Bills

33 RZ1 - The Senate Elections Reform (Amendment) Act

WHEREAS, the checks and balances surrounding Senate elections in the
Organic Law were vitiated through partisan "reforms" aimed at
centralizing power in the hands of the Secretary of State and the PC
Party, and

WHEREAS, the resulting system is open to flagrant abuse such
as "secret" elections and the partisan manipulation of election
schedules, and

WHEREAS, a national consensus exists to restore a system of checks and
balances, and to ensure fully democratic, representative elections to
the Upper House,

THEREFORE, the Ziu hereby approves this Act and orders its transmittal
to the voters for their verdict in the next general election.
Be it hereby enacted:
Article IV of the Organic Law is hereby repealed. In its place the
following text is inserted:

Art.IV:Sec.1. The Senäts, or in English the Senate, is the national
legislative council and the upper house of the Ziu, and shall be
composed of one Senator elected from each province.

Art.IV:Sec.2. Elections for the filling of places in the Senäts shall
be conducted by the Secretary of State in accordance with election law.
These elections shall be conducted simultaneously with general
elections to the Cosâ.

Art.IV:Sec.3. Each time the Cosâ shall be dissolved, there shall be an
election for the Senäts in two provinces. For purposes of elections to
the Senäts, the provinces shall be listed in the following fixed order:
Mussolini, Vuode, Atatürk, Cézembre, Florencia, Maricopa, Maritiimi-
Maxhestic. Following the passage of this Act, the next elections for
the Senäts shall be held in the two provinces for whom the greatest
amount of time has elapsed since the last regular election for the
Senäts.

Art.IV:Sec.4. Any qualified Talossan citizen is free to contest an
election for the Senäts in any province. Qualifications for holding a
Senatorship include service for six continuous months as Secretary of
State or Prime Minister, or Talossan citizenship for two years, or
receiving an order of knighthood or other meritorious decoration from
the King. Election ballots shall guarantee the right of all citizens in
all provinces to vote for an individual Senator for their province.

Art.IV:Sec.5. Political parties may "endorse" individual candidates for
the Senate, one candidate per party per province. In the event that a
voter does not specify an individual candidate for Senate on his
ballot, his vote for a political party shall apply to the candidate
endorsed by that party. A voter may always vote for a different Senate
candidate than the one endorsed by the party of his choice, by
indicating said candidate on the ballot.

Art.IV:Sec.6. The candidate receiving a plurality of the vote shall be
declared the winner. In case of a tie between two or more candidates,
the executive officer of the province shall select one of those
candidates to be the Senator.

Art.IV:Sec.7. Voting is not secret. As soon as one's vote is cast, it
becomes public knowledge.

Art.IV:Sec.8. If a voter returns more than one vote, the first one cast
is counted and the others are ignored.

Art.IV:Sec.9. When the Election Deadline has passed, a final tally of
votes is publicly announced. Any votes arriving after the Deadline,
even if they were posted before the Deadline, are null and void.

Art.IV:Sec.10. If a seat becomes vacant during the term of a Senator,
the King shall appoint a Senator to fill the remainder of the term. The
King must appoint the individual designated to him by the political
party with which the outgoing Senator was commonly associated. If this
is impossible, the King shall appoint the individual designated to him
by the executive officer of the province. If this is impossible, the
King shall choose the Senator.

Art.IV:Sec.11. Senators may be removed from office by the Uppermost
Cort, for criminal activity or for mis-, mal-, or non-feasance.

Uréu q'estadra så: Robert I, King of Talossa

33 RZ2 - The Provincial Elections Reform (Amendment) Act

WHEREAS, provincial governments in Talossa have become a cesspool of
partisan corruption exacerbated by low-turnout elections, undemocratic constitutions, lifetime terms of
office, and (in times past) partisan manipulation by the Secretary of State, and

WHEREAS, a national consensus now exists that the reform of provincial
governments on a nationwide basis is good for the healthy functioning of democracy,

THEREFORE, the Ziu hereby approves this Act and orders its transmittal
to the voters for their verdict in the next general election.

Article XVII, Section 9 of the Organic Law is hereby repealed. In its
place, the following text is inserted:

Art.XVII:Sec.9. Each Province shall have its own single-chamber
parliament, to be named at the discretion of each Province. The
dissolution of the federal Cosâ, for whatever reason, shall cause the
dissolution of all provincial parliaments, and shall entail an election
in each province for its own parliament, concurrent with the Cosâ
election.

Art.XVII:Sec.9a. Each provincial parliament shall consist of several
seats. The number of seats for each provincial parliament shall be identical to the number of seats elected to
the federal Cosâ from that province, and the distribution of seats by party in each provincial
parliament shall be identical to the distribution of seats by party in
that province's elected delegation to the federal Cosâ.

Art.XVII:Sec.9b. As an exception to the preceding rule, any political
party is free to specifically contest an election for the provincial parliament of any province. Election
ballots shall guarantee the right of all citizens in all provinces to vote for an individual party for
their provincial parliament.

Art.XVII:Sec.9c. In the event that a voter does not specify an individual party for his provincial parliament
on his ballot, his vote for a political party in the federal Cosâ shall apply to the provincial
parliament. A voter may always vote for a different Cosâ party from his
provincial parliament party, by indicating said provincial parliament
party on the ballot.

Art.XVII:Sec.9d. Each provincial parliament, once elected, shall choose
by majority vote of its seats the rules under which the parliament
shall operate. These rules are subject to review by the Uppermost Cort
to guarantee that they do not violate the rights of voters in the
province concerned. Each provincial parliament, once elected, shall
choose by majority vote of its seats an executive officer or Premier
(to be given such titles as the provincial parliament shall determine)
analogous to the federal Prime Minister.

Art.XVII:Sec.9e. The King shall appoint, on the advice of the Prime
Minister, a Cunstavál (or Constable) for each province, who shall serve
during times of good behaviour. The Cunstavál shall exercise, within
the province, all executive authority granted to the Crown by the
Organic Law nationally, except he shall have no say in the dissolution
of provincial parliaments.

Uréu q'estadra så: Robert I, King of Talossa