Amendment of the Constitution

Dear citizens of The Great Experiment,
I would like to propose a couple of amendments to our current constitution.
page=dispatch/id=1251899

I hope that we can discuss these amendments and find the best solution for our region.
Together we can continue to improve our constitution and our great region.

In accordance with Article VIII of the Constitution of the Great Experiment, we propose this act to reform the voting system of the Great Experiment and amend Section V, VI, and VIII of Article V within the Constitution of the Great Experiment.

With concern over popular observance the flaw within Article V Sections V, VI, and VIII, which mandates the process of presidential elections within the Great Experiment via World Assembly endorsements, alienating members without access to their NationStates account who still retain membership and are affected by the legislation,

Further concerned over the system's obvious natural advantage given to the incumbent, which has shown to be apparent with the advent of the Election of 8 November and the subsequent snap Election of 18 November,

Hereby amending Article V Sections V, VI, and VIII's voting system with a simpler two-round system determined via popular vote, held via a vote on the Great Experiment Discord Server through the Reactions system within Discord's user interface. With this system, the candidate who is to receive the highest valid number of reactions would win the presidency provided they won at least 40% of the popular vote. If no candidate is to receive 40% of the popular vote, a runoff election is to be held two days later in which the choice of president and would be made from the two persons who had received the highest number of votes in the first election. Further noting that re-election is to be held in this method, and that, in the event of a tie, a tiebreaking vote is to be held by the Founder.

Acknowledging that, in doing so, this will, in turn, separate the method behind electing the post of World Assembly Delegate with the method of electing the President, and that, in turn, the World Assembly Delegate and the President of the Great Experiment would not have to be held by the same person.

Convinced that a flawed section of the ought to be repealed, hereby amends Sections V, VI, and VIII of the fifth Article of the Constitution of the Great Experiment.

Foreign Affairs Minister Act

Recognizing that in order for The Great Experiment to truly prosper as a region, an office for interregional affairs is needed

Learning from the election of November 8th as well as the election of November 18th, in which the two main candidatesItheria and Scalizagasti had different views on what should be done to help The Great Experiment, Itheria focused on internal issues and Scalizagasti wanted to focus on external issues.

Realizing that both views are needed in the region.

Hereby

Article I: Definitions

Defines

Interregional: Definition 1: Relating to/involving two or more regions, Definition 2: In a region that is NOT The Great Experiment

URA: The URA/United Regions Alliance, an interregional organisation.

Article II: Foreign Affairs Minister

Section A: Creates a new office, the Foreign Affairs Minister.
Section B: Gives the Foreign Affairs minister authority over Embassies
Section C: Tasks the Foreign Affairs minister with managing relations with other regions and the URA.

Article III: Foreign Affairs Minister Elections

Section A: Elects the Foreign Affairs Minister the same way the President is elected according to the Equal Voters' Act
Section B: Sets the term length of the Foreign Affairs Minister to 2 weeks.
Section C: In order for a citizen of the Great Experiment to be a candidate for the Foreign Affairs Ministers, they must first declare candidacy on the RMB at least 24 hours before the election.

Article IV: Impeachment
Section A: If a message on the RMB requesting the current Foreign Affairs Minister to be impeached gains at least 5 likes, a vote using the Discord reaction system will determine whether or not the Foreign Affairs Minister will be impeached. If a ratio of 2:3 people want the FAM(Foreign Affairs Minister) to be impeached, they will be immediately stripped of their position. If a ratio of 2:3 is not acheived, the FAM will not be impeached.
Section B: If the FAM is impeached, a snap election will be held 2 days later in which the old FAM cannot be a candidate.
Section C: The FAM can be impeached any time except less than 72 hours after they are elected or less than 72 hours before their term ends.

Amend Article V Paragraph 1 to:

1. The President elections are the elections which grants World Assembly members of The Great Experiment the office of President.

Amend Article IV Paragraph 2 and its Sub-Paragraphs to:

2. The office of the President's grants the member holding it Appearance, Border Control, Communications, Embassies and Polls authorities.

Amend the following sentence of Article VIII Paragraph 1 "If the number of citizens which like the post exceed 5 within 5 days of the time it was posted, a referendum shall be held as soon as any other referendums required to be held first are completed." to "If the number of citizens which like the post exceed 3 within 5 days of the time it was posted, a referendum shall be held as soon as any other referendums required to be held first are completed."

Add Article IX with the following contents:

Article IX - Referendums

1. Referendums are hold in order for eligible voters of The Great Experiment to have their say on a certain issue.

2. A member with polls authority shall create a poll on the region's administration page when a referendum is to be held.

a. The referendum must include a link to the bill, if such exists for the referendum.

b. Options shall be "Yes", "No" and "Abstain".

c. The poll shall be limited to residents, and shall be set to be open for 2 days.

3. During the time a legal poll is up, it may not be cancelled by no one else but the Founder.

4. Election referendums have higher priority than other referendums. No non-election referendum may be active when an election is supposed to be held.

Amends the following part of Appendix A
"This constitution has three appendices: Appendix A, Appendix B, and Appendix C. Appendix B has articles designated with Roman numerals. Articles of the constitution and Appendix C have paragraphs designated with Arabic numerals. Paragraphs may contain sub-paragraphs designated with lower-case letters." to
"This constitution has three appendices: Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C and Appendix D. Appendix B has articles designated with Roman numerals. Articles of the constitution and Appendix C have paragraphs designated with Arabic numerals. Paragraphs may contain sub-paragraphs designated with lower-case letters.
Appendix D - Enacted Bills includes links to passed bills that are not amendments to this constitution. Appendix D does not require an amendment to be changed and can only include links to passed bills."

Amends the following sentence of Appendix A
"A member who submits a legal vote in an election/referendum must remain eligible to vote in that election/referendum throughout the election/referendum, in order for their vote to be counted." to
"A member who submits a legal vote in an election/referendum must remain eligible to vote in that election/referendum until the end of the election/referendum, in order for their vote to be counted."

Adds a Sub-Paragraph b. "A dispatch including the names of all legal non-WA citizens of The Great Experiment shall be pinned to The Great Experiment's World Factbook Entry." to Article II Paragraph 1.

Amends Article V Paragraph 5 to
"5. The voting system is a simple two-round system determined via popular vote, held via a vote on The Great Experiment's Discord Server through the Reactions system within Discord's user interface. With this system, the candidate who is to receive the highest valid number of reactions after 48 hours since the start of the election would win the presidency provided they won at least 40% of the popular vote. If no candidate is to receive 40% of the popular vote, a runoff election is to be held two days later in the same way as the first election and the choice of president would be made from the two persons who had received the highest number of votes in the first election. Further noting that re-election is to be held in this method, and that, in the event of a tie, a tiebreaking vote is to be held by the Founder."

Adds a definition "The Great Experiment's Discord Server = A Discord server, Server" prior to the definition "Nation = A nation in the game NationStates.".

Amend the Article II Paragraph 1 to
"1. A citizen of The Great Experiment is a member of The Great Experiment who is a member of the World Assembly and thus whose name is included on this page. On the page nation's names are separated with , (comma) and spaces in names have been exchanged to _ (underscore). A member can also become a citizen if the ratio between legal yes and no votes, in a referendum to grant the member citizenship, is at least 2:1, and as long as the member does not leave The Great Experiment or the World Assembly before the referendum ends." where "this page" continues to be the same link.

Amend the sentence
"This constitution has three appendices: Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C and Appendix D."
in Appendix A to
"This constitution has four appendices: Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C and Appendix D."

Amend Article V Paragraph 6 to
"6. The current President shall be removed from their office as President and the winner of the election shall be appointed as President by the Founder, unless the current President shall serve one more term as President."

Amend Article V Paragraph 3 to
"3. During the term of a President, citizens of The Great Experiment may declare candidacy for the upcoming President election with a post on the Regional Message Board stating their candidacy, unless they are the current President and are holding the office for their second consecutive term."

Amend the sentence
"Actions which in order to be executed by a bill, require a ratio of at least 2:1 between legal yes and no votes in a referendum for enacting that bill, may not be executed by members with authority."
of Appendix A to
"Actions which in order to be executed by a bill, require a ratio of at least 2:1 between legal yes and no votes in a referendum for enacting that bill, may not be executed by members with authority unless a bill requires such action."

Amend the sentence
"A member can also become a citizen if the ratio between legal yes and no votes, in a referendum to grant the member citizenship, is at least 2:1, and as long as the member does not leave The Great Experiment or the World Assembly before the referendum ends."
of Article II Paragraph 1 to
"A member can also become a citizen if the ratio between legal yes and no votes, in a referendum to grant the member citizenship, is at least 2:1, and as long as the member does not leave The Great Experiment or join the World Assembly before the referendum ends."

Remove Article II Paragraph 1 Sub-Paragraph b.

Add a Paragraph 5 to Article III:
"5. The Founder shall resolve any ambiguity within this constitution or bill if such is found."

Amend Article V Paragraph 3 Sub-Paragraph a. to
"a. A candidate's candidacy is revoked if the candidate declares their revocation from candidacy in a post on the Regional Message Board, or if they lose their citizenship status in The Great Experiment."

Amend Article VIII Paragraph 1 to
"1. Any member of The Great Experiment may propose a bill to be voted upon by posting on the Regional Message Board a post that includes a link to a dispatch containing the bill's text. A bill may propose any changes to be made or actions to be taken that do not conflict with this constitution. If the number of citizens which like the is at least 3 within 3 days of the time it was posted, a referendum shall be held as soon as any other referendums required to be held first are completed."

Remove Article IX Paragraph 4.

Remove Paragraph 5 of Appendix C and decrease the paragraph number by one for all Appendix C paragraphs with a paragraph number higher than 5.

RESOLVED:

1. The definitions of "Endorsement," "Regional Influence," "Telegram," and "Temporary" shall be removed in their entirety from Appendix A of the Constitution.

2. The following commas shall further be removed:

   1. the comma after the word "Founder" in Article VII, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution,

   2. the comma after the word "dispatch" in Article VIII, Paragraph 1b of the Constitution, and

   3. the comma after the word "constitution" in the third-to-last sentence of Appendix A of the Constitution.

3. Article IV, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution shall be struck out in its entirety and replaced by "If a legal President loses office or leaves The Great Experiment during their term as President, a snap election shall be held, except if the next scheduled President election is less than 72 hours away."

4. In Article VIII, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, "If the number of citizens which like the is at least 3 within 3 days of the time it was posted" shall be replaced by "If the number of citizens which like the post is at least 3 within 3 days of its being posted on the Regional Message Board".

5. In Article IX, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution, "no one else" shall be replaced by "anyone".

6. The words "Holy Empire of Loaf" shall be removed from Article XI of the Constitution (given that said nation is already identified as the founder in Article III, Paragraph 1).

1. The following sentence shall be removed from Appendix A "Statements which are supposed to be made on the Regional Message Board according to this constitution shall be written by the Founder.".

2. Amends Article VI to:
"Article VI - Snap Elections

1. If a snap election is to be held for an office, and there are no existing rules for how the snap election shall be held, this Article shall be followed.

2. The snap election shall begin 3 days after the conclusion that a snap election is to be held was made.

a. During the time prior to the start of the snap election, members eligible to candidate for the election may declare candidacy on the Regional Message Board.

3. The snap election shall be held the same way as an ordinary election for the office would be held.

a. If there are no candidates as the snap election starts, the Founder shall win the snap election. If there's only one legal candidate, this candidate shall win the election."

Amend the first sentence of Article VIII Paragraph 1 to:
"Any member of The Great Experiment may propose a bill to be voted upon by posting on the Regional Message Board a post that includes a link to a dispatch containing the bill's text, and stating that they propose the bill."

Does the following changes to the Foreign Affairs Minister Act:

1. Adds a dot to the end of Article II Section B.

2. Changes Article II Section C to:
"Section C: Tasks the Foreign Affairs minister with managing relations with other regions and alliances."

3. Changes Article III Section A to:
"Section A: Elects the Foreign Affairs Minister the same way the President is elected according to the Constitution."

4. Changes any instances of the substring "2:3" to "2:1" in the Act.

5. Adds to Article IV a Section D:
"Section D: If the FAM resigns from the office or leaves The Great Experiment, they shall be seen as impeached."

6. Removes Article I, and changes the number of Article II to Article I, Article III to Article II and Article IV to Article III.

Impeachment of President Uyanvzase

Realizing,

That Uyanvzase declared their campaign for Presidency as a "joke" and that in truth and reality, they never intended to make any significant modifications, oversights, or suggestions during their term.

Noting,

That they have stuck to their word thereof, and have done nothing during their Presidency aside from pondering and withholding the office from a rightful candidate that may have intended to improve the region.

Frightened,

That the Presidency is singlehandedly the most significant office within our government, and we knowingly elected a candidate that repeatedly stated they did not intend to forward any effort, and that a true candidate may improve some of our region's greatest flaws.

Herby Impeaches President Uyanvzase

Does the following changes to the Constitution:

1. Amends the sentence
"If a member submits multiple legal votes during the same election or referendum, the last legal vote to be submitted by them during the election is the one that is legal and the other votes submitted by the member for the election or referendum are deemed illegal."
in Appendix A to
"If a member submits multiple legal votes during the same election or referendum, the last legal vote with the highest precedence to be submitted by them during the election or referendum is the one that is legal and all other votes submitted by the member for the election or referendum are deemed illegal.".

2. Amends Article IV Paragraph 3 to
"3. If a legal President loses the office or leaves The Great Experiment during their term as President, a snap election shall be held, except if the next scheduled President election is less than 72 hours away.".

3. Amends Article V Paragraph 1 to
"1. The President elections are the elections which grants members of The Great Experiment the office of President.".

4. Amends Article V Paragraph 3 to
"3. During the term of a President, citizens of The Great Experiment may declare candidacy for the upcoming President election with a post on the Regional Message Board stating their candidacy, unless they are the current President and served as President the prior term.".

5. Amends Article V Paragraph 5 to
"5. The voting system is a simple two-round system determined via popular vote, held via a vote on The Great Experiment's Discord Server and Regional Message Board. On the Discord server a message shall be made in the #announcements channel, by any member with access to the channel. The message shall at least contain the names of all the candidates and separate reactions assigned to each candidate. Voters will vote by reacting to the message, with the reaction assigned to whichever candidate they wish to vote for. On the Regional Message Board voters shall make a post clearly stating that they are voting for a certain candidate in the election. Voters may only vote for one candidate on Discord, if they react with mutiple candidate reactions, their Discord vote will not be counted. If a voter makes a legal vote on the Regional Message Board, that vote will be counted, and take precedence over any Discord vote made by the voter. Only votes casted by citizens of The Great Experiment will be legal in the election.

a. With this system, the candidate who is to receive the highest number of legal votes after 48 hours since the start of the election wins the presidency provided they got at least 40% of the lagal votes. If no candidate is to receive 40% of the legal votes, a runoff election is to be held immediately in the same way as the first election and the choice of president would be made from the two nations which received the highest number of votes in the first election. If the runoff election ends in a tie, the Founder shall decide which of the two candidates is to become President.".

6. Adds a Paragraph b to Article VI Paragraph 2
"b. Any eligible candidates that declared candidacy for the election after the end of the last election shall be seen as candidates.".

7. Amends the following sentence
"A bill may propose any changes to be made or actions to be taken that do not conflict with this constitution."
in Article VIII Paragraph 1 to
"A bill may propose any changes to be made or actions to be taken that do not conflict with this constitution, unless it is an amendment to this constitution.".

8. Adds the following sentence
"If a member does an action that is illegal according to this constitution and which does not have a punishment assigned in Appendix C, the action must be reversed such that the actions appears not to have been done."
to Appendix A after the sentence
"Actions which in order to be executed by a bill, require a ratio of at least 2:1 between legal yes and no votes in a referendum for enacting that bill, may not be executed by members with authority unless a bill requires such action.".

9. Adds the following
"The Founder shall be able to pardon a nation found guilty of commiting a crime according to Appendix C. The Founder may decide to give the nation no punishment at all, or to give it a softer punishment than what is stated in Appendix C. If the Founder pardons a member, the Founder shall state this on the Regional Message Board."
after the sentence
"The punishments may be executed by a member with Border Control authority if the Founder gives approval for such action."
in Appendix C.

10. Adds a definition
"Pardon = to give a softer or no punishment to a nation guilty of crime."
to the end of the list of definitions in Appendix A.

11. Adds a definition
"Office = a position which grants the nation holding it authority."
to the end of the list of definitions in Appendix A.

12. Adds to the end of Appendix A
"If a member with authority resigns by pressing the resign button on The Great Experiment's admin page and they hold multiple offices, they may state on the Regional Message Board which office(s) they resign from. If the member does not resign from all of their offices, they should be reappointed for the offices they did not resign from.".

13. Amends Article VIII Paragraph 2 to
'2. A poll shall be made from the admin page of The Great Experiment if the referendum shall be held. The poll shall be open to residents, be up for 2 days, include the link to the bill dispatch, and have options "Yes", "No" and "Abstain".'
where Sub-Paragraph a. remains unchanged.

14. Amends Appendix C Paragraph 2 to
"2. Performing actions with intention to hurt another individual shall be punished with a 14 days' ban from The Great Experiment.".

15. Alters the image at the top of the Constitution to the image at the follwing link: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/616553373826547712/842652922172801044/the_great_experiment__170925.png

1. Amend Article V Paragraph 2 to
"2. A President election begins on the first day of each month, unless a snap election has to be held earlier. Elections always begin at 00:00:00 (midnight) on the designated election day."

1. If this bill is passed,
a. "Foreign Affairs Minister Act" page=dispatch/id=1469602 will no longer be in force in TGE.
b. "FAM Act Edit" page=dispatch/id=1544484 will no longer be in force in TGE.

2. The office of Foreign Affairs Minister will be removed from TGE, and any nation holding the office, shall be dismissed from it.

1. When this bill is enacted The Great Experiment has decided to leave the United Regions Alliance.

a. The Great Experiment is no longer a member of United Regions Alliance.

2. The President of The Great Experiment shall be tasked with communicating with the United Regions Alliance government to have them recognize The Great Experiment's leave, and them as a no-longer-member of the United Regions Alliance.

By enacting this bill, the citizens of TGE mark that Pride Month of 2019 has ended, and our regional flag be re-established into its rightful place.

1. Change the regional flag to:

A. Do the following amendments to the constitution:

1. Amend Article II.1.a to:
a. If a non-World Assembly member which is a citizen of The Great Experiment leaves The Great Experiment or joins the World Assembly, their citizenship as a non-World Assembly member shall be revoked. If they leave The Great Experiment by ceasing to exist as a nation, and they join The Great Experiment within 72 hours of being refounded the next time, and they do not join the World Assembly during those 72 hours, their citizenship as a non-World Assembly citizen shall be returned to them.

2. Add a sub-paragraph b. to Article II.1:
b. If a nation is not a member of The Great Experiment or is a member of the World Assembly at some point between the moment a bill to grant them non-World Assembly citizenship is proposed and that bill being enacted, they shall not be granted the non-World Assembly citizenship.

3. Adds a sub-paragraph b. to Article V.5:
b. If there is a tie when determining which two nations shall stand in the runoff, the tie shall be broken by the Founder.

4. Amend Article VI.2.b to:
b. Any nation that declared candidacy for the election after the end of the last election shall be seen as candidates, if they are citizens of The Great Experiment.

5. Add a sub-paragraph c. to Article VI.2:
c. A candidate's candidacy is revoked if the candidate declares their revocation from candidacy in a post on the Regional Message Board, or if they lose their citizenship status in The Great Experiment.

6. Change the word 'its' in Article VIII.1 to 'it'.

B. Grant the nation Uyanvzase non-World Assembly citizenship.

1. Grant the nation Great synor non-World Assembly citizenship.

a. Recognizes Battadia as their World Assembly nation at the time of this bill's creation.

1. Grants the nation Pekares non-World Assembly citizenship in TGE.

1. Grants the nation Lekandia non-World Assembly citizenship in TGE.

1. Amend Article V Section 5 including Sub-Sections to:

5. When the President Election has begun, voters may vote by making a post on the Regional Message Board clearly stating that they are voting for a certain candidate in the election. If a message fulfilling the requirements in Sub-Section a. is made in the #announcements channel on The Great Experiment's Discord Server within 3 days from the start of the election, legal votes may be cast by reacting with a reaction assigned to a specific candidate in the post. If a voter reacts to more than one candidate assigned reaction, their vote on Discord will not count. If a voter makes a legal vote on the Regional Message Board, that vote will be counted, and take precedence over any Discord vote made by the voter. Only votes made by citizens are considered legal.

a. The post in the #announcements channel shall at least contain the names of all the legal candidates, and assign specific reactions to each candidate that voters may react with. If there exists any ambiguity whether or not such a post is legally and properly made, the Founder shall resolve such an issue.

b. The election will end 3 days after the start of the election supplied no legal election post as per Sub-Section a. is made within those 3 days; otherwise the election ends 48 hours after the legal #announcements post is made.

c. With this system, the candidate which is to receive the highest number of legal votes by the end of the election wins the presidency provided they got at least 40% of the legal votes. If two candidates both receive the same number of legal votes, and those votes respectively account for at least 40% of the legal votes, or no candidate is to receive 40% of the legal votes, a runoff election is to be held in the same way as the first election and the options to vote for are the two nations which received the highest number of votes in the first election.

d. If there is a tie when determining which two nations shall stand in the runoff, the tie shall be broken by the Founder. The runoff election begins when a post as per Sub-Section a. is made for that runoff election. If the runoff election ends in a tie, the Founder shall decide which of the two candidates is to become President.

1. Ban Pekares from The Great Experiment for a duration of 128 hours.