Hello all,

I just filed a Legal Question about a scenario where there is only one candidate for office as Delegate, a scenario which may become applicable given only one candidate has currently declared.

If the Court rules that there is no existing procedure for elections under this scenario, it will likely fall on us (as the Cabinet) to enact an executive order pursuant to Article VI(16) of the Charter. Several intervening factors (an alternate Court ruling or an additional candidate declaring for office) would avert such a scenario, but I believe it is pertinent to begin discussion, including what executive order the Cabinet would issue on this matter.

I have a few thoughts but will start by opening up the floor for others to give their ideas

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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I do have thoughts, but I will keep these to myself for now depending on how the case assignment in Court goes. I'll keep you updated.

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Glen's candidacy makes this thread moot because resolving this issue will no longer be an urgent question/on a fast timeline, thus any change to the law should go through the normal Assembly legislative process.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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Glen's candidacy not being valid due to never posting a campaign thread or conflict of interest declaration means this thread is suddenly relevant again. I will try to post a draft executive order before bed but others can put their thoughts here as well

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

Reply

(2) On the first of every January and July, the Assembly will convene for the first round of Delegate elections.
a. Any eligible legislator wishing to run for Delegate may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform. Any player who has been banned from World Assembly membership will be considered ineligible and any candidate who is later discovered to be banned from World Assembly membership will be immediately disqualified. Legislators wishing to run for Delegate must hold a number of endorsements equal to at least 80% of the existing applicable endorsement cap at the commencement of the election period.
b. The campaign and debate period will last one week, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
c. This round of voting for delegate will be conducted using Approval Voting.
d. The two candidates with the highest number of approvals will move to a second round of voting conducted via a poll of Native World Assembly members.
e. Should the voting result in a tie, more than two nations may move onto the second round of voting.
f. If an advancing candidate receive less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "approved", and the process for that slot shall begin again at the campaign and debate period.
g. If there is only one candidate for Delegate in the first round of Delegate elections, the Assembly will vote whether to approve that candidate or re-open nominations. If the candidate receives less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "approved", and the process shall begin again at the campaign and debate period. If the candidate receives greater than 50% approval, the Election Commissioner will initiate a second round of voting conducted via a week-long poll of Native World Assembly members, with the options of the approved candidate and Re-Open Nominations. If the option to Re-Open Nominations receives the majority of the votes in the regional poll, then the process of electing a Delegate will begin again at the campaign and debate period.

Here's a draft -- open to input. As a note, this requires unanimous Cabinet approval.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

(This post was last modified: 01-07-2022, 10:50 PM by HumanSanity.)

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Sounds good to me.

"After he realizes this newfound power of his to override the hopes and dreams of republicans, he puts all of the united provinces under his control."
one time minister of culture

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"will initiate a second round of voting conducted via a week-long poll of Native World Assembly members"

This should probably mention that the options in the gameside poll are the candidate + RON.

I have been things

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"will initiate a second round of voting conducted via a week-long poll of Native World Assembly members"

This should probably mention that the options in the gameside poll are the candidate + RON.

How do you like that?

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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Looks good to me now!

I have been things

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I'm not assigned to the case, so I can speak freely.

Before I even read HS' draft, my thoughts: Charter VI.16 says that "Executive orders may only be issued to address an immediate and pressing issue created by ambiguity or holes in a particular law". That says to me that we shouldn't try to legislate from our position, but rather that we should apply a modest fix in the least disruptive way possible that is in the spirit of the law otherwise. Least disruptive at this time means we should do it such that the forum-side vote with just one candidate and RON is permissible, since that election is already running. Furthermore, we can not infringe upon Charter-granted rights, and Charter VII.6 explicitly states that the game-side community must be involved in the process. Ergo, we must do it in a way that leads to an on-site election. If voting wasn't already going, I would have proposed that only one declared candidate leads to a reopening of nominations, but we're past that and imposing new nominations now would be more disruptive than not. Ergo, the only remaining viable solution is to have the on-site community vote on whether they approve of Penguin or not. If that's a majority approval vote or by FPTP with the virtual RON candidate is mechanically the same, though the latter is in line with the rest of the Elections Act, so it should be that.

Now, let me take a look at HS' legislative draft .... Okay, the HS draft is pretty much that. It's more verbose than it needs to be, but doing it in a nicer way would also touch other sections, so I think the actual legislative change is fine as written.

I've whipped up a draft for the order itself. Probably not the best preambulatory thingies.

The Cabinet of the South Pacific,

Having observed that the January 2022 Delegate election's forum-side round only has one valid declared candidate,

Concerned by the Elections Act not explicitly considering the case where only one candidate enters the forum-side vote,

Believing that Legal Question 2201.HQ, which asks the High Court for guidance on this matter, cannot be reasonably adjudicated before the conclusion of this election,

Aware that the forum-side vote has already been started by the Election Commissioner,

Asserting its authority under Article VI Section 16 to address immediate and pressing issues created by ambiguity or holes in a particular law by use of an executive order,

Fulfilling its obligation of unanimous consent under that same section,

Guided by a principle of least disruption,

Hereby:

Amends the Elections Act through executive order to include the following sub-section to Article 3 Section 2 of the Elections Act:
g. If there is only one candidate for Delegate in the first round of Delegate elections, the Assembly will vote whether to approve that candidate or re-open nominations. If the candidate receives less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "approved", and the process shall begin again at the campaign and debate period. If the candidate receives greater than 50% approval, the Election Commissioner will initiate a second round of voting conducted via a week-long poll of Native World Assembly members, with the options of the approved candidate and Re-Open Nominations. If the option to Re-Open Nominations receives the majority of the votes in the regional poll, then the process of electing a Delegate will begin again at the campaign and debate period.

Something like that.

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