2025 New Constitution Ratification Referendum

[Sir Lüc]

Azul to all! The Reconstitution Act, having passed both the Assembly and the Senate, now comes before the citizenry of Belacostă for ratification through a provincial referendum. Following precedent, I (as Maestro) shall conduct this referendum, and this thread shall serve as polling station. I shall additionally get in touch with all citizens of Belacostă for which the Chancery has given me contact informations to direct them to this thread.

Do you support adopting the Constitution of Belacostă contained in the Reconstitution Act, rendering the one currently in force null and void?

(The full text of the new Constitution follows in the next post; the current Constitution can be found on the Wiki)

Please cast your votes underneath - "yes/üc/per" in favour of ratification (adopting the new constitution), "no/non/contra" against ratification (retaining the current constitution).

The referendum vote is now open. By the provisions of Article IX of the proposed constitution, the vote will last (a bit more than) two weeks, and therefore the deadline shall be the same as the deadline for voting on the Sixth Clark, February 21st at 7:30 PM TST (Central). All citizens of Belacostă as of the deadline for voting are eligible to cast their vote.

[Sir Lüc]

The proposed constitution follows.

La Constituziun dal Provinçù Liveradă es Soveran da Belacostă
The Constitution of the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă

Article I: The State
Sec. 1. The Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă is an autonomous and self-governing member of the federal Talossan nation.

Sec. 2. The full style of the state is "la Provinçù Liveradă es Soveran da Belacostă", or in English, "the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă". In either language, the short style of the state is simply "Belacostă".

Sec. 3. The sacred and irremovable territory of the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă shall consist of the cantons of Mazzini and Garibaldi, with the capital of the Province at Mazzini.

Sec. 4. The sole historic and national language of the entire Talossan people, and therefore of the  Province, is the Talossan language (el glheþ Talossan). The Belacostăn government shall also recognize English as a secondary working language, and may adopt tertiary working languages by law.

Article II: The Provincial Assembly
Sec. 1. The legislative power of the Province shall be invested in l'Aßemblatx Provincial, the Provincial Assembly. The Provincial Assembly is composed of all citizens of the Province who each claim a single seat at the beginning of a new session, and is considered the Province's supreme political authority. Each citizen may not hold more than one seat in the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 2. The Provincial Assembly shall have power to pass any bill into law by a simple majority vote; a bill shall be introduced upon recommendation of at least two Provincial Consuls, and if the Assembly vote is successful, automatically becomes law. Votes on bills shall last seven days, but a vote may be closed early once enough votes have been cast to guarantee a bill's passage or failure. At the dissolution of the Cosă, the Assembly will be ceremonially closed to business until the next Cosă's first Clark.

Sec. 3. Citizens who have been naturalized and assigned to Belacostă during the current session of the Provincial Assembly may be admitted as Assembly members by a majority vote in the Assembly.

Sec. 4. Should any other province merge with Belacostă, all members of that province's legislature as then constituted shall each be granted one seat in the Provincial Assembly for the remainder of its current term.

Article III: The Provincial Council
Sec. 1. The executive power of the Province shall be vested in a three-member body known as el Cußeglh Provincial, the Provincial Council, which shall conduct its business collectively (i.e. by majority vote).

Sec. 2. The Provincial Council will be elected from among the citizens of the Province at each Cosă election, via a positional vote. Voters will name their first-, second-, and third-choice candidates. For each first-choice vote, the candidate shall receive three points; for each second-choice vote, two points; and for each third-place vote, one point. The three candidates with the highest point totals shall be elected to the Provincial Council, with any ties being broken by the number of first-choice votes received (and if necessary, the number of second- and then third-choice votes, with a coin flip being used past this if necessary). Provincial Consuls may choose to ceremonially represent any canton or sexteir of the Province, or to represent the Province at-large.

Sec. 3. The presiding officer of the Provincial Council shall be known as el Governadeir, the Governor. The first order of business of each newly-assembled Provincial Council will be to elect a Governor from among its members via a Motion to Appoint a Governor. The Provincial Council can replace an incumbent Governor via a simple majority vote on another Motion to Appoint a Governor (effectively, a "constructive motion of no confidence").

Sec. 4. The Governor shall be primus inter pares on the Provincial Council, and shall have no powers over his fellow Consuls save that of presiding over the Council's business. The Governor may issue proclamations that have the force of law, insofar as they do not conflict with either this Constitution or other provincial laws. Proclamations require the countersignature of the King or Viceroy to take effect, with the exception of proclamations to issue memorials, confer provincial honors, or clarify policy internal to the Provincial Council. Proclamations may be vetoed by a simple majority vote in the Provincial Assembly, and the Governor may not cast a vote on such veto motions.

Sec. 5. The Governor shall serve ex officio as the presiding officer of the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 6. The Provincial Council shall have the power to appoint Ministers and delegate executive and administrative powers to the same. Ministers may be dismissed by either the Provincial Council or the Provincial Assembly. At the closure of a Provincial Assembly session, all Ministerial positions shall be vacated.

Sec. 7. The term of office of Provincial Consuls shall extend until the next Provincial Council is assembled. The composition of the Provincial Council cannot be altered between elections except by the death, renunciation, or resignation of a Consul, by their conviction by the Cort pü Inalt, or by a two-thirds majority in favor of a Motion to Recall a Consul.

Sec. 8. In the event of a vacancy on the Provincial Council between elections, the remaining two Consuls shall nominate a successor for confirmation by the Provincial Assembly. Should the Governorship fall vacant, the remaining Consuls shall elect a new Governor via the standard Motion to Appoint.

Sec. 9. Should any other province merge with Belacostă, that province's chief executive shall be granted a temporary, additional seat on the Provincial Council for the remainder of its current term. Any vacancies that occur on the Provincial Council that leave the number of Consuls at three or more shall be held as filled by one of the temporary Consuls.

Article IV: The Judiciary
Sec. 1. The Cort pü Inalt shall have original jurisdiction to try all cases arising under Belacostăn law.

Sec. 2. The provincial government reserves the right to form a judicial system to meet its needs pursuant to Organic Law.

Article V: Federal Officials
Sec. 1. El Cunstaval, the Viceroy, is the representative of the King of Talossa. The Viceroy is appointed by the King pursuant to Organic Law. While the King may freely appoint a Viceroy, it is the preference of the citizens of the Province that the Viceroy be a citizen of the Province for at least one year prior to appointment. The Viceroy may not hold a seat on the Provincial Council. Any bill adopted by the Provincial Assembly shall be deemed to take effect on the signature of either the King or Viceroy, or shall enter into force at the end of the month in which it is adopted if no action by either is taken on it. The King or Viceroy may veto a bill, but this veto may be overridden by a two-thirds majority of the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 2. Belacostă's delegate to the Senäts shall be elected pursuant to Organic Law.

Article VI: Supremacy
Sec. 1. This Constitution shall be the supreme law of the Province; no provincial statute or Gubernatorial proclamation shall be permitted to contradict it as they are subordinate laws.

Sec. 2. Gubernatorial proclamations shall be subordinated to provincial statutes, and shall not be permitted to contradict the latter.

Sec. 3. In the case of any prohibited contradiction, the subordinate law in question shall only be held as void to the extent to which the contradiction exists.

Article VII: Amendments
This Constitution may be altered by a resolution of the Provincial Assembly, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority.

Article VIII: Statutory Adoption
Approval of this Constitution shall not be held to affect the continuing applicability of other provincial laws, save for any contradictions as outlined in Article VI.

Article IX: Ratification
This Constitution may be held as approved by a referendum in accordance with Organic Law, with the vote to last no less than two weeks. It will enter into effect at the next dissolution of the Cosă.

[Sir Lüc]

I vote Per.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Per!

[Iason Taiwos]

Per

[Pol dal Timă Lupulescu]

I vote Yes

[Istefan Perþonest]

Non.

[Sir Lüc]

Voting is closed. With a vote of 4-1, the amendment has successfully cleared the necessary 3/5 threshold required by Belacostă law *and* the 2/3 threshold required by OrgLaw IX.4.5, and is therefore duly adopted.

In the absence of an active Cunstaval, @King Txec is now called upon to officially proclaim the new Constitution.