The Uniform Seneschál Election Act

[Açafat del Val]

WHEREAS, the current Government agreed to submit various Organic Law reforms to the current Ziu, including a provision for the Seneschál to be nominated by the Cosâ prior to appointment by the King;

WHEREAS, the Seneschál should be elected by the people of Talossa, and not appointed by the King;

WHEREAS, this is a cumbersome endeavor and requires sweeping reforms throughout the OrgLaw and other laws; and,

WHEREAS, this bill is hopefully the best compromise between all parties,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosâ and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that:

(1) All references to a "Prime Minister" in the Organic Law and any other laws in effect shall be made to refer instead to the Seneschál, to wit:

(a) Section 4 of Article IV of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in this Organic Law, only eligible and registered voters of Talossa may be elected or appointed to the Senäts, and only so to the province in which they reside individually. No Senator, even though elected or appointed to the Senäts, may actually vote his seat until he has been a citizen for one year, or served for six months as Seneschál or Secretary of State, or received an order of knighthood from the King. No person may simultaneously hold more than one seat in the Senäts.

(b) Section 4 of Article IX of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

The Seneschál shall have the right at his discretion to withdraw any legislative proposal from the Hopper and instruct the Secretary of State to treat it as a properly submitted bill. Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating unto legislative proposals.

(c) The Scribery of Talossa is instructed and shall have an express duty to replace in El Lexhatx with "Seneschál" any and all references to a "Prime Minister", or therein with "Distáin" any and all references to a "Deputy Prime Minister", as according to fair reason and context.

(2) The phrase "to appoint the Seneschál after elections" is stricken completely from Section 2 of Article III of the Organic Law.

(3) Section 2 of Article XIII of the Organic Law, which concerns warrants of prorogation, is repealed in whole.

(4) The entirety of Article XI of the Organic Law, which concerns the Seneschál, is replaced in whole with the following:

Section 1
The head of the Government is the Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Seneschál. Any Talossan, except for the King of Talossa, shall be eligible to be the Seneschál.

Section 2
The Seneschál shall be elected directly by the Cosâ, and his term shall expire upon the installation of his successor. He shall maintain the confidence of a majority of the Cosâ alone in order to hold the office.

Section 3
The Seneschál has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King may not be refused. The Seneschal may issues speeches to the nation in writing, declare war pending the approval of the Cosâ, write treaties pending the approval of the Cosâ, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates.

Section 4
Prime Dictates (PD's) are public declarations which affect government policy and have the force of law. They take effect upon their countersignature by the King and function as laws for all purposes, with such exceptions and subject to such conditions as the Ziu may enact by statute. If a Prime Dictate is vetoed by the King, the Cosâ may introduce the text of the PD as a regular bill and, if it receives two thirds of the vote, it becomes law over the King's objection. A PD may never be used to amend the Organic Law. PD's shall be published at the earliest possible opportunity in the Clark.

Section 5
The election of a Seneschál shall be the sole and exclusive business of the first Clark of every newly seated Ziu, but neither a member of the Senäts nor the King may vote on the matter. The Senäts may undertake during such Clark any of their business for which the consent of the Cosâ or the King be not requisite.

The method of election of a Seneschál shall be Ranked Choice Voting. Each member of the Cosâ shall have as many votes in the election as the seats which he hold in the Cosâ, but shall cast his votes as one bloc and have no divided conscience. The candidates for each such election shall be only the recognized and commonly known leader of each political party which shall have earned representation in the Cosâ at the most recent general election.

No member of the Cosâ may abstain in the election of a Seneschál, and shall rank on his ballot at least two distinct preferences, which itself shall be made public.

Whichever candidate shall have earned a majority of the votes in his election, as according to the method of Ranked Choice Voting, shall be appointed subsequently and forthwith by the King to serve as Seneschál, and the results of the election shall be published at large in the Clark.

Section 6
The Seneschál shall be sworn by the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms. The historic Oath of Office is as follows:

"Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!" (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)

Section 7
The second Clark of every Ziu may entertain business as normal, but especially shall occur after a month of recess following the first Clark. The Seneschál shall have the express duty during the said month of recess to form a government and prepare their legislative agenda, and shall announce publicly both the roster and the agenda at least before, if not sooner than, the last day on which a member of the Ziu may submit a measure to the second Clark.

Section 8
No election for the Seneschál shall occur, except during the first Clark of a newly seated Ziu.

(5) Section 8 of Article XII of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

The Seneschál shall appoint a member of the Government to be the Deputy Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Distáin. The Distáin shall act in place of the Seneschál in case of absence or disability of the latter, and shall become the Seneschál in case of death, removal or resignation. The Ziu may establish by law the procedures and standards in order to determine the absence or disability of the Seneschál, as well as the manner or conditions by which the Distáin shall be appointed.

(6) A new section is appended and accordingly numbered to Article XII of the Organic Law concerning the Government (Cabinet), to wit:

Section 9
Whenever the Government should lose the confidence of the Cosâ by a formal vote, the same Government shall remain in offce as caretakers until a new Seneschál shall be duly installed.

(7) Section 1 of Article XIII of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

A newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to seven Clarks, or roughly eight calendar months. During its last month the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosâ may be dissolved, all its members shall resign, but any Members holding positions in the Government may remain in those positions until the outcome of the election be resolved.

[8] Those provisions of this Act which affect the Organic Law shall be put to a referendum of the people of Talossa together, to be answered therein as one single Organic amendment; but, furthermore, those provisions of this Act which do not affect the Organic Law shall take effect immediately upon the enactment hereof, severable and separate from those provisions and not answerable by a referendum.

(9) Those phrases, clauses, paragraphs, sections, or other manners of any law or any source of law which contravene the provisions of this Act shall be severed and nullified upon the effectuation hereof, whether by enactment or referendum, but only to the extent of and not beyond such contravention.

[Açafat del Val]

This is by no means perfect, and ultimately I believe that the entire OrgLaw should be rewritten. Having said that, this is my best efforts for all intents and purposes. Please say if you see a technical, grammatical, or other such error.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Before I comment on the content of the bill, I will point out that it amends a version of the OrgLaw that is no longer in force.

[Açafat del Val]

Before I comment on the content of the bill, I will point out that it amends a version of the OrgLaw that is no longer in force.

But I spent more than several hours cross-referencing > http://wiki.talossa.com/Law:Organic_Law < in order to make this bill :-(

Where is the current version, then? Nevermind... I guess that I didn't use my own eyeballs... http://wiki.talossa.com/2017_Organic_Law

Okay, well, back the drawing board.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Before I comment on the content of the bill, I will point out that it amends a version of the OrgLaw that is no longer in force.

But I spent more than several hours cross-referencing > http://wiki.talossa.com/Law:Organic_Law < in order to make this bill :-(

Where is the current version, then? Nevermind... I guess that I didn't use my own eyeballs... http://wiki.talossa.com/2017_Organic_Law

Okay, well, back the drawing board.

I was unable to convince the Scribe to update the existing OrgLaw page, and he made a new one instead.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

You also accidentally removed the power of prorogation from the king, and also accidentally forgot to mention that significant shift in the checks and balances of our system.

[Açafat del Val]

You also accidentally removed the power of prorogation from the king, and also accidentally forgot to mention that significant shift in the checks and balances of our system.

The removal of the power of prorogation was not accidental; it was intentional. I see that the only vehicle for a Warrant of Prorogation is to delay a Clark in order to form a government or the like. Under this bill, that would be a needlessly redundant mechanism, because there would be already an automatic month of recess for exactly this purpose.

Why else should the King want to prorogue the Ziu anyways? Or should the King have a unilateral ability to prorogue the Ziu at any time for any reason? If so, we might have a different definition of 'democratic parliamentary monarchy'.

As for the "shift in checks and balances"... What would this bill cause which is not already a reality? Name a time in any parliamentary or semi-presidential system when the head of state did NOT appoint a prime minister who would control the majority of the lower house. In other words, having the Seneschal elected directly by the Cosa is practicably no different than having the Seneschal appointed by the King; it's the same result.

On the other hand, are you proposing that the King have the option to appoint a Seneschal who would not command the confidence of the Cosa? If so, we might have again a different definition of 'democratic parliamentary monarchy'.

[Açafat del Val]

Below is a revised version to reflect the 2017 Organic Law.

=====================================

WHEREAS, the current Government agreed to submit various Organic Law reforms to the current Ziu, including a provision for the Seneschál to be nominated by the Cosâ prior to appointment by the King;

WHEREAS, the Seneschál should be elected by the people of Talossa, and not appointed by the King;

WHEREAS, this is a cumbersome endeavor and requires sweeping reforms throughout the OrgLaw and other laws; and,

WHEREAS, this bill is hopefully the best compromise between all parties,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosâ and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that:

(1) All references to a "Prime Minister" in the Organic Law and any other laws in effect shall be made to refer instead to the Seneschál, to wit:

(a) Section 2 of Article III of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in this Organic Law, any Talossan eligible to vote may be elected or appointed to the Senäts, but only for his or her own province. No Senator, even though elected or appointed to the Senäts, may actually vote his seat until he has been a citizen for one year, or served for six months as Seneschál or Secretary of State, or received an order of knighthood from the King. No person may simultaneously hold more than one seat in the Senäts.

(b) Section 6 of Article VII of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

The Seneschál shall have the right at his discretion to withdraw any legislative proposal from the Hopper and instruct the Secretary of State to treat it as a properly submitted bill.

(c) The Scribery of Talossa is instructed, and shall have an express power and duty, to replace in El Lexhatx with "Seneschál" any and all references to a "Prime Minister", or therein with "Distáin" any and all references to a "Deputy Prime Minister", as according to fair reason and context.

(2) Section 8 of Article IV of the Organic Law, which concerns warrants of prorogation, is repealed in whole and the subsequent sections of the same Article are accordingly renumbered.

(3) The entirety of Article VI of the Organic Law, which concerns the Government, is replaced in whole with the following:

Section 1
The head of the Government is the Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Seneschál. Any Talossan, except for the King of Talossa, shall be eligible to be the Seneschál.

Section 2
The Seneschál shall be elected directly by the Cosâ, and his term shall expire upon the installation of his successor. He shall maintain the confidence of a majority of the Cosâ alone in order to hold the office.

Section 3
The Seneschál has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King shall not be refused. He may also declare war and write treaties with the approval of the Ziu, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates.

Section 4
Prime Dictates (PDs) are public declarations which affect government policy and have the force of law. They take effect upon their countersignature by the King and function as laws for all purposes, with such exceptions and subject to such conditions as the Ziu may enact by statute. Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating unto legislative proposals, but may never be used to amend this Organic Law.

Section 5
The election of a Seneschál shall be the sole and exclusive business of the first Clark of every newly seated Ziu, but neither a member of the Senäts nor the King may vote on the matter. The Senäts may undertake during such Clark any of their business for which the consent of the Cosâ or the King be not requisite.

The method of election of a Seneschál shall be Ranked Choice Voting. Each member of the Cosâ shall have as many votes in the election as the seats which he hold in the Cosâ, but shall cast his votes as one bloc and have no divided conscience. The candidates for each such election shall be only the recognized and commonly known leader of each political party which shall have earned representation in the Cosâ at the most recent general election.

No member of the Cosâ may abstain in the election of a Seneschál, and shall rank on his ballot at least two distinct preferences, which itself shall be made public.

Whichever candidate shall have earned a majority of the votes in his election, as according to the method of Ranked Choice Voting, shall be appointed subsequently and forthwith by the King to serve as Seneschál, and the results of the election shall be published at large in the Clark.

Section 6
The second Clark of every Ziu may entertain business as normal, but especially shall occur after a month of recess following the first Clark. The Seneschál shall have the express duty during the said month of recess to form a government and prepare their legislative agenda, and shall announce publicly both the roster and the agenda at least before, if not sooner than, the last day on which a member of the Ziu may submit a measure to the second Clark.

Section 7
No election for the Seneschál shall occur, except during the first Clark of a newly seated Ziu.

Section 8
The Seneschál shall appoint a member of the Government to be the Deputy Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Distáin. The Distáin shall act in place of the Seneschál in case of absence or disability of the latter, and shall become the Seneschál in case of death, removal or resignation. The Ziu may establish by law the procedures and standards in order to determine the absence or disability of the Seneschál, as well as the manner or conditions by which the Distáin shall be appointed.

Section 9
The King appoints and dismisses members of the Government (Cabinet) on the advice of the Seneschal. The Government consists of the Seneschal, the Distáin, and various other ministers as set by law or appointed as the Seneschal sees fit.

Section 10
Cabinet Ministers are responsible to the Seneschal, whom they advise and from whom they receive direction, and exercise state power with his consent.

Section 11
Whenever the Government should lose the confidence of the Cosâ by a formal vote, the same Government shall remain in offce as caretakers until a new Seneschál shall be duly installed.

(4) Section 7 of Article IV of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

A newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to seven Clarks, subject to the provisions elsewhere in this Organic Law. During its last month, the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosâ may be dissolved, all its members shall resign.

(5) Those provisions of this Act which affect the Organic Law shall be put to a referendum of the people of Talossa together, to be answered therein as one single Organic amendment.

(6) Those provisions of this Act which do not affect the Organic Law shall take effect immediately upon the enactment hereof, severable and separate from those provisions and not answerable by a referendum.

(7) Those phrases, clauses, paragraphs, sections, or other manners of any law or any source of law which contravene the provisions of this Act shall be severed and nullified upon the effectuation hereof, whether by enactment or referendum, but only to the extent of and not beyond such contravention.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

You also accidentally removed the power of prorogation from the king, and also accidentally forgot to mention that significant shift in the checks and balances of our system.

The removal of the power of prorogation was not accidental; it was intentional. I see that the only vehicle for a Warrant of Prorogation is to delay a Clark in order to form a government or the like. Under this bill, that would be a needlessly redundant mechanism, because there would be already an automatic month of recess for exactly this purpose.

Why else should the King want to prorogue the Ziu anyways? Or should the King have a unilateral ability to prorogue the Ziu at any time for any reason? If so, we might have a different definition of 'democratic parliamentary monarchy'.

As for the "shift in checks and balances"... What would this bill cause which is not already a reality? Name a time in any parliamentary or semi-presidential system when the head of state did NOT appoint a prime minister who would control the majority of the lower house. In other words, having the Seneschal elected directly by the Cosa is practicably no different than having the Seneschal appointed by the King; it's the same result.

On the other hand, are you proposing that the King have the option to appoint a Seneschal who would not command the confidence of the Cosa? If so, we might have again a different definition of 'democratic parliamentary monarchy'.

A lot of these questions you're asking would have been better asked before you wrote the bill.  C'est la vie, though.  I'll let you get back to it.