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by Lorania founder. . 1,307 reads.

The Loranian Constitution

Preamble

We, the gathered nations of Lorania, in order to protect our liberty and guarantee a region governed by the people, for the people, of the people, and in fear of the people, henceforth enact this Constitution.

Article I: Citizenship Status

  1. Citizenship may be gained by residing in the region while being a WA member, or by obtaining a WA waiver. WA waivers can be obtained by informing the executive branch of government about a WA nation outside of the region of Lorania, that is also owned by the resident attempting to obtain the waiver.

  2. No nation may hold citizenship if they have been convicted within this region of treason, nor if they are a vassal state of any nation that is already a citizen of Lorania.

  3. Treason shall be defined as assisting another group with the intent to remove the licit government of Lorania.

Article II: The Rights of Nations

  1. Lorania may not interfere in the internal workings of any nation, including the right of every nation to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press; notwithstanding that the World Assembly and NationStates themselves may place reasonable restrictions on the aforementioned.

  2. No nation may be charged with any crime not defined in this Constitution or elsewhere in law.

  3. No nation may be tried of a crime unless they have a fair and public trial carried out by an impartial judge, nor shall they be made to testify against themselves in any trial, nor shall they be tried twice of the same crime unless new evidence comes to light in regards to that crime.

  4. Each nation that has voting rights in any given election shall have the right to vote for any candidate at that election freely and without compulsion.

  5. All nations shall be treated equally under law.

Article III: The Executive Branch

  1. The executive power in Lorania shall be fulfilled by a Prime Minister who is directly elected on the third Wednesday of every January, April, July and October. Every citizen, apart from the Chief Justice, may stand for the post of Prime Minister and vote for any candidate in that election.

  2. The Prime Minister shall hold every possible authority in Lorania, and may appoint a citizen of their choosing as Deputy Prime Minister to assist in the running of the executive branch, with the agreement of the founders, or - in their permanent absence - the World Assembly Delegate.

  3. The Prime Minister shall appoint a Home Secretary responsible for internal affairs and security, and a Foreign Secretary responsible for external affairs and relations.

  4. The Prime Minister, their Deputy, the Home Secretary, and the Foreign Secretary shall comprise the Cabinet, along with any citizen that they desire to name as a Cabinet member for substantial and nontrivial reasons, and any Cabinet ministry that may be created by legislation.

  5. No Cabinet member may simultaneously serve in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister may veto legislation passed by the House of Commons within three days of its passage, but this veto may be overriden by a two-thirds majority of voting MPs.

  6. All Cabinet members shall fulfil their duties, as defined in this Constitution and other Loranian law, to the best of their ability.

  7. The Deputy Prime Minister shall become the Acting Prime Minister if the former Prime Minister was impeached, has resigned or is otherwise unable to carry out their role. They shall organise elections within two weeks after they take power, and the elected Prime Minister at those elections shall serve until they either leave office or the next scheduled election, whichever comes first.

  8. This Constitution shall not be read to prevent multiple Prime Ministers from serving simultaneously; save that all Prime Ministers in office at any point in time must have unanimous agreement among themselves before carrying out any action explicitly defined in law as being the responsibility of the Prime Minister. The impeachment, removal, or resignation of one Prime Minister does not invalidate the power held by any other serving Prime Ministers nor (unless their removal would leave Lorania without a Prime Minister) allow for their replacement by the Deputy Prime Minister.

  9. The Prime Minister and their cabinet's terms shall end, and all their powers shall be stripped from them, on the second Wednesday of every January, April, July and October, one week before the new Prime Minister is elected. This is to prevent a member of the cabinet having an advantage in the election campaign from their current power. Once the cabinet is dissolved, no member of it may make any official decisions or changes to Lorania. In case of an emergency arising in this period that would usually require a decision from the Prime Minister, it shall go to the Chief Justice instead.

Article IV: The Legislative Branch

  1. The legislative power in Lorania shall be fulfilled by the House of Commons.

  2. The House shall be comprised of five Members of Parliament, or MPs, who shall be empowered to present their own bills to the House's attention, sponsor bills written by citizens who are not MPs (including Cabinet members), and debate and vote on bills presented to the House.

  3. MPs shall be elected on the fourth Wednesday of every January, April, July and October. Every citizen, apart from the Chief Justice and any cabinet minister, may stand to become an MP and vote for any candidate in that election.

  4. Once elected, the first action of the House of Commons shall be to elect one of their number to the position of House of Commons Speaker. This shall be achieved by a simple vote, officiated by the House Of Commons Founder, of each stating their nominee; the MP with the most votes may then either accept the position or decline it, in which instance the position falls to the next most-voted-for MP. In the event of a tie, the Prime Minister shall decide who is to become Speaker. In the event that no MPs are willing to become Speaker, the position shall revert to the House of Commons Founder. The House of Commons Founder shall remain as a persistent position across government terms, until they resign, cease to exist, or are removed from office (see Article VII: Removal of Officials).

  5. The Speaker shall announce the start and end of debating periods and voting periods on bills in the House, along with the results at the end of a vote; and must also maintain order in the House in the event of uncivil debating. They shall differentiate between RMB posts in their two separate capacities by prefixing posts as the Speaker with "In my role as the Speaker of this House: ", and posts as a standard MP with "In my role as a Member of this House: "

  6. Proposals for bills must be written by a citizen inside a dispatch, which they must then telegram to the Speaker of the House of Commons. An MP may propose a bill without conditions; a citizen who is not an MP must credit a sponsoring MP, who must also telegram the speaker of the House of Commons to prove that they are sponsoring that bill. The authoring citizen must not propose another bill until MPs have finished voting on the first bill.

  7. All bills (including Constitutional amendments) shall be debated for two days and voted upon for two days after that, or until each MP states whether they are for the bill, against the bill or abstaining from voting.

  8. MPs may sponsor other citizens of Lorania to speak in any debate. This is done by the MP posting on the Loranian House of Commons Regional Message Board that they are sponsoring said citizen, and pinging the speaker in that post to let them know. An MP may only sponsor one citizen per debate. The sponsored citizen will not be allowed to vote on the bill.

  9. Each bill with a simple majority of voting MPs in favour, including repeals and amendments to acts but not including Constitutional amendments, automatically passes and becomes an act; tied bills shall be treated as if they have failed. This Constitution may only be amended with the support of two-thirds of voting MPs.

  10. The term of the MPs in the House of Commons shall end on the second Wednesday of every January, April, July and October; one week before the election for Prime Minister is held, and two weeks before the new House is elected. This is to prevent any MPs who wish to run for Prime Minister using their position in the House to advance their campaign. Once the House is dissolved, all MPs including the Speaker are relieved of their authority and may not debate on or pass any bills until two week later, when they may be re-elected to their position in the new version of the House.

Article V: The Judicial Branch

  1. The judicial power in Lorania shall be fulfilled by the Chief Justice of the Regional Court, appointed by the Prime Minister and approved by a simple majority of voting MPs, who shall not hold any other office in Lorania. If the House does not approve the Prime Minister's nominee, the Prime Minister must nominate another nation for the position, who must also be approved by the House before assuming the role.

  2. The Chief Justice's term shall end on the fourth Wednesday of every January, April, July and October, on the same day as the new House of Commons is elected; then the Prime Minister's new nominee shall be voted on and approved/disapproved by the House. During the week between a new Prime Minister being elected and their Chief Justice nominee being approved, the previous Chief Justice may not be removed from power.

  3. The Chief Justice shall try all cases; and may conduct a judicial review of any law, including any action performed by a nation in their capacity as a government official, to determine its constitutionality.

  4. No nation may be ejected or banned unless the Chief Justice rules that the nation has committed a crime that is worthy of being punished by ejection or banning; nor revoked of their citizenship unless they are convicted of (or impeached on the grounds of) treason.

Article VI: The World Assembly Delegacy

  1. Every World Assembly member in Lorania, apart from the Chief Justice (if they hold WA membership), shall directly elect their World Assembly Delegate on the first Wednesday of February, May, August and November.

  2. The World Assembly Delegate shall have the duty of approving proposals and voting upon resolutions considered by the World Assembly, independent of the Government.

  3. The World Assembly Delegate shall have no other powers by itself and is not a government official. In the event that the nation of Lorania Founder ceases to exist, the Delegate shall maintain their powers in the World Assembly and act as if they were the founder; save that they may not be impeached from their role as a substitute founder.

Article VII: Removal of Officials

  1. All Cabinet members may, with a two-thirds majority of voting MPs, be impeached and thus removed from their post on the basis of those high crimes defined in law, including abuse of power, and treason as defined in Article I, Chapter 3 of this Constitution.

  2. Abuse of power shall be defined as improper use of game-given regional authority to subvert Loranian Law, or to directly give a political advantage to themselves or a political ally.

  3. The Prime Minister may dismiss any government official apart from the Chief Justice. However, any government official (including the World Assembly Delegate) may freely and without coercion resign from their post as such.

Article VIII: Elections

  1. Candidates for any election prescribed in this Constitution may only announce their candidacy at that election at any point between one week before the election and the day before the election.

  2. Elections for the office of Prime Minister and World Assembly Delegate must use Alternative Vote, and elections for the House of Commons must use Single Transferable Vote.

  3. Citizens may vote in elections by posting on the Loranian Elections (a region created specifically for the purposes of holding elections) Regional Message Board, ranking candidates in order of preference.

  4. Only citizens residing in the region at the commencement of the voting period may vote in an election.

Article IX: Final Provisions

  1. The regional motto of Lorania shall be "Equality Above All Else."

  2. The regional flag of Lorania shall be comprised of three vertical bands of equal width; with a white band closest to the hoist, a yellow band closest to the fly, and a dark blue band between the other two bands.

  3. This Constitution is effective immediately after its approval by a two-thirds majority of voting MPs. However, it must not be read as nullifying any legislation passed before its enactment, other than Lorania's inaugural constitution.

  4. The numbering in this dispatch may be amended mutatis mutandis if needs be.

Lorania founder

Edited:

RawReport