FOR COMMENT: proposed merged-party constitution

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

ATTENTION ALL FREE DEMOCRATS: here is the *draft* constitution for a merged party that I have worked out with Parti da Reformaziun leadership. I am publishing it here for completely open public comment (from party members, people from outside the party can publish their responses elsewhere).

Let's have a good read of this so we can get finicky details out of the way ASAP. That way, we can have a final draft ready for July 15 and the merger conference, so we and the PdR can vote on the same document. Again, Mic'haglh pretty much drafted this as a mash-up of the existing party constitutions.

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Constituziun dal Uniun Reformistà Livereschti

The Uniun Reformistà Livereschti (Free Reformists' Union), a political party in the Kingdom of Talossa, adopts this Constituziun as the basis for our Party's internal governance.

ARTICLE I. MEMBERSHIP
A. Membership in the URL shall be open to all Talossan citizens in good standing who are not already members of another political party, who agree to abide by this Constituziun and Party policy, and who endorse the Party's platform. However, the right of any Party member in good standing to seek changes to this Constitution or other Party policy in accordance with this Constitution shall never be infringed.
B. Application to the Presedint or Secretar shall be considered sufficient application for Party membership.
C. Prospective members shall provide contact information as reasonably requested by the Presedint or Secretar in order to ensure they may be reached. This information shall be kept secure and confidential, and is only to be used by Party leadership for official Party business.
D. The Secretar shall be entitled, no more than once a year, to conduct a Census of all Party members to ensure they wish to maintain Party membership and to confirm their contact information is up to date. A Party member who does not reply to this Census within 30 days shall be deemed to have offered their resignation, which shall be accepted at the discretion of the Secretar.
E. A three-fifths vote of Party membership, held on a secret ballot, may pass a motion to censure another member, temporarily revoking their good standing with the Party. This may be proposed due to violations of this Constituziun, publicly voting for or joining another nationally-registered party, or bringing the Party into disrepute in some specified manner. The member in question shall not be permitted to cast a vote on such a motion.

• A successful vote to censure, the justification for it, and the provisions for lifting said censure shall be communicated to the censured member as soon as possible and through all possible means of communication. A censured member's rights under this Constituziun shall cease to apply during their censure, including the right to participate in Party discussion forums.
• This censure expires at the conclusion of the next Party Convention, but may also be repealed prematurely by simple majority. Censure may also be extended at one Convention to the next by majority of a secret-ballot vote.

F. A two-thirds vote of Party membership, held on a secret ballot, may pass a motion to expel members from the Party for violations of Organic Law or other Talossan statute law, as well as gross violations of general standards of decorum. The member in question shall not be permitted to cast a vote on such a motion.

• In the event of a Party member's loss of citizenship, this vote may be omitted and their membership immediately revoked.
• Any member expelled from the Party shall be permitted to rejoin after two General Elections.

ARTICLE II. LEADERSHIP
A. The Party shall elect from its membership the Comità Esecutorxheu (Executive Committee), to serve as the Party's governing body.

• The Comità shall consist of three members chosen by the Party membership at-large by Single Transferable Vote, as well as any Fosteglhen Provinciais.
• From among themselves. members of the Comità will elect a Presedint by Instant-Runoff (a.k.a. Ranked-Choice) Vote. The Presedint serves as the Party's national leader and presiding officer, the presiding officer of the Comità, and is responsible for distribution of Cosӑ seats.
• Also from among themselves, the members of the Comità will elect a Secretar, who will be responsible for conducting elections internal to the party, preparing important party documents for publishing, and providing the parliamentary party with any assistance it might need. The Secretar shall serve as Acting Presedint in the event the Presedint communicates a temporary leave of absence; should the office of Presedint be vacant, the Secretar shall become Presedint.
• No member shall be entitled to hold both offices of Presedint and Secretar except on an acting basis.
• Should the office of Secretar fall vacant between Conventions, the Presedint shall be entitled to appoint a Secretar from among the members of the Comità.
• For any Province with three or more Party members assigned thereto, the members from that Province shall be entitled to elect a Fosteglhӑ Provincial (Provincial Chair) by Instant-Runoff Vote.
• Fosteglhen Provinciais are responsible for the distribution of seats within their provincial legislature, taking into account advice from Party members in said province. If there is no Fosteglhӑ Provincial, or they do not complete this duty in time, the Party President shall do so in their stead.
• The list of candidates for a Cosӑ election shall be determined by the Comità, and upon the request of any Party member, shall be ratified by a secret-ballot vote of all members in good standing, carried out by the Secretar.
• The Presedint and Secretar may be removed from their office by a two-thirds vote of the Comità, ratified by a majority of Party membership.

B. Members of the Comità Esecutorxheu (including Fosteglhen Provinciais), the Presedint, and the Secretar shall be elected at each Convention, regular or Extraordinary. The term of office of all incumbents ends with the election of their successor.
C. Fourteen days' notice should be given prior to leadership elections being held on the forum used for conducting Party business, and the floor shall be considered open to nominations when this notice is given.
D. There is no limit on the number of terms one may serve in any position.

ARTICLE III. BUSINESS
A. The Party shall hold a yearly Convention, to take place at membership's earliest convenience in the period from December to March, inclusive. At the petition of two-thirds of Party members, or a majority of the Comità Esecutorxheu, an Extraordinary Convention may be called outside this period, though no more than one Extraordinary Convention may be called between the regularly-scheduled Convention.
B. In addition to elections to Party leadership positions, each Convention shall also be open to amendments to this Constituziun as well as any other Party policy.
C. All motions must receive a second before proceeding to debate. All motions shall be subject to a debate period of forty-eight hours, following which voting shall run for seventy-two hours.
D. Amendments to this Constituziun shall pass by a two-thirds majority; all other changes to Party policies shall pass by simple majority.
E. Only members in good standing (i.e. those not currently censured) are permitted to vote on any motion or in an election for any position within the Party.
F. Party members are free to organize themselves into caucuses within the Party. Caucuses shall annually provide to the Secretar a point of contact, a statement of the caucus' purpose, and an organizing document. The Secretar shall keep a list of all registered caucuses.
G. For the purposes of this section, the "Caucus" comprises all Senators and MCs who are members of the Party.

• If the Presedint considers a certain Bill on the Clark to be especially important for the enactment of the Party's policy and principles, they may declare this bill to be subject to a "whipped vote", indicating that all members of the Caucus are expected to vote in accordance with the Presedint's recommendation or otherwise abstain. The opposite of a whipped vote is a "free vote".
• A declaration of a whipped vote, and any bill on which there is a whipped vote, shall specify precisely which plank of the party's policy or principle is involved.
• A declaration of a whipped vote may be overridden by a simple majority of the Caucus members.
• All Votes of Confidence shall be considered to be whipped unless the Presedint or a majority of the Caucus specifically state otherwise.
• A member of the Caucus who votes contrary to a declaration of a whipped vote ("defies the whip") on two separate occasions within a single Cosӑ term may be subject to censure by declaration of the Presedint.
• H. Candidates for Senäts elections shall be chosen by a vote of all members residing in the Province in question, and the successful candidate announced by the Fosteglhӑ Provincial. With the consent of the  Comità, the Folsteglhӑ may choose to allow non-Party members residing in the Province in question to participate in such a vote. In the case of a contested nomination, an Instant-Runoff Vote shall be carried out by secret ballot. If there is no Fosteglhӑ Provincial, the Presedint shall perform this function.

I. In cases of emergency such as by-elections, resignations or impending deadlines, such that no time is left to conduct a vote as above, the Presedint may amend the Cosӑ list, and a Fosteglhӑ Provincial may nominate a Senäts candidate.