Fellow Legislators,

the members of the Partnership for Sovereignty have agreed on an amendment to its Charter. Before that takes effect, we have to debate and vote on it here in TSP.

The amendment is relatively simple: It establishes a quorum requirement for votes that PfS delegations make. This comes as a result of a vote to admit another region, in which most regions abstained rather than voted for or against. This meant that it could have been just 2 regions that decided on something as serious as whether or not to accept another region into the Partnership. Generally, the amendment establishes a 50% quorum for all votes. As a bonus, the amendment also includes an extra provision for when a membership vote fails quorum, for which a new vote should be held at a later time.

Both Prime Minister Sandaoguo and myself thought that this amendment is reasonable and sensible, and therefore approved it during the vote within PfS itself. The full Cabinet then also approved it. Now it comes to you, my fellow Legislators, to debate and vote. As always, I'm ready and willing to answer any and all of your questions.

For reference, the specific text of the amendment:

Quote:Article II. Setting Vote Recommendations.
...
Section 3. After discussion, any representative may motion for a vote on a vote recommendation, such a vote will last 24 hours or until all members have voted. A vote recommendation includes the option preferred by the parties and the reasoning published for the recommendation. In order to issue a recommendation, 60% of voting representatives must support the recommendationa quorum of one-half of delegations must be reached, and three-fifths of non-abstaining representatives must support the recommendation. If the proposed vote recommendation does not reach this threshold, the Partnership will not issue a vote recommendation on that Security Council proposal.
...
Article IV. Membership Guidelines
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Section 2. Following discussion of the application, a 72 hour vote will be held and, if three-fourths of voting delegations concurnon-abstaining delegations concur, with a quorum of one-half of voting delegations, the region shall be admitted.

Section 3. Should an application vote fail to reach quorum, discussion of the application shall continue for one week, after which a second vote is held. Should the second vote fail to reach quorum, the application is automatically rejected.

Chairwoman, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I hereby declare in good faith that the amendment presented above is the result of a treaty negotiation with majority executive approval for the purposes of Article VI Section 6 of the Charter of the South Pacific, and request that the corresponding assembly procedure is initiated.

-- Roavin, your friendly lampshade-wearing MoFA