to do ministry-by-ministry. I would like to take a different approach. I believe that to make TNP and our ministries more successful, we should be looking at how we can get ministries working closer together to achieve our goals. Integrated government will always be a more attractive concept to me than each ministry operating in isolation.

Let’s start with what I’m terming - in an analogy that is probably going to see more and more contrived as I explain my ideas - as the Sisters - the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, World Assembly Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. TNP has the highest WA vote by some margin, though the advantage has reduced with the rise in endorsements that our ally The East Pacific has. Leveraging our WA vote and influence should be a tool in our diplomatic arsenal, as I argued in my piece here.

Consequences based foreign policy seems to have been lacking in multiple terms, going back some time. I admire the positive steps taken in Siwale’s term - the treaty with Greater Dienstad is a fine achievement - and terms previous to his, but I find that too often TNP has allowed diplomatic crisis and missteps in other regions to go without comment. The revelations about Andrew were seemingly settled without public comment of any kind from Balder and TNP made no comment about the issues in TSP regarding Tim and Escade and their extra-judicial bans. However the actions taken by Siwale and team towards the New Pacific Order are highly commendable, and jumping in on the St Abbaddon operation was a brave move for a TNP that had seemingly forgotten how to use the NPA as a tool of foreign policy.

If elected, I would use our Foreign Affairs ministry to seek out new partners with an interest in the World Assembly, either by sponsoring them for admittance into WALL, or through bilateral agreements with an emphasis on WA co-operation. The East Pacific would be a fine place to start, but there are also user created regions such as Forest with an interest in the WA, and whilst I will always disagree with Right to Life over their approach to the abortion issue, working with some of their authors on other issues should be considered.

Our foreign affairs won’t be entirely WA focused however, and I’d again just like to congratulate Siwale on our treaty with Greater Dienstad, an RP region with a storied history and home to players recognised by the WA such as the commended Lamoni, the recently condemned United World Order and the hopefully soon to be commended Lyras, all accomplished roleplayers. I’d like to build on these foundations, seeking out regions that we normally wouldn’t consider to be obvious choices to partner with. Sports RP regions like Atlantian Oceania could be approached for mutual ties, giving us the opportunity to work with players like the commended Starblaydia, who gave a talk at our RP convention event. Forest is home to a large number of players who pen issues, and if possible I would like to work with them on a program for the TNP University exploring the most important and iconic issues in NationStates.

The third sister, the Ministry of Defence does a lot of good work, with operations at most updates, either on our own or with allies, oftentimes making up the majority of both the pilers and updating WA nations in joint operations - I personally jumped on a recent NPA operation with the SPSF where our ability to bring large numbers of WAs quickly to events was remarked upon by our ally. The MoD would become the third sister by utilising it more frequently in a WA focused foreign policy. WA Blocking - the act of taking regions not to tag or hold, but to remove delegates that are approving a proposal that we don’t wish to reach quorum - is a concept early in its development but has shown interesting results. I think the opposite - taking over regions with delegates that aren’t approving a proposal in order to approve it, without affecting quorum - is possible, but requires more detailed planning.

I outline the potential for the MoD to be the third sister whilst also recognising that ultimately, this potential won’t be realised if both the rank and file members and the high command aren’t interested in the possibility. Military gameplay should be, above all, fun. If people aren’t going to have fun pursuing this kind of military activity, then we shouldn’t pursue it, and that’s something I would have to talk to my Minister of Defence, the High Command and the rank and file about. If they want to back that, excellent, if they don’t, then I’m just as happy for the NPA to continue the fine work that they do currently.

I’ll now talk about the Ministries of Communications, Culture and Home Affairs, that unsurprisingly I’m calling the Brothers. Communications is undergoing a transitional period and I’m interested in seeing what direction the ministry heads. Communications does a good job and I’ve been happy to contribute to the Northern Broadcasting Service when I can. I feel like this can be further utilised in relation to our cultural events. The NBS has commented on events we run but there’s been no real tie in, and going forward I’d love to see event organisers coming to advertise their events via the NBS, and the NBS expanding to further broadcasts and eventually having regular programming, more than once a week.

Culture is the ministry I’m probably most familiar with, and to see it go from a ministry without a minister, with just myself running things, to this multi-departmental, larger and more active organisation is something I am so happy to see. Asta and her events team have made huge progress in how we do events and they are so much better now than a few years ago, where we were the ones going to events, rather than hosting them. McMasterdonia has done a superb job leading the ministry, and the Roleplay event we held earlier this year with Greater Dienstad is a result of his hard work along with a number of others.

I’ll admit to not knowing too much about the work Home Affairs does, and this is a ministry I would need to learn more about before making any decisions on staffing or programs. I would like to say I do have some suggestions that I’d be interested to hear feedback on from those more familiar with the ministry - such as introductory events, where new members can get to know both the government and their regionmates in Q&A or tutorial sessions either here on the forum, on discord or on the RMB - the RMB Q&As have been successful thus far and I’d love to see that expanded. I’d be interested to see Home Affairs work with Culture or Communications to help inform the region - and especially newer members - of our history, the importance of our cultural events and how we got to where we are today - as the largest, most successful and most secure feeder in NationStates.

I spoke earlier of innovation and I think I can find areas where the government of TNP hasn’t had an interest in and could definitely could get involved in. I know my shortcomings and it’s fair to say that I am not very good at drafting legislation. My recently passed Delegate Advisor law - and yes, I will be appointing advisors - relied on final wording provided by Crushing Our Enemies and I thank him for suggesting it. To this end, I would seek to appoint a Regional Assembly Officer, who would represent the government in the RA and push the delegate’s legislative agenda. I still intend on pursuing amendments or laws to help make our elections more competitive, increase transparency and close loopholes with an updated Freedom of Information Act and to also enable the Regional Assembly to hold the executive to greater account, though this last thing can be achieved without the need for legislation.

I know some will or have already bring up my former Delete-on-Site status and my sometimes prickly temperament as potential disqualifying criteria or as something to hold against me. I can only say that I am not the same person who got themselves banned from NationStates. I’ve grown as a person and I think that is evident in how I’ve built the TNP RP community - firstly on the forum and secondly as a guiding hand for the RMB RP Moderation team. I said in my thread announcing my return that TNP RP is the thing I’m most of proud of achieving in NS. I meant it, but I look forward, if given the opportunity, to build on the hard work of previous delegates - of those I admire, like McMasterdonia and Asta - to those who I might’ve disagreed with - like r3n and Plembobria - and those who have recently shown that TNP is still attracting some of the best players in the game to hold the highest of offices - like Siwale and Pallaith - and to help bring TNP into 2019 and beyond stronger, more active and more outward looking than ever.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = Bluie Gamer

Checklist:

Coups
Wonderess to keep being Speaker
Wonderess to be Advisor to the Delegate
Be gay
Advance the militant gay agenda
Remove labels
Give Ghost a point
Enforce labels
Make TNO a thing
Do a fascist edit of the Coat of Arms for when the revolution comes
Fash CoA needs 30 eagles and 20 fasces
Be prepared for nomination
Install Tlomz as NS Jesus
Keep joking about couping so that they will never think I’m serious until it happens
Determine the orientation of all past delegates
Determine if Praetor is actually a plant
Make sure no one tells the Clue joke
Endocap of 1
Make Yuno delegate (next term)
That is all
Don't vote for me

Alright, let's cut the cheese. I am not seriously running for Delegate. I don't mean that I am not serious about running for Delegate, I mean that I am not running seriously for Delegate. If that confuses you, then just go read some of the others' platforms. This crap ain't worth your time.

That being said, I have entertained a Delegate run before, even declaring that I will run for the previous election... and the forumpocalypse occured before I could make my campaign thread. Once the election was back up and everyone was re-declaring their intent to run, I didn't. During the month that the forum was down, I was trying to type up my campaign. In the process of doing so, I realized how little I actually know about the inner workings of TNP. I have no clue what FA does. I have no idea about the status of the RMB community. RP is completely unknown to me. I already knew I would be losing the run. It was meant more of a test to myself, to see how well I could hold up to the competition, as well as a publicity stunt to get my name out. However, I didn't want to submit a half-assed campaign last term. I wanted it to be serious.

Now if that was the case, why am I making such a stupid campaign? As Ghost/Pallaith put it, "why even accept the nomination if you're just going to do that". Well, I'm not going to do "just that". That is the purpose of this second post. I will be putting in here my supposed plans if I do get elected Delegate. Why didn't I just put that instead of that silliness? Well, I just wanted to have some fun, is that really so bad?

MoHA
This Ministry for me is one of the most important, yet also one of the most problematic IMO because of its very nature. Work done in HA is central to the workings of TNP, for they are the recruiters that bring people into the community. However, doing the job is not very fulfilling. There is not much satisfaction to be gained from telegramming a hundred people to join the forums, especially when you get rude responses back. You don't see the results of your hard work, and most of the time that work is for naught. This will be my main focus during my delegacy, because without it, TNP will dry up. As such, I would like to introduce a way of incentivising participation in HA, and I would like to work closely with my MoHA Marcus Antonius to come up with that.

MoD
Defense is doing okay right now. Yes, it's just okay. Which means there's quite more that can be improved upon. I am not downplaying the progress that Defense has made in the past term - I think Loz and Zaz had done tremendously well. However, they did well with the Special Forces, the jumpers of the force, and now is the time that the Auxiliary be given attention. I will make it my goal to personally organize a piling operation at least once a month, with an Officer serving as the point. I will also encourage my MoD Bobberino to seek out an accept offers of joint operations with allied and friendly organizations to get the NPA more known and respected out in the field.

MoCu
Culture has honestly been fantastic the past term, and I am personally at a loss on how to top McMasterdonia's work in the department. I would like to have a calendar of events that occur periodically, and to have my MoCu (TBD, I do not know which of the Culture members want to be MoCu) maintain and hopefully introduce more events.

MoCo
El Fiji Grande's time as MoCo has already seen improvements in leaps and bounds. However, I do believe that he still has much more to give to the Ministry, hence why I want to keep him as MoCo. I think TNS was a fantastic idea, but I am more excited about NBS. I think the program has so much potential, and I wish to have become a more regular thing.

MoWAA
I'll be completely honest, WAA is not my forte. Combing WA proposals with a fine tooth comb is not something that I can do. As such, I am hoping that my MoWAA TlomzKrano will continue his duties to the standard that he set in the previous term.

MoFA
TNP by itself is strong, but having allies never hurts. While friendships with GCRs is to be expected, and alliances with some of the most known UCRs, I would like to continue in the direction that Siwale took with establishing the embassy with Greater Dienstad, and establish more embassies with RP regions.

tl;dr
MoHA: Marcus Antonius
MoD: Bobberino
MoCu: TBD
MoCo: El Fiji Grande
MoWAA: TlomzKrano
MoFA: TBD
Don't vote for: me

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = abc

Fellow citizens,

I am happy to announce that I will be running for Delegate in this election. I have been in The North Pacific for two years now, being a member of all ministries as well as the NPA and notably serving as Speaker of the Regional Assembly and Minister of Home Affairs.

I am pleased to have seen progress take place under both terms of Siwale's delegacy, but have unfortunately also witnessed areas of decline in some key Ministries. If elected, I promise to do what it takes to revitalize the Ministries in decline, while introducing new policies which I believe will help The North Pacific progress in the future.

Home Affairs
What's wrong: While the Ministry continues to run smoothly and has no problem with regular recruitment, the forum mentors program has essentially collapsed.

My plan: Bring back forum mentors to help bring back the personal aspect of recruitment.

Foreign Affairs
What's wrong: A number of Ambassadors are failing to properly do their jobs in their embassies, smaller regions receive little attention, and we have taken a neutral stance on numerous world issues for far too long.

My plan: Ensure that Ambassadors are doing their jobs and if they aren't, remove them, have bilateral events with smaller regions to help improve relations, and introduce a consulate system in which potential embassies must prove their ability to be active before embassies are built. Additionally, under my leadership, I would take steps to ensure that our region has a clear stance on issues plaguing the world. I appreciate the actions of Siwale regarding The Pacific and believe this is the way forward in dealing with other issues.

Defense
What's wrong: Not much honestly, however it would be helpful if there was some sort of official 'bootcamp' for new recruits.

My plan: Create a bootcamp for new recruits where they will learn the fundamentals of NS Military tactics to help save valuable time on missions spent explaining things.

Communications, World Assembly Affairs, and Culture
These Ministries are running virtually flawlessly. They have performed above and beyond expectations and things should continue as is.

Experience: Speaker, Deputy Speaker (x2), Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (x4), Gameside Advocate (x3), Minister of Home Affairs, Deputy Minister of Culture, Ambassador to The East Pacific, Ambassador to The Order of the Grey Wardens, Ambassador to 10000 Islands, Ambassador to Spiritus, NPA Private First Class, Speaker Staff, RMB Guardian, Speaker, Forum Mentor (x4), Graphics Officer, WALL Member, Communications Staff, and Recruitment Officer.

I know my campaign is short, but I believe this is what can realistically be accomplished in one term. I am happy to take any questions you have and thank you for taking time to read my campaign.

Sincerely,
ABC
Candidate for Delegate

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = Bobberino

May the People of the The North Pacific rise up and elect your Spammer in Chief! May the voices of the common memers be heard in collective cries across the land far and wide!

Our Cabinet will consist of pro-meme, authoritative, yet expert voices from across the land. Leading our current Ministries, will be:

El Fiji Grande, of Communications
Yukkira, of Culture
BMWSurfer, of Defense
Praetor, of Foreign Affairs
Bluie Gamer, of Home Affairs
TlomzKrano, of WA Affairs

And under my leadership, TNP shall move forward on a new Ministry, the Ministry of Memes. This Ministry will be supervised by the Delegate (if the Delegate is an expert on memes, which will be the case this term) and an appointed Minister will appoint Deputy Ministers / Overseers of the different bureaus. Each of these will be described in detail.

Reddit Affairs: This bureau will be in charge of TNP's official meme subreddit, as well as tracking up-and-coming memes through the Reddit meme system. This can be even in normie subreddits such as r/memes, or can be in any dank subreddit as long as it is run by and approved by either the informed Delegate, or Minister.

iFunny Affairs: This bureau will run TNP's iFunny account. By devolving a bit into the normie scale, TNP can get features racked up on their official account, allowing for recruitment to take place into the Ministry and into the region as a whole. Posts are to be made frequently and effectively.

Instagram Affairs: This bureau will run TNP's Instagram account... Inhabited by both recruitment and memes. This bureau will employ tactics like scouring several big accounts for meme templates that are catching fire and that will spread to iFunny and report such.

Auxilary: This bureau will use other means to scout and report trends to the Delegate and Minister, and will promptly report any eye-popping new means of sharing memes and/or very popular memes deemed to have gone normie.

Special Forces: This bureau will patrol TNP's Meme channel and all derivations of TNP spam channels, and scrub it clean of any normie filth. Normie memes will not be tolerated underneath the watchful guard of the Special Forces.

Propoganda: This bureau will use any methods necessary to publish and distribute pro-TNP memery wherever seen fit; gameside or elsewhere.

Research and Administration: This bureau will publish dispatches and University speeches regarding any meme category seen fit by them and approved by the Delegate.

The Minister of Memes will be Koopa.

A vote for Bobberino is a vote for all meme-kind.

Why vote for a normie, when you can vote for Bobberino?

The choice is yours, TNP.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = BMWSurfer

Hi there!

My name is BMWSurfer, and I am running for delegate this election. I joined NationStates in 2017. I am currently the Minister of Home Affairs and a Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs. I am also a Major in the North Pacific Army. In Home Affairs, I focused on welcoming new nations and consistently sending out manual recruitment telegrams. In World Assembly Affairs, I have written IFVs for several important votes. In the NPA, I have led many operations, including operations with our most important allies.

Last term Siwale did an excellent job, but I feel that we can do better. Most of my focus this term will revolve around collaboration between Ministries, and with other regions.

World Assembly Affairs

Tl;dr: The Ministry will focus on getting IFVs (and the delegate vote) out early, and collaborate with WALL and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also, revive the sponsorship program.

We have a remarkable power in the World Assembly. Through the delegacy we directly control over 1000 votes. Through the Information For Voters (IFV) program we influence the way our region votes. Through the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL), we can work with other regions to coordinate our stances on important votes.

To make this work, timing is key. We need to decide how we will vote early. Voting threads need to be posted before a proposal reaches queue, and IFVs need to be completely written before a proposal goes to vote. To achieve this, we will be posting proposal voting and discussion threads once a proposal has at least 70% of the total approvals needed to enter the queue, or 5 days before it goes to vote if already in the queue. We will also make it a goal to have an IFV ready to go before the proposal goes to vote, so that it can be sent as soon as the proposal goes to vote.

We will also, when possible, be sending these IFVs to WALL ahead of a vote. This will inform them of our positions and lead to more opportunities for collaboration and coordination. Additionally, having more people read our IFVs before we send them will ensure their quality.

The Delegate also plays a crucial role during the early stages of voting, due to the number of votes they hold. The Delegate must vote early, ideally in coordination with the release of the IFV. In this regard, I have a special advantage. Due to the timezone I live in, WA votes start at times in which I am online. Through this, we can maximize our influence in the early stages of voting.

Another area of focus this term is the Security Council. We often find SC votes to be very sensitive in nature, and requiring lots of experience in both WA and foreign policy matters. This term, to improve our response to crucial SC votes, the ministry will work with senior diplomats from Foreign Affairs. This will give Foreign Affairs a chance to coordinate their efforts with those of World Assembly Affairs, and improve the Ministry the tools they need to excel in the SC.

We will also work to advertise our Ministry sponsorship program to give aspiring WA authors in the region an advantage.


The North Pacific Army

Tl;dr: The NPA will focus on joint operations, piles, training operations.

The North Pacific Army is one of our most important foreign policy tools. Through raiding and defending we seek to promote our values and principles throughout the world. When we conduct operations with other organizations, we create valuable relationships that

promote peace and security for everyone. Through our training, we also prepare ourselves for the (unlikely) event of formal aggression with other regions.

This term, the ministry and I will work on conducting more joint operations. Joint operations build lasting friendships, and build bridges between organizations. I hope to continue the practice of hold a joint op with each of our allies (at least, those with militaries). We will also look into holding joint ops with other organizations, especially ones newer to the game.

Another major focus this term will be the Auxiliary. The Auxiliary has recently been not very active, and our piling numbers have suffered as a result. The Minister and I will work on increasing activity in the auxiliary, with auxiliary-only ops to keep our piling force engaged. We will also look into other potential solutions, like spinning off the Auxiliary into a separate organization like TSPs Civilian Corps. We will be using the Ministry of Home Affairs to recruit directly and specifically into the Auxiliary.

We will also continue to focus on training in various (usually overlooked) types of R/D, such as chases, liberations, and sleeper operations. This willincrease mission readiness and overall competency of our soldiers.


Home Affairs

Tl;dr: HA will work to revamp the forum mentor program, RMB dispatches, and recruit to other Ministries.

In light of the recently passed citizenship amendment, Home Affairs has a renewed responsibility to both recruit players to the forum and to welcome and guide new forum users. This term, this will be our main focus.

To achieve this goal, we will be re-organizing and revamping the Forum Mentoring program. The Forum Mentor program was heavily disrupted with the move to this forum in September. Home Affairs will be opening up the program to more members. We will also be more proactive in our efforts to help new forum members, by replying to and monitoring introduction threads. Through this, we can ensure people feel welcomed and guided during the most intimidating first days on the forum.

The Ministry, with its Gameside Advocates, will also re-evaluate our RMB focused dispatches, and update them where necessary. They will also evaluate new templates for our manual recruitment.

This Ministry will also work to recruit for other Ministries, to increase activity and participation in the Executive Staff.


Foreign Affairs

Tl;dr: FA will work with other Ministries and establish new relationships.

Admittedly, I have very little experience with this Ministry. However, many people inside the Ministry have extensive experience in foreign policy matters. I plan to bring that experience to what we do in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs and the North Pacific Army.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also work with the North Pacific Army to explore potential opportunities to collaborate with other aforementioned organizations.

Foreign Affairs will also work to establish a training program for new ambassadors. This will also include new resources, like training manuals on how to be an ambassador, for newer members to read when they join the ministry, before they get assignments. We will also look into potential future mentoring and training programs.


Communications

Tl;dr: Comms will publish 4 TNS editions, 2 TNL editions, and expand NBS.

This last term, the Ministry of Communications shifted the focus of The Northern Lights, our regional newspaper, from a regional status update to a detailed publication of well thought out articles. They also established a new monthly regional update, called The North Star, to send out to other regions.

Communications did an excellent job publishing The North Star last term, but couldn’t publish an edition of The Northern Lights last term.

This term, we will make it a goal to publish 4 editions of The North Star, and 2 editions of The Northern Lights.

Furthermore, I will work with the Minister of Communications to revamp and expand the Northern Broadcasting Service, with a goal to have broadcasts at least every two weeks. We would also include more guest speakers, and feature episodes. We would also put more resources into the advertisement and publicity of these broadcasts.


Culture

Tl;dr: Culture will have two events, including a flag day celebration. It will also host small games.

The Ministry of Culture has done a remarkable job these last two terms hosting events, especially in collaboration with TNP Roleplay and other regions.

While not entirely active read response below and pls dont kill me, the Ministry of Culture has nonetheless done an excellent job this past term organizing and collaborating on events. Especially the NS Cruise Parade, and the Harry Potter festival.

This term, we will continue to use our events to reach other regions. We will look at the possibility of doing something similar to the NS Cruise Parade again event again, and we will seek out other events we can participate and assist in. This term, our goal will be to have at least two events, one of which will be for flag day.

Culture will also host smaller events on a regular basis, such as discord and forum games and contests.


If you would like a dose of fluffiness in your signature, while at the same time showing your support for me, here is a campaign icon:

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = Pallaith

As you are all aware by now (and to the surprise of probably few), for the third time I am asking for your vote for Delegate of The North Pacific. One of the best things about TNP, in my view, is that we make it really easy for newcomers to contribute and take positions in our government. I certainly benefited from this when I first came here and was asked to be part of the cabinet within my first 2 weeks of being in TNP. Because of that, I do know that many of you will be inclined to look to someone else rather than do me the honor of selecting me as your Delegate a third time. But another advantage TNP has, is the high number of talented and experienced players who call it home. This time, I hope to serve as your Delegate as one of those players.

We are about to start a new year and a new term that promise to be one of the more exciting chapters not only in NS but in TNP as well. A new group of players is joining us as citizens, old friends have returned to lend a hand once again, and the order of the world in gameplay as we have known it has shifted in major ways, more rapidly and more completely than we have become accustomed to. I believe this is a time when new approaches to how we have done things are necessary, but those approaches must be spearheaded by someone with the experience to apply them quickly and effectively. I have been involved primarily in two areas in the last year: foreign affairs and the world assembly. These are where the biggest shifts in the game have been taking place, and where the greatest amount of experience is necessary to navigate the new year ahead of us. I have also served as Vice Delegate since the past summer, and have been part of some of our best efforts yet to enhance and track the progress of endorsements in the region. These efforts must continue to ensure the region is in the strongest position in the WA and by extension the wide game world.

Below is my preferred approach and outline for how I will handle our various areas of government.

Foreign Affairs:
In my view TNP needs to quit sticking its head in the sand and needs to be part of the world around us. This extends into every aspect of what we do, from defense to the World Assembly. We are not without conviction, and I fear that by shying away from conflict or taking part in world events, even if only rhetorically, we may give off the false impression that we have no convictions, or at least don’t have very strong ones. Worse, we may inadvertently lend credibility to old charges that we are aloof or unconcerned with anyone else but ourselves. Today’s NS world is different even from the one we knew just a month and a half ago. Going it alone is not an option, and that includes choosing not to participate in the events of the day. I am not the first one to say as much, nor is this the first platform to state that TNP must be a more active player on the world stage. We did a better job of that in recent months, and I think it is fair to say we have turned a corner. Now we must keep moving in that better direction.
Last time I was delegate my big idea was for us to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and try to be friendly and participating in everyone’s region, and become better friends with the small regions with which we had embassies. This wasn’t easily achieved, and in the end the most significant FA developments came from direct interaction with our closest allies and largest neighbors. Subsequent events also showed how fleeting or illusory those diplomatic gains had been, but having experienced the past year and especially seen how much the state of the game has been altered even in the last month and a half, I believe this is the perfect time for TNP to really invest in the game beyond our shores. Forging stronger relationships one ambassador at a time won’t get the job done. I believe we have a lot of talent in the Diplomatic Corps which can be directed to specific regions where it is best suited or has the most experience, but this cannot be replicated in every ambassador posting. Those efforts which can be made to pair well-suited and experienced ambassadors will be a priority, and in the rest of the cases we will ensure our lines of communication remain constant and we learn all we can from our embassies.

Defense:
It is hard to predict what events will take place in NS or when certain other regions or organizations will be available. It will continue to be my goal for the NPA to partner with our allies and neighbors on at least one joint-op each but this is always a shifting goal. Fortunately, we have seen great strides in the quality and quantity of experienced and capable officers, something that had concerned me the last time I was delegate. To ensure that continues to be the case, I want to focus more heavily than ever on recruitment for NPA. We have a greater number of people getting involved in TNP with the recent citizenship reform, and events abroad have reminded us that our military needs to be polished and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
I supported recent changes to NPA policy that expanded the kind of operations we could participate in, but it is important that in every operation, we continue to respect the community and identity of the regions we encounter, and that we do not behave in needlessly destructive ways. Our activities, as they have been as far back as I can remember and during my time as delegate, will always be to preserve our own regional interests and those of our allies. I will not be reinventing the wheel here.

Home Affairs:
All existing programs will be continued. Having said that, I believe we are long overdue for a very close and critical look at our network of communications and information. We’ve seen a great expansion of telegrams and dispatches, along with more regular press releases. Players in TNP have more mail than ever, and we need to know that it is yielded maximum returns or if it’s falling on deafened ears. The previous term has seen an even greater focus on bringing in the gameside community. It is time they provide us with help only they can provide, and give us the best picture we have yet of how we can streamline and reduce excessive methods of communication. Sporadic requests to be removed from lists or scattered complaints about spam are not unheard of, but they do not really give us an accurate picture of how we can improve our outreach. I admit this may be an overly ambitious, nebulous goal, but it’s time we take a serious look at it.
As the person who ended the RMB Guardian program and established the Gameside Advocates, I have an idea for how we can not only improve on that model, but take advantage of the recent citizenship reform and enhance the outreach and inclusion of gameside players. A primary facet of the Gameside Advocates model was that the advocates would be comprised in great part of players who were primarily active on the RMB or were in both communities fairly evenly. These advocates would bridge the two aspects of the community and find ways to get payers from both involved with each other. In practice they have become something of a RMB police force, making sure the RMB is clean and troublemakers are dealt with. This is undoubtedly an important aspect of the role, but was never intended to be the primary or only function. Going forward I would like this group to recruit as heavily as possible from our new citizens who are gameside-active, and would like to see more programs like the AMAs that the Gameside Advocates sponsored this past term, but with more of a focus on their participation. That is to say, I want to see forum game-type activities but on the RMB (avoiding crossing the spam rules), or maybe prominent RMB players who do an AMA or feature on our Discord server for a change. This can include the oft-cited but inconsistently-hosted RMB trivia, which should be an ongoing, month-long event which would lend itself to multiple winners and establish it at last as a staple of the region’s gameside activity. We should also make greater use of The Northern Light, and one way we can do that and enhance gameside activity is putting up polls for TNL’s NS issues. It is, after all, the regional nation, so it stands to reason the region would have a say in how it decides the outcome of its issues.
We will also need mentors to focus especially on RMB-active players whose exposure to the forum may be limited to their initial post to gain citizenship or subsequent posts to vote. These mentors will need to look outside the forum as well, and be prepared to lend their help and advice via RMB post and telegram as well. Increasingly, the efforts of these mentors and staff will need to be more well-rounded, as they must be able to serve all kinds of citizens in our community.

Communications:
After two terms as Delegate, I found Communications to be both an area of triumph as well as a missed opportunity. We were successful in releasing seven editions of TNL, six of which were consecutive, but I had hoped to do much more with NBS than we managed to accomplish. NBS has lived on since my delegacy, and is now in a period of potential ascendancy. This is a project I plan to expand even further. The end of the last term also saw us lean into differentiating the different projects Communications works on. TNL had quantity but not quality, and in TNS we can continue to produce informational content at the same quantity, without being concerned that our flagship product, TNL, isn’t offering the best our best and brightest can do. Much as TNL and TNS accomplish very different things and allow for us to create more diverse content, I hope to expand NBS beyond instructional videos and have multiple tiers of shows. Past delegates have had fireside chats, I would like to explore regular shows with more concentrated content, including one-one-one discussions or interviews like those we have regularly had in print.
Numbers-wise, I am aiming for four TNS releases and at least one but hopefully two TNL releases. There is no reason TNS cannot be done as frequently as TNL has been done recently, given its well-established formula, whereas TNL will take time to develop its content and also be more substantial in topic and length. Additionally, I want us to get as close as possible to weekly NBS broadcasts, spanning the variety of show-types I had in mind. This should reduce the struggle to come up with content every week by letting us put on a show best suited for the week’s events or available speakers.

Cultural Affairs:
In the past I aimed for synergy in our ministries, where the combined efforts of staff across ministries could work together for a common project. I see an opportunity to do that with Culture and FA this term. Over in TWP there’s an effort to build an education ministry which will focus on teaching history in NS, focusing on the old relationships, power players, and major events that shaped the game and in many ways continue to do so. I believe we can utilize the vast knowledge and experience of our own community to further that project, and put it to work collaborating with TWP. When we aren’t doing this directly, we can devote those efforts to expanding the content of our university so that we work on something similar in parallel. The last time I was delegate I hoped that TNP could be a destination for prospective WA authors. I believe we can be a destination for those wishing to learn more about this game and its history as well.
Our region’s roleplay has continued to thrive and develop and now encompasses the world created by our primarily-gameside players. The previous year has also seen a successful treaty with a world-renowned rp region, Greater Dienstad. Just as we can enhance the mission of our university, I believe we can replicate the success of our prior rp event with GD and lend our own expertise in rp to other regions. Culture can continue its ongoing partnership with our roleplay team and if not add a valuable wing to our university, lay the foundation for a new one with roleplay as its focus. All roleplay-centric publications should not only continue to happen, but should be regularly released and just as important to our Communications team’s distributions, alongside TNL and TNS.
In addition to this, I would like us to host a cultural event primarily on the RMB. We typically utilize Discord, but I want to continue investing in the great work we have been doing with the gameside community. We have seen great use of embassy posting this past term during Culture’s cruise around the world. I hope we can utilize embassy posting again to engage our embassy regions with our regulars on the RMB for some focused games, competitions, or discussion. Additionally, more events like our Endorsement Frenzy would allow the gameside community to be more involved in greater regional goals, and we can utilize the new NS cards feature in our prizes and awards for participating in these events.

World Assembly Affairs:
I believe I have this down to a science. You will get early and consistent votes from me. I will always hit major update and I will almost always hit minor (weekends will be tricky). I have an avid interest in the affairs of the World Assembly, I have spent nearly all my time as a member of TNP working with our friends in WALL. And because of that work I also see where we have places we can improve. Collaboration on vote recommendations, for instance, is not what it once was. Even discussion of upcoming and ongoing votes has fractured, and takes place on a very ad-hoc basis. It is time to bring robust discussion and information sharing back to WALL, especially with new delegates coming up in many of the signatory regions.
The past year has seen a lot of activity on the author front. The WA ministry has been perfecting a sponsorship program for WA resolutions, and I want to see it expanded. I always wanted TNP to be a destination for authors, and I feel we can achieve that if the program is visible and promoted. That I why I hope to more prominently feature it in communications related to WA matters that are transmitted to the region. I also want to include it as part of a broader goal of being even more visible on the world stage. I was WA minister this past year and one of goals was to be part of WA discussions before the resolutions even made it to queue to be discussed by our team. That absolutely must become a regular occurrence as part of our greater effort to be a more involved player on the word stage. We must be part of the effort in crafting WA resolutions, not just the distant emperor who offers a thumbs up or thumbs down after it makes it all the way to vote. And when our ministry sponsors an author’s resolution, we can use our automated tools to campaign for their resolution and give them the boost they need to succeed. Hopefully in so doing, we can also spread goodwill in the WA and show everyone that WALL can be beneficial to the WA at large.

When I last ran for Delegate I hoped that TNP could be an innovative leader, and example to the wider gameplay world of what our robust democracy could achieve. I was new to the GCR political world and while we did some great work, we tended to play things safe. It is time to flex our muscles and be heard. This does not mean creating new conflicts or inserting ourselves into places we do not belong. When we do not have a stake in a fight, or we are not interested in something that is happening, we can still lend a hand or offer advice, and if nothing else acknowledge that we are aware of what is going on. Communication with those outside our borders can stand to be improved and I aim to do just that. Times are changing and TNP has been changing with them, we’ve just been careful and deliberate in that change. That is fine and it’s a great part of why we’re as stable and consistent as we have been, but we can do more. I do not believe TNP is timid, so it is time we stand up and be counted, and live up to the potential I know we have.

Thank you again for hearing me out, and thank you in advance for your support and your vote. I hope to earn it once again, and welcome your thoughts and questions.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Delegate = Praetor.

First off, please do not vote for me. Seriously. Bad things might happen. I am not in a RL position where I am able to assume the Delegacy. Should I be elected, I will pull a r3n and not take my oath (I am currently unsure if I will even be around to take an oath even if I wanted to). However, if you think that it would be entertaining to see what happens if the Delegate-elect does not take their oath, by all means, vote for me. During this platform though I will generally take the mindset that I am running.

That being said, I am running as I have found that in Delegacy platforms—exceptions exists—there is less policy discussion than I would like and can frequently focus more on abstract concepts to the absence of concrete steps and goals. Although over time, I find campaigns have improved in terms of what they offer, they can still lack. As such, I have put forward a campaign which I believe demonstrates what I would like Delegacy campaigns to be. Additionally, I am putting forward multiple policy pieces I do not believe have recently been discussed in the hopes that other candidates or Ministers see them and adopt them for their administration.

With that in mind, I would like to preface how I have approached each section of the Executive government, beginning with a discussion of the administration as a whole and then discussing each Ministry (in alphabetical order). For each section, I have attempted to explain where I see the Ministry as currently being, what the issues facing the Ministry are, how to solve these issues and how to measure success (to ensure accountability). In each place where I have a goal, I have bolded it.

Also, quick FYI, there is no TL;DR. Sorry, not sorry. :p

Administration

In the process to selecting Ministers for my administration, I will not offer any positions ahead of time and have not done so (which would be weird to ask: “Hey, so I’m running for Delegate and if I’m elected I won’t take my oath but still, want to be my MoFA?). I will accept applications for Ministerial positions from the citizenry as a whole and select from them. While I may encourage certain individuals to apply for certain positions, I would consider all applications. I believe this method will assist in providing the best Ministers possible and was a method which has permitted individuals such as Kasch, Ghost and myself entry into Cabinet.

I have always been a big fan of transparency and self-accountability demonstrated by making weekly reports as Minister. I would require all of my Ministers to periodically make reports to the region. I would require at least a beginning of term, a mid-term and an end of term. However, I recognize the activities of each Ministry are different in how publicly available they are and would permit them to make more frequent reports if that was more appropriate for their Ministry and would personally encourage more frequent reports.

Additionally, a change I plan to make is granting access to the Executive Council Chambers for Deputy Ministers. Deputy Ministers are the future of the Executive, as such I would like for them to be brought into the Cabinet areas to prepare them should they become a Minister. This will permit them to have an idea on how Cabinet works together.

Ministry of Communications

The Ministry of Communications (MoComm) currently has three different deliverables which it produces: The North Star (TNS), The Northern Lights (TNL), and the Northern Broadcast Service (NBS). One of the most important features for the Ministry is to produce content which is able to be distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to embassies. As mentioned by the Minister El Fiji Grande, this is accomplished by the TNS which can be easily and quickly produced and as such the core function of the Ministry is accomplished. The Ministry has done well from a period where they were having significant difficulty producing content to the point in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was outputting their own content to ensure our embassies in other regions were active. The Ministry can now expand into creating higher quality content in the form of TNL and the NBS. The publication of TNL has declined recently with the past term seeing no releases. However, more importantly, the NBS has seen a revival under El Fiji Grande and should be the priority to ensure the program does not lapse as it is more difficult to run a radio show than a newspaper. Radio shows in NS are far and few in between, Europeia is the only major region which consistently produces shows. While other regions (such as TSP) have dabbled in radio, they have all tended to be rather inconsistent. My goal is to increase the ability of the Ministry to produce shows. Currently, the broadcasts have been produced almost exclusively by El Fiji Grande barring the exception of Dinoium. This ability needs to be diffused amongst other members to ensure the program does not lapse as it previously did with the absence of Kasch and Scorch.

In order to ensure content from the NBS is consistently produced in the future, I aim to increase the bus factor (a measurement of risk for a project to fail resulting from a lack of sharing knowledge and technical skills). By the end of the term, to ensure we have an organization in which to minimize the risks of the NBS ending there will be three different individuals who ran a show. Instructions already exist on how to run a radio show. To facilitate the ease with which staff members are able to run a show, I propose to increase the frequency with which shows are broadcast and diminish the length for which a show runs. As it stands, the infrequent nature of the shows (which tend to be a commentary on current events and domestically consumed) can result in not having the opportunity to discuss topics repeatedly (for example, the vote on Artemis’s Security Application was nearly finished or finished (not quite sure with timing) by the time the NBS discussed it despite the process taking over two weeks) and as generally all that happened in TNP is discussed extensively, the show goes on for quite some time. For those who want to listen to the show, they need to set aside a chunk of time where they can listen it, for me, as it is so long but I find it quite interesting, I end up listening to the show while it is sped up. By increasing the frequency but reducing the length of broadcasts, on top of being more appropriate for the audience, it facilitates the ability for different staff members to run broadcasts.

Over the last few years, publications have been consistently produced by the Ministry, through this plan, I aim for broadcasts to join publications in being consistently published.

Ministry of Culture

The work of the Ministry of Culture is important as it creates internal activity. Typically, in most regions, this is frequently done by roleplays. However, the NP is fortunate enough to have a roleplaying community which is self-sustaining, one of the largest and continuing to expand. For our Ministry, it tends to focus on events. However, I would like to focus on an opportunity that has just presented itself: NS Cards. As NS Cards have just been released, I would like to capture some of the interest in the project and continue to capture it among our region given the interest many residents have in it.

Currently, I have not heard of any regions which have any initiatives related to Cards meaning we would be setting a trail-blazing path. Given the newness of Cards, many facets of what I would like to do in launching a TNP Cards project would be subject to revision as the administrators continue to make changes to the mini-game. However, of interest to me, and what I propose exploring are multiple areas for the government to get involved.
Creating a voluntary non-competition agreement among TNP card players in which we would not bid against each other. This would help TNPers by reducing prices of cards which they desire. The government would list participating nations in the agreement and they would agree to not bid against each other. In scenarios where a nation in the agreement is outbid by nations not in the agreement, another nation in the agreement would be able to enter. In cases where individuals attempt to use puppets to avoid the agreement, we would be able to track it using the history, etc.

Create a nation run by the government (or use TNL depending on the potential available for implementation) as a TNP bank. Ownership of the bank could be determined by contribution to the bank in forms of cards and proportionately, returns on investments in cards by the government could be divided up. This presents the opportunity for us to create a semblance of an economy for those interested.

Similar to the previous point, use a nation to collect cards of value or of interest which could then be awarded as prizes in competitions (such as in the Endo frenzy which was held). As the opportunity to reward nations is frequently limited to polls, changing the WFE, flags, customizable fields of government officials, or ribbons, this presents an opportunity to reward nations in a tangible way.

Create achievements in card collecting and offering badges/ribbons for nations who meet the achievements whether they be collecting all Security Councillors or having a deck value of over 100 bank.

Create a forum for nations to work together in situations where complex matches arise. Nations can work on preventing other nations from intercepting transfers of bank from puppets. For example, the other day, Yuno accidentally bid 1 on a common she had, but on an offer of another player. She was able to offer her own card for 1 and I bid the other nation’s ask price to stop Yuno from accidentally transferring bank to the wrong nation.

Create a dispatch detailing how cards work for nations in the region from how to acquire cards to the more complex interactions during a matched auction.
I hope to elaborate on an engaging mini-game and draw players to participate in certain ideas from my platform which can be implemented on the gameside level and then use it to recruit for the forum for other parts of my idea for NS Cards.

Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence is doing quite well from the days in which Gladio and QuietDad were the ones who were leading all the operations. We have quite a large number of officers who are able to lead operations. Additionally, we have a significant force of updaters and are able to consistently pull some of the largest updating forces out there that has the rest of gameplayers remarking on our ability. However, where we tend to be weaker is in our Auxiliary. While we were able to pull one of the largest pilling forces (19)during the operation in Stabby, we were outpaced by the NPO (which had the bonus of having two other games from which they could pull from) and closely approached by the South Pacific’s 18. This is what we need to focus on during the term to build up our forces that we can call upon to pile. By the end of the term, I would like to have an operation which deploys 30 pilers. Additionally, by keeping the Auxiliary active, we increase the chances they will join the Special Forces.

To increase our pilers I propose to ease the ability for individuals in which they can join the NPA. Currently, to become an active, updating member of the NPA, one needs to join the WA, join the forums and join Discord. Each of these requirements have multiple steps which individuals may be resistant to (providing their email address, joining an off-site forum held by us, etc.). In order to increase the number of individuals which are willing to pile we need to methodically reduce the barriers in each step to joining. To begin with, we would open the NPA to individuals who are not on the forums, nor on the Discord. If we are assisting with a Delegacy transition or gathering influence in a region to evict raiders and liberate it, our deployment is frequently not secret and is publicly known by anyone watching our jump point or the activity feed. As such, it makes little sense to require nations to join the Discord or the forums to check for security. We are able to telegram them orders and have nations follow those (which has been used previously by other organizations, primarily GCRs). Appropriately, we would limit promotions and access to classified information from individuals who do not go through the admin check on the forums.

In terms of operations that the NPA completes, I plan to work with each of our allies who are willing to do so (allies with a military or without one) on a training liberation in order to ensure should an event arise in which we must deploy to fulfill treaty obligations, our regions have practice working together and practice working on a mock “crisis” scenario.


Ministry of Foreign Affairs

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tends to be more complex, on top of the internal functions it does (assigning ambassadors, distributing updates, and collecting reports), it also requires interaction with other regions and tends to set the foreign policy which is collaborated on with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. As such, I have separated my case for the Ministry into External changes and Internal changes and will discuss them separately.

External

In the wider NS community we are seeing the NPO’s diplomatic isolation and a period in which numerous regions are going to war and is consuming a lot of the oxygen in the interregional room so to speak. For us, I would prefer to work on improving our positive relations. Frequently, there is a push to work towards outreaching to new regions and working with them whenever the idea of positive diplomacy emerges. However, in my experience I have found that typically, a lot of regions which are emerging do not always last long. Back when I was active as MoFA, the emerging region on the time was The Universal Allegiance, nowadays, this region is inactive. Unfortunately, given that focusing on newer regions can often result in a waste of time (and I am not opposed to working with them), I would like to primarily focus on strengthening our ties with our existing allies: regions who have been around for a considerably long time. Our allies are quite diverse in government systems and how they run their regions and what they offer to their residents. I believe there is much we can learn from each other (indeed many parts of my platform have come after observing other regions) and I would like to work with our allies to share with us and with each other our knowledge and skills for region building. As this part of my plan requires cooperation from our allies, the implementation details would be up in the air as to whether a permanent forum is created, a periodical discussion occurs or a one-off event. Typically, most regional cooperation done is promoted along the lines of our military and the WA. I believe we can expand that by sharing with other regions our systems and vice versa.

Internal

Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is running similarly as to how it has in previous terms. Embassies are being accepted or declined appropriately, applicants are being accepted, ambassadors are being dispatched to their regions and so on. This is fairly similar to how the Ministry has operated over the past two years, the majority of programs implemented in the past while implemented for a term or two are discontinued shortly afterwards, from my Hoppy Hoppenings or my Weekly Reports to Bootsie’s Diplomatic Teams or Guy’s Mentor Program. The sole program which remains in existence are the Weekly Reports modified in which frequency is irregular and scope is reduced (informing the region of changes in diplomatic postings mainly as of late). On all four counts, these programs are no longer run by the Ministry. I find there are two likely reasons these programs (as well as other programs in the Ministry) were discontinued: a lack of value or a lack of organizational capability to continue the program. I believe generally the vast majority of recent programs implemented have failed due to a lack of organizational capability to continue the program, mainly from not having enough resources. I believe this can be attributed to the frequency with which leadership (barring Owenstacey) changes. Mainly, the turnover rate Ministers see. While it is good to have a variety of individuals gaining experience in the position, a consequence is most Ministers spend their time acclimatizing to their office and ensuring the core functions run rather than continuing new projects or releasing new ones. Since 2017, we have had 10 different Ministers in the span of 7 terms. The tendency for Ministers most recently late has been to pull them from pools of previous Delegates or from the related Ministries of Defence and World Assembly Affairs. Generally promotions are not coming from within the Ministry which I think back cycles back to the cause of lack of adequate resources.

In order to address this issue, a mentoring program will not be sufficient as while it may work for the duration of my term, it runs the risk of being discontinued. Accordingly, the solution must meet two dimensions for success, first, it must help with education, secondly, it must not be anything which requires upkeep from the administration unless they wish to focus attention towards improving it. What is needed is a document similar to what we have for training the NPA. While one was previously begun, it was not finished. This document was planned to discuss, issues such as how the WA and R/D affect FA, the different types of embassies, treaties, multi-regional treaties and more. By the end of this term, the previously begun Diplomatic Training Modules will be completed and made available to the Diplomatic Corps. The content was designed to answer the questions that would be repeatedly received from new individuals to Foreign Affairs. Additionally, it was built after receiving feedback from ambassadors on what they wanted known. As the requested information is from late 2016, we should revise the content to see if there is anything that will require modification my surveying newer members of the Diplomatic Corps. As the original author of the document, I do know the outline will need to be modified (such as including ideologies) prior to finish the writing. Once published, this document will not need to be modified regularly by any Ministers or their administration. However, this will help train the Diplomatic Corps, it would not be as effective as a mentorship program (which we do not have resources for) but it will help to improve the status of ambassadors prior to being deployed and in the future, should the Ministry have more resources, can be used as a launching point for a mentorship program and provide future administrations with a base.

Ministry of Home Affairs

This one is short and sweet. You're getting there. Only two Ministries left.

Home Affairs continues to send telegrams. A lot of them. I can tell as I have recently been creating a multitude of puppets to farm cards. To me, it seems as though I am receiving way too many telegrams. I believe it would an appropriate time to review what the Ministry sends out and accordingly combine and revise telegrams.

For the Gameside Advocates, I generally do approve of their presence and behaviour on the RMB. I think they are doing quite well. I would like to build on their success by launching games that can be played on the RMB, eg. Sniper.

Ministry of World Assembly Affairs

Currently, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs (MoWAA), is performing their core tasks admirably of producing however, I do believe that the Information For Voters (IFVs) could be published quicker, ideally, prior to a resolution going to a vote. However, that is not the main focus of my plan for the MoWAA. As generally, everything that needs to be done is getting done and we continue to work with our allies in WALL as well as other region’s Delegates, I would like to shift focus to our perception internationally. While we are recognized for our unparalleled power in the WA, due to the influence our vote carries when a vote is not going the way individuals like, we are often singled out as being elites who do not understand what is going on. Consequently a reflection is individuals tend to complain to the NS administrators there should be changes made to the system. Within the past year: There are at least 7 different suggestions. As a note, I am only including technical suggestions that are directly tied to changing the voting system and not other suggestions designed to counter our influence.

I see the reason individuals hold such animosity towards the NP is that they often do not understand who determines our votes, why we vote the way we do and that we are not as inaccessible to WA authors as we appear to be. I would like to increase our accessibility to WA authors so they are able to understand we are not as elitist as they have the impression of us being. This term, I aim for 10 different WA resolution authors to post their resolution on our forums or come on them to discuss them here to show we are not as inaccessible to authors are we appear. Additionally, I would like our IFVs to be posted in the appropriate WA thread so the reasons why we are recommending a vote for or against are clearly explained. I believe this perception in the WA of us as malevolent beings by certain individuals can be cleared up by proactively working on our transparency.

Summary

This is what I have proposed to do:

Ministry Goal
Admin accept applications for Minister positions
Admin require Ministers to periodically make reports to the region
Admin grant access to Executive Council Chambers for Deputy Ministers[
Comm have three different individuals run an NBS show
Culture launch a TNP Cards project
Defence deploy 30 pilers in an operation
Defence work with each willing ally (with a military or without) on a training liberation
Foreign work with our allies to share knowledge and skills on region building
Foreign finish the Diplomatic Training Modules
Home review what the Ministry sends out
Home launching games that can be played on the RMB
WA have 10 different WA authors post their resolution here or come here to discuss them


I do know that typically, questions are asked along the lines of am I online at update to vote in the WA, who would I appoint as Cabinet members, etc. Now, while these questions may be asked, as I will (hopefully) not be elected, I would prefer for them to focus on the specific policies I have put forth.

Now remember, whatever you do, don’t vote for me!

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Vice Delegate: Brendog

Today I humbly ask for your vote for the Vice Delegacy. As your former minister for Communications and Home Affairs, I hope that these positions of leadership help me learn the office of the Vice Delegate. I am going to make my campaign short and sweet!

There are two major goals that I wish to achieve during my term, getting the all Security Councillors to a minimum of 850 endorsements and potentially 875 by the end of the term. To achieve this through the WADP, endotarting and SC alerts. Furthermore I am hoping to organise an endorsement even for Security Councillors only. This will further help with my second goal as well, greater activity and presence by Security Councillors

To help with this, I am hoping to do a monthly Q and A with various Security Councillors to ask questions both about the Security Council and the background of Security Councillors. I hope this will allow people on gameside, not interacting with the forums to interact and ask questions. To complement this I am hoping to do theme days/weeks, I know this has been said in the past, but I am interested in seeing this idea to work.

Lastly on the finer points of making the office work. I am hoping to make Vice Delegate checks as soon as possible with a maximum 8hr wait. WADP awards will be released on time – the last day of every month. Finally, if there is time still left, I will try to make threads from the Security Council disclosed to the public, with the permission of the Security Council of course.

As always, I am open to questions and concerns about what I planned if I get elected.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Vice Delegate: Sil Dorsett

SD for VD
The Right Person in the Right Job

Greetings! It's hard to believe that it's already been over two years since I arrived in NationStates and The North Pacific. I remember the bombardment of telegrams from when I was founded, I remember learning about the World Assembly and how endorsements worked, and I remember winning my first Click-to-Endorse champion award in the 29th WADP Awards. It was after that when I joined the forums. I figured it was a good idea so you all knew who came outta nowhere to win that.

Very quickly, I found my place in WA Affairs, even running the ministry for just about all of 2017 before stepping into roleplay moderation. The vacation didn't last all that long, since after Deropia's disappearance (; some positions were shuffled and I was back in government with another half-term in WA followed by an admittedly forgettable term as FA Minister.

Now, why would I bring that up you ask? I believe in making sure we have the right people in the right jobs, and I believe that the right job for me is as your Vice Delegate, the ever-vigilant watchman scrutinizing all and ready to step in temporarily should the worst ever happen. Here, I hope to convince you that I'm the right person for that job. Let's have a look at some talking points.


Security Council Endorsements
Let me start off by saying that I love numbers. I love charts. I love analytics. I was definitely a STEM student back in High School. In my time as Security Councillor I've noticed some trends around the ebb and flow of nations participating in the game and joining the WA. People were thinking there'd be a summer boom with people having more free time. Never happened. Instead, there were more people vacationing and doing other things besides NationStates and numbers actually dropped. Look at Siwale's endorsement count over the last summer and how he lost 100 endorsements before an autumn recovery when people were back playing the game.

These trends have consequences for the endorsements levels of the Delegate, VD, and the Security Council. Now, the first thing we need to do is get the Security Council back in full possession of the Top Ten and build a gap to ensure it stays that way. I will continue to see the Security Council Endorsement Alert dispatch system updated frequently to bring attention to the Security Councillor that needs endorsements the most, but I'll also consider utilizing it in strategic ways to either lock the top 10 down or build that gap. I also want to promote more telegram endorsement campaigns for other SCers, where SCers send out telegrams to boost other members either individually or along with their own numbers. I won't say we'll boost numbers up to raw values of 875 or 900, but maybe a percentage of 60%-65% of regional WAs would be a good goal for all SCers. (For reference, the delegate is at 80.6%)


Regional Endorsements
I believe a more strenuous campaign to encourage Non-WAs to join the WA will do us wonders. We already have our Home Affairs telegrams encouraging joining, but we should also be looking at why nations are not joining. I plan to survey the region, similar to how we've done regarding WA Affairs performance and feedback for the WADP, to find out why WAs joined and stick around and why Non-WAs haven't. Gaining knowledge will help us come up with new programs to make the WA worth another look.

Last year and this year, we ran successful campaigns to bring TNP to #1 in the average endorsements per nation count, even if just briefly. Europe responded and are back on top. Encouraging non-WAs to reconsider participation in the WA and join will only help us, and I want us to develop a program to maintain the number one spot once we reclaim it, which admittedly is difficult for a feeder region to do.


Citizenship Checks
I hope to earn your trust, so I will be perfectly honest here in hopes of doing that. Past candidates and even current ones have promised turnarounds of anywhere from 8 to 12 hours from application made to Vice Delegate check done to move citizenship applications quickly. As a full-time worker, I cannot promise that specifically. I can, however, promise to make the checks part of my daily routine, just like I had a routine while WA Minister.

However, I also would like to point out that that the Vice Delegate legally has three days to make the check, and I don't believe any check should be treated as just running through the motions. I see nothing wrong with using the full time to make sure the check is done right. Being a member of the Security Council, I believe, provides an advantage in making sure the checks are comprehensive and not just running through the motions, as I'm already familiar with current notices and recommendations. I am very thorough, and I am not afraid to ask for a second look if something doesn't feel right. The Four Eyes Principle applies very much to regional security.

* * *

I hope I can count on your support! Feel free to ask me questions, and also check my Security Council admission debate thread here -> http://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9128992/ just in case I already answered your question. But, even I did, ask it anyways if you want. Nine months since that vote is a significant amount of time to build new perspectives, and maybe I'll have something new for you.

Thanks,
Sil Dorsett

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Vice Delegate: SiberianFedRep

I have been in the North Pacific since August 2018, and I also became a citizen of TNP on December 16, 2018. I am currently an executive staff of foreign affairs. Here are my 3 goals during vice delegate term.

1. Set four levels of endorsements levels, okay so what I am going to do is set levels of endorsements which is will be ranked this way: Starter 50 endorsements, VIP 100 endorsements, Elite 300 endorsements, and Supreme 500 endorsements.

2. I am planning on recommending players what to vote for in the World Assembly.

3. I am also going to install entertainments in the RMB.

Thank you for reading my campaign post I hope you vote for me!

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Vice Delegate: Bobberino

There was no campaign by Bobberino for Vice Delegate - that I have found so far

 

[Marcus Antonius]

candidates for Vice Delegate: Bootsie.

A little under three years ago, I joined the Security Council for the first time. It was also around this time that I was elected Vice Delegate, a position that has become one of my all-time favorite offices in all of TNP.


Things have changed since then. The Delegate I served alongside is no longer a member of our community, the Council has added many new members and has lost some of its most esteemed members.


We’ve seen some of the most active and progressive Vice Delegates to date, and we’ve also seen Vice Delegates fall by the wayside.


One thing I’ve always hated about the Vice Delegacy is how many people view it as a stepping stone to the Delegacy. While many Vice Delegates do ascend to the position of Delegate, it should not be seen as a “Deputy” Delegate, if you will.


The Vice Delegate’s job is very clear. They are the Chair the Security Council. A Vice Delegate could have nothing to do with the executive and still have a successful term.


It is with these things in mind that I present my platform to you.


My first goal in the office is to begin work on a Security Council Superlative Project. This has been one of my favorite ideas that I never had time to propose during my last term as Vice Delegate, nor wanted to pass off. This idea would be to theme the region after a Security Councillor alongside with their superlative, like GBM being “Most Likely To Steal All The Rum” and run an endorsement campaign during the time of them being featured. Not only would this boost the endorsement counts of the Security Council, but boost their activity as well.


My second goal would be to boost my own gameside activity. One of my favorite things about being Vice Delegate last time was interacting with the region gameside. I face an uphill battle by being known as two different names across the forum and gameside due to my nation being my RP nation and not bootsie, so I will say this will be a bit of work, but something I can accomplish.


My third goal is to make sure we’re continuously boosting our endorsement counts week over week. I think shooting for a particular number like my opponent is, is not very effective. While it’s nice to set goals, our endorsement counts are very wave-like, and we can go from our highest endorsement counts to our lowest in a matter of weeks. That’s why I’m going to be tracking endorsement counts like Pallaith has this term to ensure that even if we’re slightly falling in endorsements, we’re still on an upward tick from our original endorsement count.


My fourth goal is to quickly and efficiently process citizenship checks. Being a member of the region and of the Security Council for a while has its benefits. I’m aware of nations that are perfectly well, and I also know nations that I need to run by the Security Council immediately. Obviously I can’t anticipate when a threat will come, so if there’s a huge wave of citizens applying, I will alert my colleagues on the Council so that they can get a second look before I pass them.


Despite saying earlier that a Vice Delegate cannot help out in the Executive and still do their job well, I am not opposed to helping out our Delegate-Elect shall they need my help. My first term with Lord Ravenclaw, I was very hands-off, but my second term was hands-on and involved in the Executive, so I can do either. Vote for the Delegate you see best for leading this region, not the one with the best chemistry with me.


I hope you vote for me, and if you have any questions, let me know.

 

[Marcus Antonius]

Candidates for Speaker: Wondress

Wonderess for Speaker: Continuing the Vision
Greetings to you, the citizens of our great region! It has been a great honor to serve the region as Speaker of the Regional Assembly these past months, and it is my hope that I may continue to do so. From where I stand, the term has been successful despite a late start due to the forum transfer as well as some errors that have occurred in the office. I hope to now give to you my insights into the Speakership so that I can put forward why it is I think I should have a second term.

Reliance: One thing I learned early on is that despite my tendency to want to do the work myself, trust of others in the office and giving others the chance to serve alongside me greatly increases the range of the office, builds a working bond between fellow citizens, and allows the office to set it sights on other projects besides the daily record work. I want to thank very much @Prydania and @Artemis for their patience, eagerness to learn, and excellent work. I truly could not be here before you in one piece if not for their help.

Regarding the Speaker's Staff: Currently, the Speaker's Staff consists of @Bobberino, @Yuno, @Dinoium, and @abc. I did not know how to best utilize the staff at the start of the term and actually considered disbanding it. I decided to cease the production of the Regional Assembly Digest because it was mainly a list of things that were easily accessible to the public and it in no way was adding the the conversations that illumine the Regional Assembly. Public opinion also seemed to be apathetic towards its publication which all led to my ending of that document. Currently, the staff is working with the citizenry, that is right, you, to create the first edition if the Digest's successor which shall be a collection of scholarly insights into legislation that is facing and recently has faced the chamber. This will not only inform the region of what is going on in the chamber but also adds to the conversation in a respectful and insightful way. Whether I am reelected or not, I do hope this project can come to fruition.

What Has Excited Me: There have been some developments in the office that have really given me a joy for the job that I do. Firstly, I have loved the two assemblies we have had through the Voice to Excellence Program. Hearing citizens provide feedback and speak as a community to help improve legislation in a respectful way is exactly the type of moments I hoped for when I first considered running, and I am happy I could be a small part of allowing more opportunities for that to happen. I am also very impressed with the amount of activity that has graced the Regional Assembly these past months, though I cannot say that it is because anything I have done. However, I have enjoyed reading the many points of view and ideas that have come from it. This office is a union of record keeping and fostering community and I have enjoyed both these aspects immensely.

Citizenship Checks: The Christmas season seems to have brought more applications which is an excellent sign of growth in the citizenry. Thanks to @Siwale now those faithful members of the region who frequent the Regional Message Board have the opportunity to become and remain members of our regional family and take part in the discussions and elections that define our region's future. Purges currently occur every other day which allows time for them to build um while not allowing them to just sit in the roll for too long. I find this is a good balance that once again Artemis and Prydania have been very helpful with.

We Go On: Above all, I want to continue to serve the region because I love what I do and I believe that I can continue the trend of increasing dialogues within the RA. I know not everything has been perfect, but these mistakes have helped me to be a better public servant. Please ask any questions or voice your concerns below. It is mainly by interacting with you the people I serve that I become a better Speaker and a better citizen so please don't be shy. I hope that your new year may be excellent!

In faith to The North Pacific,
Wonderess

 

[Marcus Antonius]

Candidates for Speaker: Dinoium

Greeting, fellow North Pacificans. As the January General Election has begun and candidacy declarations opened, a bright new light has shined. As we may know, incumbent Speaker Wonderess has been not the my favorite. He was voted to succeed someone who was also pretty unfavorable. Wonderess has not been doing much mentoring for the Speaker's Staff to become future Speakers, instead, it is such an organization under the Speaker that sits there and do pretty much nothing. Under our former Speaker ABC, mentoring was also rare but we had a job to do since the beginning of the term. Wonderess on the other hand did not give our duties to do until just recently. One of his promises as Speaker would be:
Publish RA Digests monthly so that a significant amount of activity may be reported and so that the number of telegrams taking up the time of citizens may be minimized.
The Digest was then cancelled by Wonderess once elected.
There has been many more things Wonderess has been criticized for but I am not here to criticize him. You are visiting this thread for a campaign thread.
EXPERIENCE

Deputy Minister of Communications
I learned how to be able to communicate with my fellow staffers. I worked with them as one team. I heard what they said had to be fixed and let my superiors and colleagues in the Ministry Leadership know. This shows that I am willing to hear my fellow North Pacificans demands.
Deputy Attorney General
I learned more of the Regional Law while Deputy Attorney General and while I was trying to apply for the position. This shows I know the Regional Assembly Rules and that I know how this August works, I read the Constitution Article about the Regional Assembly, and other documents surrounding the Regional Assembly.
Ambassador
I learned how to represent an entity aboard. Being the Speaker would be in my eyes, the ambassador from the Regional Assembly to the whole region. I would need to serve as it's Leader and represent it in the correct and honest way.
Citizen
I learned that being a Citizen is more than being able to vote. Being a Citizen in The North Pacific is one of the greatest honors you get in the Feeders, if not all of Nationstates. You would be eligible to become a Government Official, debate and vote in the Regional Assembly, and so much more! When you take that oath, it's not something you do just for citizenship, it is rather something showing you are eligible for so much in this region and that you would make sure not to break it's laws.
Speaker Staffer
I learned most things about the Regional Assembly. due to the Speaker's Staff, I was motivated to be more active in the Regional Assembly. I have voted in 24 votes.
REGIONAL ASSEMBLY LAWS KNOWLEDGE

Article 2. The Regional Assembly
1. Resident means any person with a nation in the region of The North Pacific.
2. The Regional Assembly will consist of all citizens.
3. Requirements for citizenship will be determined by law.
4. The Regional Assembly may enact, amend or repeal laws by a majority vote.
5. The Regional Assembly may remove a government official from office by a two-thirds majority vote.
6. The number of votes required to achieve quorum for any vote of the Regional Assembly except elections will be determined by law.
7. The Regional Assembly will elect a Speaker every four months by a majority vote.
8. The Speaker will administer the rules of the Regional Assembly. Where no rules exist, the Speaker may use their discretion.
9. Abstentions cast in the Regional Assembly will not be used to determine the result of any vote, but may be used for quorum and all other purposes.
10. The Speaker may appoint deputies to assist them in the execution of any of their powers and duties. Appointment of deputies may be regulated by law and the rules of the Regional Assembly.

Section 1. States that Residents means any person with a nation in the region of The North Pacific. What it means that the player behide the residing nation in the Region shall be a Resident. The Speaker is to keep a log filled with Citizens and Residents.
Section 2. States that the Regional Assembly will consist of all citizens. Not all Residents are Citizens. They must apply for Citizen with Residency within the region, not pose a Security threat, and must not be proxying. 2 of these are handled by two different people.
Section 3. States that requirements for citizenship will be determined by law. This concurs with my above message. The Speaker may only reject a Citizenship application if the Administrator or Vice Delegate denies them the passing of their checks, or if they applicant's nation that is applying citizenship does not reside within the Region.
Section 4. States that the Regional Assembly may enact, amend or repeal laws by a majority vote. All Citizens are Regional Assembly members as we know all know thus making Citizens be allow to cast a vote within a vote to enact, amend or repeal laws. A Majority vote is the most amount of votes casted for something. If the Ayes get a majority, the proposal passes and if Constitutional, must be signed by the Delegate. If the Nays get a majority, the proposal fails. In most cases it will require a large majority such as recalls of Government Officials with a 2/3 Majority.
Section 5. States that the Regional Assembly may remove a government official from office by a two-thirds majority vote. This concurs with my messaging above. Government officials are Delegates, Vice Delegates, Security Councillors, Executive Officers (Ministers, Chief of Staffs, etc), Speakers, Deputy Speakers, Attorney Generals, Deputy Attorney Generals, Court Justices, and so on. We have not have one recently with the exception of the Recall of Vice Delegate Deropia.
Section 6. States that the number of votes required to achieve quorum for any vote of the Regional Assembly except elections will be determined by law. Some cases where we would need to require to achieve quorum is in Government Recall votes.
Section 7. States that the Regional Assembly will elect a Speaker every four months by a majority vote. When we say Regional Assembly, we could also refer it to as Citizens. Every 4 months (January, May, September) the Citizens of the region shall voice their vote on who they wish to be Speaker.
Section 8. States that the Speaker will administer the rules of the Regional Assembly. Where no rules exist, the Speaker may use their discretion. The rules are the Regional Assembly Rules and Standing Procedures.
Section 9. States that abstentions cast in the Regional Assembly will not be used to determine the result of any vote, but may be used for quorum and all other purposes. Abstentions votes are usually used in votes where you may don't know or you're neutral. If they reach the majority, nothing will happen however it may change the quorum of the vote.
Section 10. States that the Speaker may appoint deputies to assist them in the execution of any of their powers and duties. Appointment of deputies may be regulated by law and the rules of the Regional Assembly. This Section officially makes Deputy Speakers Government Officials.
Promises

I will open up applications for the Speaker Staffs and expand it. I and my Deputies shall help mentor the Staffers. I will make sure my Staffers get the training they need to become great Future Speakers.
I will make the Speaker's Office/Speaker's Staff server officially public. The Speaker's Staff stall continue to discuss matters in a hidden part of the Server.
I will have an event called "Speaker Question Time" where every Friday, I shall be asked questions by Citizens and Residents on whatever subject. Whenever it relates to the Regional Assembly or not. I will answer all of them and try to give the best answers. This will show i'm up for the job and show my Leadership. Deputy Speakers are Optional however they may also be scheduled around a certain time.
Update the Standing Procedures to fix any wordings, add some more information, and add/remove Sections.
I will use my activity to good use and be able to not delay Acceptations/Denials of Citizenship Applications and Schedules.
Revive the Regional Assembly Digest and have one once every 3 weeks. You may contact the Speaker about subscribing to the Digest or Unsubscribing to the Digest. I plan to just send the Digest out to all Residents at first and see what they want to do. I will also add some useful links to get non Citizens to become Citizens.
Give the Speaker Staff's duties/jobs to do. They will help contribute to this new RA Digest and continuation of Wonderess's project along with other information. They will also be mentored and to keep transparency in the Office, I will make sure we can have a public listing of the Staffers.
Work with the Communications Ministry to help with the Regional Assembly Highlights, offer some Speaker Staffers to help write and edit for it.
Let inactive Citizens know of their Citizenship overlapping soon and help encourage them to be more active in the Regional Assembly.
Continue The Regional Assembly Voice to Excellence Program in a different form where it could be Voice Chat or Text.


So on January 6, 2019 to January 12, 2019, remember to vote Dino for Speaker. Feel free to leave questions here. It helps promote Transparency and show we're ready for what's next. Feel free to also show them support here. I do not mind non support. I want feedback on how to be a good Speaker and get your vote. You have your own Freedom of Speech, and I respect that.
Spoiler: Campaign Button Feel free to put this Campaign Button in your Signature and change your statuses temporary to "Vote Dino for Speaker: Finally a humble nation for the job!"

 

[Marcus Antonius]

Candidates for Speaker: Artemis

Artemis for Speaker of the Regional Assembly
~Is it so far from Madness to Wisdom?~


Here we are once again deciding the fate of the North Pacific in choosing who shall lead? Here we are deciding on candidates who are examples of the wheel from years past or the candidates who intend to break the wheel.

Now that I have gotten my Game of Thrones out of my system, hello. For those who don’t already know, I am Artemis also known as Oracle to some. I currently serve as a member of the Security Council, Election Commission, Deputy Speaker, former Minister of Culture, and member of various Ministries. I am seeking the Office of the Speaker of the Regional Assembly and hope to have your support in the coming election.

While often I state I do not intend to run for office, a number of individuals have approached me asking me to run. Some thought Vice-Delegate would be a competitive place for me to seek higher office, but ultimately I felt that running for speaker would be where I could help lead TNP.

Ultimately I do not have any grand plans for the Speaker’s Office. I never believe in grand campaign promises and am wary of individuals who offer such promises. Realistic and attainable goals are what I intend to offer to the electorate and to the Regional Assembly.


An Active and Engaged Speaker’s Office

While my experience as a Deputy Speaker has offered me quite a bit of experience, I fully intend to surround myself with active Deputy Speakers. I hope to blend the makeup of the Deputy Speakers with experienced members and newer individuals to help train future speakers.


As part of an active and engaged Speaker’s Office, I intend to bring the RA Digest back into the works. This is where the Deputy Speaker’s and members of the Speaker’s Staff will work to engage the public about the workings of the Regional Assembly and ways for members to get involved with the legislature.


A Consistent and Stable Speaker’s Office

Training of inexperienced Deputies can take time for them to learn a job that in essence mirrors the duties of the Speaker. This is where an experienced Deputy Speaker will play a major role in assisting me with the training of the Speaker’s Staff. As with my RL job, I intend to put together a training manual of sorts to help guide Deputy Speakers and to help provide consistent and stable training for future Speakers, Deputy Speakers and members of the Speaker’s Staff.


I would like to thank you for reading through my platform for Speaker, and I hope that I have convinced you to vote for me for this vital Office.


Warmest Regards,

Artemis

 

[Marcus Antonius]

Candidates for Attorney General: Yuno

Greetings all of you and welcome to my campaign thread!

I’m running for Attorney General. I admit that I’m new to this TNP job, and I will have no hard feelings on whether I win or lose (it’s just that I didn’t want COE running against himself; plus voting in an Office where there’s only 1 candidate to choose from is not really ideal, we’re not *insert RL dictatorship here*!) However, since I’m running, I’d better be prepared for the position in case I DO get the job. On the off-chance that I do win this election (which will be surprising,) I'll remain committed, do my job as well as I can, and prosecute many criminals. Now, I've never been an Attorney General before, and I have not yet had the chance to talk to the experts either; I only had time for some self-study. Self study-wise, I found out that most cases revolve around the Legal Code, so I went ahead and read the entire Legal Code (hence the late campaign thread.) While doing so, I re-wrote it to make it easier for myself to understand (colloquially) and for everyone who hasn’t read it or fully understood it yet! (At least, in my opinion.)

I admit that I’m pretty proud of my revised version of this (hopefully not wrongfully) ^>^ I hope I’ve proved myself with this research and to, at least, make an excellent rival to COE!

So here it is! Enjoy:



Legal Code: Divided into Chapters, with Sections.

Numbered Clauses within each Chapter.

Numbered Clauses may have subclauses in letters for lists.


Only “Chapters” count as part of the law. Clause numbers and sub-clause letters don’t count as part of the law.


Clauses may be referenced by chapter, clause number, and if applicable sub-clause letter, but clause numbers and sub-clause letters will not be considered part of the law, nor will they have any legal effects. The Speaker will manage the numbering of clauses in accordance with the above requirements.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code


1. If you’re a resident and commit a crime NOT LISTED in the criminal code, YOU’RE FREE! (Not OOC crimes)



Section 1.1: Treason

2. "Treason" means taking arms or giving materials to any group/region to coup TNP or TNP’s treatied allies.


3. If you’re a nation in a region at war with TNP, you can’t be a nation in TNP or participate in TNP’s government.


4. Currently, TNP isn’t at war with anyone. Instead, TNP is allies with: Stargate, the South Pacific, Taijitu, International Democratic Union, Equilism, Europeia, Albion, The East Pacific, and Balder.



5. The Speaker will update clause 4)’s list as appropriate.


Section 1.2: Espionage

6. "Espionage" means “leaking,” which means sharing information with an outside group/region, without permission from the person that this information came from.


7. To commit espionage(leaking,) the information you shared must not be PUBLIC information (which anyone can already see,) or the person you leaked the information to must NOT already have access there. (For example, if you leak the #citizens_chat to a Citizen, that doesn’t count as espionage since that Citizen already has access to that chat, but if you leak that to a non-citizen, that’s Espionage.)


8. The information leaked must be from TNP, or a foreign group/region that the Regional Assembly(a.k.a TNP Citizens) deemed inappropriate to leak from.


9. The Regional Assembly has agreed to prohibit espionage against Europeia and Albion. ((Basically, don’t leak from Europeia, Albion, or TNP; but anywhere else is probably okay.))



10. The Speaker will update clause 9)’s list as appropriate.


Section 1.3: Fraud

11. "Election fraud" means deceiving the residents about which candidates are running for elections, the time and place of the elections, and the requirements/methods for one to be eligible to vote/run for office.


12. "Fraud" means intentional deception, whether by falsehood or omission, done to benefit or to damage someone.





Section 1.4. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming

13. "Crashing" means any unwarranted actions that could make a forum go out of service or lose its data, such as unwarranted post deletions, the forum itself being deleted, spamming, etc.

14. "Phishing" means attempting to socially engineer/deceive people to give you off-site controls/passwords, especially by pretending to be a mod/admin.

15. Phishing also includes collecting personal information kept at the Forum. (You can’t steal citizens’ IPs/email addresses, or be a stalking creep.)

16. "Spamming" means any outsider trying to “waste space" or cause shock on the forums/discord or RMB, to make it unstable.

17. “Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.”

18. “No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.”


Section 1.5: Proxying

19. No using proxies to make your forum account anonymous. Proxying also includes using any practice which allows you to own multiple forum user accounts.

20. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court about any Proxying they observe.


Section 1.6. Adspam

21. RMB Recruitment from outside regions may be allowed/regulated or prohibited by the Delegate’s decision.



Section 1.7. Conspiracy

22. "Conspiracy" is defined as planning, attempting, or helping to commit any crime under this criminal code.


Section 1.8. Gross Misconduct

23. "Gross Misconduct" means violating your “legally mandated sworn oath,” whether accidentally or purposely.


Section 1.9. Exceptions

24. Exceptions for treason, espionage or proxying may be given to members of the “military and intelligence services,” if the Delegate and appropriate Minister consents, (but only during ‘officially sanctioned missions’ that are meant to preserve regional security.)



Chapter 2: Penal Code


1. Criminal acts may be punished. One such punishments: You may restrict basic rights of criminals, proportionate to their crime (which is decided at the discretion of the Court, unless stated otherwise here.)



2. Treason will be punished by ejecting, banning, and removing all basic rights of the criminal, for how long the Court wants.



3. Espionage will be punished by the removing speech and voting rights for how long the Court wants.



4. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any/all basic rights for how long Court wants, and/or banning by forum administration.



5. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court wants, and/or banning by forum administration.



6. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.



7. “Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than what would be appropriate for the original crime.” (So if you conspire to coup TSP and get caught, you’ll be punished less than someone who actually coups TSP.)



8. Gross Misconduct will be punished by removal from office and the suspension of voting rights for how long the Court wants.



Chapter 3: Judicial Law


1. These procedures govern the Judiciary branch.


Section 3.1: Chief Justice Selection



2. Whenever the position is vacant, the Justices shall elect a Chief Justice from among themselves by a majority vote. (That means more than half the votes.)



3. After a Judicial election ended, including the conclusion of any run-off votes if applicable, and after 7 days, IF a Chief Justice is STILL not elected yet, then just choose the Justice who has the highest number of votes in said election- to become the Chief Justice. If there’s a tie for the highest number of votes, then the Chief Justice shall be the one (from among those tied) with the longest period of citizenship.




Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers



4. Conflict Of Interest occurs when a Justice or Hearing Officer has a personal stake/involvement in a matter before the Court, or when they are biased/unable to rule fairly.


5. Justices and Hearing Officer are required to recuse themselves from matters where they (potentially) have Conflict Of Interest. That means they’re gone from the case.



6. If one or more Justice positions are vacant, or any Justice is absent or recused themselves, then the remaining Justices will promptly appoint replacements from among available citizens to participate as temporary Hearing Officers.



7. If ALL Justices are gone/vacant from the case, the Delegate will promptly appoint the needed Hearing Officers from among available citizens, with the Speaker’s approval for each.



8. Any recusal or absence of a Hearing Officer will be treated as a vacancy.



9. The Court may recuse any Justice or Hearing Officer by majority vote.



10. “The Court must hold a vote on whether to recuse a Justice or Hearing Officer, when publicly requested by the prosecution, defense, or petitioner, in any matter before the Court.”


Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure



11. The majority agreement of the Court will make a standard procedure for all criminal trials.


12. The Delegate is only allowed to ban a nation from the region when that nation poses a clear security threat and their removal is necessary to protect the region, and that nation has to be pending criminal charges against them or in the middle of a criminal trial.





13. The Delegate needs approval from the Court for any such ejection or ban; and if possible, this approval must be sought prior to the nation's removal from the region. Otherwise, it must be sought within 1 day of the ban/ejection.



14. If that nation gets banned in the middle of their criminal trial, then approval for that ban will be at the discretion of the Justice moderating that trial. If that’s not the case, then any other Justice is permitted to approve/deny the Delegate’s request.


15. Any nation ejected or banned under this section may file an appeal the decision. These appeals may not be denied, and must be decided by the full court.



16. The Delegate must immediately provide any nation ejected/banned (under this section) with a link to the Courtroom and inform them of their right to file an appeal.



17. If criminal charges are not brought against a nation ejected/banned (under this section,) or if the criminal charges are rejected by the Court, or if the nation is not found Guilty at the conclusion of the trial, then that nation must be unbanned (under this section.)



Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure


Section 4.1: Oath of Office

1. All government officials need to take this Oath of Office before getting their job:


“I, [forum username], do hereby solemnly swear that during my term as [government position], I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of [government position], with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.”





2. All elected government officials will be required to take this^ Oath of Office within ONE WEEK of their ELECTION, certified by the Election Commission.



3. All government officials who are subject to confirmation by the Regional Assembly- will be required to take the Oath of Office within ONE WEEK of their CONFIRMATION, verified by a member of the Speaker's Office.





4. All other government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within ONE WEEK of their APPOINTMENT, as publicly announced.



5. The taking of the Oath constitutes assumption of the office. If you’re late to post the oath, the office will be considered vacant.


Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions



6. "Abstentions" don’t count as votes and can’t decide the results of any election. They’re only used for quorum/activity/etc.


7. "Candidates" are candidates who declare themselves or accept nominations for an office. During elections.



8. "Election" are the period of time that start on day 1 of candidacy declarations, and ends with final declaration of election results.



9. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the office holder resigns, gets removed, or abandons it. An office is abandoned when the holder does not log into the forums for 2 weeks, or when an election winner/appointee fails to post the Oath of Office.


Pending an election, a vacancy can be temporarily filled somehow (look for the appropriate law.)


10. An "absence" in an office means that the office holder is, by law, temporarily prevented from performing their office’s duties. An absent officer may be replaced for the duration of their absence.


Section 4.3: The Election Commission

11. The Election Commission consists of 5-9 appointed by the Delegate and confirmed by a majority vote(50%+1) of the Regional Assembly.



12. Any citizen may be appointed to the Election Commission. While citizens ordinarily can’t hold multiple government offices, the exception is when the office is the Election Commission.



13. The term of an Election Commissioner will be six months, beginning on the day they take the Oath of Office. The Delegate cannot remove an Election Commissioner.



14. ALL elections will be supervised by 2 Election Commissioners.





15. An Election Commissioner is considered “Absent” during any election that they’re a candidate in, or during elections that occur during the start or end of their term. Absent Election Commissioners may not supervise an election or participate in any decisions made by the Election Commission as a whole.



16. “If there are fewer than five non-absent Election Commissioners, the remaining commissioners will appoint temporary replacements to bring their number up to five. If all Election Commissioners are absent, the delegate will appoint five temporary replacements. These replacements will serve until the number of non-absent commissioners is five or greater.”



17. The Election Commission can make rules for the supervision of elections. Where no rules exist, the Election Commissioners supervising a given election may use their discretion.



18. Any citizen may petition the full Election Commission to review a decision made by the few Election Commissioners supervising an election. If necessary, the election may be halted while the Election Commission decides how to proceed.



19. “If the full Election Commission determines that the actions under review are not in compliance with the law or their adopted rules, they will have the power, by majority vote, to overrule them. If deemed necessary, they will also have the power, by majority vote, to restart the election, or designate different commissioners to supervise the election.”


Section 4.4: Overall Election Law



20. Citizens have 3 days to declare their candidacy. Voting lasts 5 days, and only begins 2 after the candidacy declaration period closes.



21. Candidates may withdraw from the ballot anytime during an election except during voting.



22. Private votes may be sent as forum PMs to the Election Commission’s “forum account for private votes.” Then, the Election Commissioners supervising the election will promptly announce that a vote has been cast privately and who the vote’s for, but no other details about the vote.





23. “The option to reopen nominations will appear on the ballot as a separate question for each race.”



24. If 50%+1 vote to re-open nominations, 2 more days will be given for candidacy declarations.



25. Candidates for that race from the initial ballot retain their candidacy, unless they withdraw during those 2 days.



26. Once the candidacy declaration period has closed, a 2nd round of voting will begin and last 5 days. This time there won’t be an option to Re-Open Nominations.



27. For ANY runoff vote, there will NOT be an option to Re-Open Nominations.



28. If a candidacy becomes invalid during a vote, then the voting round for that race will be promptly restarted with any invalid candidacies excluded from the new ballot.


Section 4.5: General Elections

29. Elections for Delegate, Vice Delegate, Attorney General, and Speaker always begin on 1/1, 5/1, 9/1. (Month on left.)



30. If no candidate for a given office gains 50%+1 of the votes, then within 1 day, begin a 5-day runoff vote for that office.



31. Candidates will be added to the runoff ballot in descending order of how many votes they received. Candidates who received equal numbers of votes will be added the ballot simultaneously.



Once the total number of votes in the new runoff round reaches the number of the majority of votes from the previous round, no more candidates may be added to the new ballot. (?)



32. If no one gains a majority of votes in the runoff vote, the runoff process will be repeated until a candidate receives a majority.


Section 4.6: Judicial Elections

33. The election of the Justices will begin on 3/1, 7/1, and 11/1.


34. The three candidates who receive the most votes will be elected. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within 1 day of the initial voting, and last 5 days.


Section 4.7: Special Elections



35. A special election will be held when any elected office/position becomes vacant, unless the special election won’t be able to finish prior to 2 weeks before that office’s next election cycle.


36. “Special elections will follow the same procedures as regularly scheduled elections for the vacant office.”


Chapter 5: Regional Security Law


1. Any laws regulating the Security Council or its activities must be listed in this chapter.



2. Here, “Council" means the Security Council.

3. Here, the serving Delegate means the person holding the constitutionally-mandated elected office of Delegate (or, if that office is vacant, then the person who has assumed the duties of that office.)


Section 5.1: Requirements and Admission

4. Any person with a forum account and TNP nation may apply to join the Security Council, as long as their nation satisfies any influence+endorsement requirements for membership. Any applicant who does not meet those requirements, or stops meeting them, is automatically rejected.



5. Security Councilors must also meet the same influence and endorsement requirements as applicants to the Council, and may be suspended or removed if they fail to do so.



6. The influence requirement is a Soft Power Disbursement Rating within The North Pacific greater than or equal to 182,500, or an influence rank within The North Pacific greater than or equal to Apprentice, whichever is lower. The endorsement requirement is at least 500, or 50 percent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is lower.



7. By a 2/3rds majority vote, the Security Council may exempt nations who fall below the required influence level to join or remain a member of the Council. These exemptions remain valid until the exempted nation regains the required influence level.



Section 5.2: The Delegate and Vice Delegate



8. The serving Delegate must have the most endorsements in The North Pacific.



9. The Vice Delegate must have a minimum endorsement count of: ‘TNP Delegate’s endorsement count MINUS 1/5th of the total # of TNP WA nations.’ (So if there are 500 WA nations and the Delegate has 400 Endorsements, 1/5th of 500 is 100, so 400-100=300, which is the minimum needed for Vice Delegate.)



10. “If the Delegate or Vice Delegate is below this level, they must promptly act to gather sufficient endorsements to meet or exceed the requirement.”



11. If the Delegate or Vice Delegate nation CTEs, voluntarily leaves TNP, or resigns from the WA, then their office becomes vacant.



12. If the Vice Delegate is temporarily unavailable, the Council may choose one of their own members to perform the Vice Delegate’s duties. A confirmation vote is optional.



13. A Vice Delegate is considered absent from the office of Vice Delegate whenever they’re serving as acting Delegate.


Section 5.3: Suspension and Removal

14. When any Council member fails to meet the influence or endorsement count requirements to maintain their position, and are not granted an exemption, the Vice Delegate must warn them about this. The Councillor then has 8 days since the warning to come into compliance, and if he fails to do so, the Vice Delegate must suspend him.



15. “Suspended Council members will remain on the line of succession, but may not assume the duties of the Delegate or Vice Delegate if either position is vacated, nor may they participate in any votes conducted by the Council."



16. The Vice Delegate must promptly remove Security Councillors whose nations CTEd, left TNP, or resigned the World Assembly (outside the needs of a NPA sanctioned mission.)



17. The Vice Delegate must report any suspension/removal of a Security Councillor to the Regional Assembly.



18. Suspended members that fail to come back into compliance within 45 days from the start of the suspension must removed from the Security Council.



19. If a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement+influence requirements, the Vice Delegate must promptly reinstate them.



20. If a Councilor's continued membership in the Council poses a security risk to The North Pacific, the Council may, by majority vote, request that the Regional Assembly vote on removing that Council member.



21. The Speaker's Office must submit any such request from the Council to an immediate 2/3rds majority vote of the Regional Assembly.


Section 5.4: Reckless Endorsement Gathering



22. The serving Delegate may eject or ban any nation in The North Pacific for reckless endorsement gathering that meets all of the following criteria:

It is not in the Council or holding the office of Delegate or Vice Delegate.
It has been reported to the Delegate as a possible threat to regional security by the Council.
It has continued actively gathering endorsements after two warnings against gathering endorsements sent at least two days apart from each other.
It has more endorsements than 50 fewer than the Vice Delegate's required minimum endorsement count, or 75% of the Delegate's endorsement level, whichever is least.


23. The serving Delegate may eject/ban any nation in The North Pacific for reckless endorsement gathering that exceeds the Vice Delegate's required minimum endorsement count.



24. Nations banned for reckless endorsement gathering must remain banned at least until they update outside The North Pacific.



25. Unless there’s a delegacy emergency, any Security Councillor who has more endorsements than the Vice Delegate (while said Vice Delegate is above the required minimum endos for Vice Delegates,) must stop seeking endorsements until they have less endos than the Vice Delegate.


Chapter 6: Regional Assembly Statutes


1. Any Law about the voting or membership of the Regional Assembly of TNP must be listed here.



Section 6.1: Citizenship Applications

2. Any resident may apply for citizenship using their forum account, providing their TNP nation name, and swearing this oath:



I pledge loyalty to The North Pacific, obedience to her laws, and responsible action as a member of her society. I pledge to only register one nation to vote in The North Pacific. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I understand that if I break this oath I may permanently lose my voting privileges. In this manner, I petition the Speaker for citizenship in The North Pacific.



3. A copy of the laws applicants are pledging to obey must be available to them at all times.



4. A citizenship app becomes invalid whenever the applicant’s declared TNP nation is not in TNP.



5. Forum admins have 14 days to see whether or not a citizenship applicant is using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.

The Vice Delegate has 3 days to perform a security evaluation, and pass/fail the applicant. (The Vice Delegate must consult the Security Council when there’s a reasonable concern about whether an applicant should be admitted.)



6. The Speaker will reject applicants who fail an evaluation by either forum administration or the Vice Delegate.



7. If an applicant is rejected for failing an evaluation by the Vice Delegate, the Regional Assembly shall immediately debate the rejection, then 2 days later, hold a majority vote on whether to uphold it. The vote must begin 2 days after the rejection.





8. The Regional Assembly may overturn a previous decision to uphold the rejection of an applicant by majority vote.



9. The Speaker will accept all other applicants with valid applications.



10. The Speaker will process applications within 14 days. If an applicant has not been approved/rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically granted citizenship.


Section 6.2: Administration and Loss of Citizenship

11. The Speaker will maintain a publicly viewable roster of citizens and their registered nations.



12. The Speaker will promptly remove any citizens whose removal is ordered by the Court, or whose registered nations in The North Pacific leave or CTEs.


13. The Speaker will promptly remove any citizens who have not posted on the forums or RMB for 30+ days.




Section 6.3: Voting

14. A citizen's vote is only valid when they maintain citizenship for the ENTIRE duration of the vote.



15. A legislative vote is a vote of the Regional Assembly to enact, amend or repeal laws.



The quorum vote requirement for any legislative vote is 1/3rd of the # of citizen voters counted exclusively from the last 3 legislative voting threads.


Section 6.4: War

16. A region/org is "at war" with TNP is one which formally declared war on TNP or made acts of war against TNP.



17. Actions by foreign armies conducted against the North Pacific Army, and actions taken by the North Pacific Army do not count as war unless the conflict meets the conditions of 16).



18. A state of war exists until we(the Regional Assembly) recognize their surrender, formal peace treaty, or similar.





Chapter 7: Executive Government


1. Any Law regulating the executive government officials of The North Pacific may be listed here.


Section 7.1: Definitions

2. Executive Officers are government officials appointed by the Delegate to assist.

3. Advisors to the Delegate are government officials appointed by the Delegate for advice, and this position is exempt from the one-government-position law.

4. “The Serving Delegate is the person holding the constitutionally-mandated elected office of the Delegate or, in the case of a vacancy in that office, the person that has assumed the duties of that office.”

5. “The WA Delegate is the nation holding the WA Delegacy of the region The North Pacific.”


Section 7.2: Regional Officers

6. Regional Officers may only be appointed and granted powers as explicitly allowed under this section.



7. The Serving Delegate may assign any Regional Power, except Border Control, to any government OFFICIAL, or a nation created specifically for government functions.



8. The Serving Delegate may give Border Control to any of the 3 Security Councillors at the top of the Order of Succession.



9. During a Delegate Emergency, or with the permission of 50%+1 of the Regional Assembly vote, the Serving Delegate may give Border Control to any Security Councillor.



10. The WA Delegate will promptly grant all Regional Powers to the Serving Delegate, and follow his instructions on assigning any additional powers to other government officials.



Section 7.3: Onsite Authority

11. Violators of NationStates rules may be banned/ejected.



12. Nations recruiting for other regions may be banned/ejected.



13. Nations that the Court indicted may be banned/ejected (if the Court permits it.)



14. Nations sentenced by the Court will be ejected or banned.



15. The person performing an ejection or ban will promptly tell the region and Government.



16. “The Serving Delegate may regulate the RMB as they see fit.” (That means the Delegate can suppress the entire RMB?)



17. “Such regulations may not prohibit speech which is in the context of TNP politics.” (Okay, nevermind on the above, no mass suppressions.)



18. All actions of the WA Delegate, the Serving Delegate, or of their appointed Regional Officers (related to this section) will be subject to judicial review.


Section 7.4: The Attorney General

19. The Attorney General appoints Deputy AGs. Deputy AGs may not serve concurrently as either a Justice or a Temporary Hearing Officer.



20. The Attorney General will have standing in all cases of judicial review brought before the Court.



21. Any person ("the complainant") may submit a criminal complaint to the Attorney General, requesting that a criminal case be brought before the Court.



22. The Attorney General may, at their discretion, manage the prosecution of any criminal case requested.



23. The defendant, the defense attorney, or any relevant witnesses in a criminal case will be unavailable to manage the prosecution of the case.



24. When the Attorney General is unavailable, the Serving Delegate will appoint an existing and available deputy Attorney General. The appointed deputy Attorney General may, at their discretion, manage the prosecution of the case.



25. Failing the existence of an available deputy Attorney General, the first available person from the following list may act as such a deputy Attorney General for the duration of the case:



The Serving Delegate
The Serving Vice Delegate
Any resident (consensually) chosen by the complainant.




26. It is the duty of the Attorney General (and their deputies) to see to completion any case they manage.





27. If the original Attorney General (and their deputies) are unable to complete a pending case by the end of their term, the successor Attorney General will take over the prosecution.





28. If the Attorney General (and their deputies,) decline to manage the prosecution of a requested criminal case, then the complainant may, at their discretion, manage themselves the prosecution of the criminal case. Otherwise, they may withdraw the complaint.





29. If the Attorney General and deputies decline the case, and if the complainant has not stated their intent to either manage the prosecution of the case or withdraw the complaint within 30 days, then consider the complaint withdrawn.



30. For the purposes of this section, "managing the prosecution of a case" includes but is not limited to:

submitting an indictment to the Court for the relevant charges;
arguing on the acceptance or rejection of the indictment;
acting as the prosecutor for the duration of all stages of the criminal trial heard for the case;
representing the prosecution in any separate judicial review hearings arising from the criminal trial;
and appointing, directing, and removing an attorney to act in the above capacity in their place.


———



Section 7.5: Freedom of Information Act



31. For this section, "the government" refers to the Delegate+Executive Officers, including their departments.



32. For this section, classified information is:

Real life information about any NationStates player from which there is a risk of inferring that player's real life identity and which has not willingly been disclosed to the public, including, but not limited to, an individual's name, IP address, physical address or location, phone number, place of employment or education, appearance, social media accounts, and other knowledge about a player, unless the player in question provides explicit consent for this information not to be considered private.
Real life information about any NationStates player for which there exists a reasonable real life expectation of privacy or discretion, including, but not limited to, health status, both mental and physical; financial status; personal tragedies; changes in personal status such as marriage, divorce, pregnancy, birth, or death; and other similar information, unless the player in question provides explicit consent for this information not to be considered private.
Information that, upon being made public, would jeopardize any ongoing military or intelligence operations; or jeopardize the security of units and agents participating in them, or be harmful to the diplomatic interests, military interests, or security of The North Pacific.
33. DO NOT RELEASE ANY OF THE ABOVE! NO MATTER WHAT



34. Private government records which reach one year of age will be relocated to the appropriate Declassified Archive visible to residents.



35. A resident can always request the Delegate/designated Executive officers to release any Government private record.


36. The Delegate/Executive designated officers will retrieve the info requested from a government department.



37. Residents who do not receive this information (when there’s no law or regulation on it) may petition for the information to the Court. The Delegate/Executive designated officers may present evidence that the information counts as Classified info.


38. Appropriately undisclosed info will be counted as Classified by a 50%+1 vote of the 3-member-panel Court.




Section 7.6: Mandatory Ministries

39. A TNP Foreign Affairs Executive Officer is mandatory. They will report on events in the region and ensure TNP’s embassies continue to operate.



40. A TNP Military Affairs Executive Officer is mandatory. They will raid/defend/update/pile (if it’s TNP legal and authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.)


41. There will be at least one Executive Officer charged with focusing on matters of internal interest to The North Pacific.




Chapter 8: The North Pacific Army Doctrine



Spoiler: NO CHANGES MADE TO NPA SECTION


Chapter 9: Emergency Situations


Section 9.1: Emergency Powers

1. The Regional Assembly may declare an actual emergency by 50%+1 vote. Votes on declaring emergencies must be fast and take no longer than 3 day.

2. Concurrent with the declaration of an emergency, or anytime afterward while the emergency is ongoing, the Regional Assembly may, by 50%+1 vote, make both binding and nonbinding recommendations related to the ongoing emergency to government officials regarding what actions to take, regional law enforcement, or other similar matter.


Section 9.2: Disease Control

3. A NationStates event involving an outbreak of an infectious disease shall be considered an actual emergency, and does not require a declaration by the RA.

4. In advance of an outbreak, or promptly after an outbreak begins, the government must present a poll to the public regarding how the government should respond. The poll must contain at least three substantially different options. The government will respond according to the will of the public expressed through that poll.

5. During an outbreak, the delegate is authorized to act in any reasonable manner to pursue the adopted plan. This includes, but is not limited to, ejecting or banning nations from the region who have entered the region during the crisis and imposing restrictions on national movement into the region.

6. Nations ejected or banned because of the outbreak must be promptly unbanned and invited to return once the emergency is over.

7. During an outbreak, no nation may have their status as a resident or citizen removed solely for leaving the region, so long as they return within three days of the end of the emergency.

8. Following an outbreak, the Speaker must promptly contact any resident or citizen who remains outside the region, and inform them that they are at risk of losing their status if they do not return within 3 days.


Section 9.3: Forum Access

9. The existence of widespread obstacles that impede access to TNP forums, including Denial of Service attacks and prolonged server downtime, shall be considered an actual emergency, and does not require a declaration by the RA.

10. The governmental authorities of the region must inform the public of any forum access emergency, and continue to provide updates to the extent that is practicable for the duration of the emergency.

11. During a forum access emergency, no resident may be penalized for failing to take actions for which access to the forum is required.

12. TNP government authorities should take reasonable actions consistent with the spirit of the regional laws to continue the community and government during the emergency.


Section 9.4: WA Delegacy

13. If the legal/acting Delegate resigns, gets recalled, or loses WA status, then that’s an actual emergency, and does not need a declaration by the RA. Likewise, any capture of the delegacy of The North Pacific by any nation that’s not the legal/acting delegate is considered an actual emergency.


14. Delegacy emergencies that fall outside the scope of the above clause may STILL be declared by 50%+1 vote of the RA only when the legal/acting Vice Delegate recommends it, in consultation with the Security Council.





15. During a delegacy emergency, the legal/acting Delegate may authorize any individual in the Line of Succession to hold the delegacy and to take any actions related to that position, including, but not limited to, voting in the World Assembly, moderating the Regional Message Board, and ejecting and banning nations from the region.



16. The in-game Delegate must follow any instructions from the legal/acting Delegate as to the execution of their powers.


Chapter 10: Cultural Declarations


1. This Chapter will include laws concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.




(Disclaimer, I will stop here since this is too long and I already have re-written ALL the legal code except Chapter 10: Cultural Declarations.)

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[Marcus Antonius]

Candidates for Attorney General: Crushing Our Enemies.

Four months ago, I promised to center my work as Attorney General around the values of Compassion, Objectivity, and Efficiency (C.O.E.) I come to you again to ask for your vote on that same basis.

I made no promises regarding output from my office, because the job of the Attorney General is not to obtain convictions, or to have laws and policies overturned. Rather, it is to advocate for justice, and seek clarity in matters of law. I have no quotas to meet, only values to uphold. Nonetheless, it is with humility that I admit I have not done all that I set out to do four months ago. I cannot blame the abbreviated term; I have been distracted from my purpose. I have legal questions that I wish the court to resolve, but have not yet posed. I am behind where I would like to be on other duties of the office as well.

As we enter a new year, I resolve to be more proactive in my work, and humbly ask for your vote in order to realize that goal. I welcome your questions.