FREE DEMOCRATS CONVENTION: Voting Thread

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

Free Democrats of Talossa
Convention Fevráglh XLV/2024
Voting Thread

Vote by posting in this thread. Votes close exactly 72 hours after the opening of this thread.

A. Election of Party Officers

Nominations for Party President: Miestră Schivă

Vote PËR/yes, CONTRĂ/no, AUSTÁNEU/abstain for this candidate

Nominations for Party Secretary: @Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir

Vote PËR/yes, CONTRĂ/no, AUSTÁNEU/abstain for this candidate


B. Proposed Amendments to the Party Constitution

Vote PËR/yes, CONTRĂ/no, AUSTÁNEU/abstain to each proposal. A proposal needs a two-thirds majority of PËR over CONTRĂ to pass.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 1: MEMBERSHIP
That Section IV of the Constitution be changed from:

IV. Membership shall be open to all Talossan citizens. The Secretary of the Party shall be entitled, no more than once a year, to conduct a Census of all party members to make sure they still see themselves as Party members and that their contact details are up to date. Any member who does not respond to this Census within 30 days shall be deemed to have resigned from the Party.

to:

IV.
a. Membership shall be open to all Talossan citizens who agree to abide by this Constitution, endorse the Party Policy, and are not currently members of another nationally registered party. However, the rights of any party member in good standing to seek changes to the Constitution or Policy in accordance with this Constitution shall never be infringed.

b. A prospective member must provide such contact information to the Party Secretary as the Party Secretary may ask for. The Party Secretary shall keep this information confidential, to be shared only with the Party Leadership, and used only for party business.

c. The Secretary of the Party shall be entitled, no more than once a year, to conduct a Census of all party members to make sure they still see themselves as Party members and that their contact details are 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 Party Leadership.

CONSTIUTIONAL AMENDMENT 2: SUSPENSIONS AND EXPULSIONS
That Section XIII of the Constitution be changed from:

XIII. In the event that a member is acting in a way that is damaging to the reputation of the Free Democrats, a petition representing at least half of the party membership may be presented to the party leader asking for the member's removal. The party leader shall schedule closed removal proceedings and notify the member in question, along with a copy of the petition, no less than ten days before such proceedings are to begin. During the proceedings, the member shall be afforded an opportunity to present his defense, and other members may also make their own arguments for or against the removal. On the fifth day of the proceedings, the party leader shall call a closed vote to be held on the removal. If two-thirds (2/3) of the membership vote in to remove, the member shall immediately be removed, and the party leader shall publicly announce the removal. A removed member shall be eligible to rejoin the Free Democrats after two General Elections following the removal.

to:

XIII.
a) The Party Leadership, upon petition of at least 1/2 of party members or at its own initiative by majority vote, shall suspend members for:
i) stated violations of this Constitution;
ii) publicly voting for or joining another nationally registered party;
iii) bringing the party into disrepute in a stated way.

b) A suspension decision, the justification for it, and the provisions for lifting this suspension (as contained in the rest of this section) shall be communicated to the suspended member as soon as possible and through all possible means of communication. A suspended member's rights under this Constitution shall cease to apply during their suspension, including the right to participate in Party discussion forums.

c) On the first day of the next Party Convention, the Party Leadership shall publicly announce a recommendation for every suspended member whether to lift their suspension, continue their suspension until the next Convention, or to expel the member. A recommendation to lift suspension shall be effected immediately. A recommendation to continue suspension or to expel shall take effect after 5 days, unless the suspended member addresses the Convention requesting a hearing.

d) A hearing shall be held in closed session and shall be chaired by a Talossan citizen agreed to by both the suspended member and the Party leadership. The Party Leadership shall make the case for continued suspension or expulsion, and the suspended member may make a case against this decision. Debate shall then ensue, in which other party members may make their own arguments or statements, moderated by the chair of the hearing. After no fewer than five days, the chair of the hearing shall call for a vote as to whether to accept or reject the Party Leadership's recommendation. A quorum of no less than 1/2 of current membership shall be required to endorse a motion to continue suspension or to expel. If the vote fails, the member's suspension shall be immediately lifted. The outcome of the hearing shall be immediately publicly announced.

e) An expelled member shall be eligible to rejoin the Free Democrats after two General Elections following the expulsion.

C. Proposed Amendments to the Party Platform

Vote PËR/yes, CONTRĂ/no, AUSTÁNEU/abstain to each proposal. A proposal needs a simple majority of PËR over CONTRĂ to pass.


PROPOSAL 1
That Section A of the Party Platform be amended by adding the bolded text to the end:

Free Democrats include both monarchists and republicans, but we all put liberty and democracy first in Talossa. We will offer our support to a Talossan Head of State who is continually active, puts the interests of the Nation above defending their own interests and prestige, and acts as the servant rather than the owner of the State. We support Organic structures which ensure that our Head of State operates in this way. We oppose any attempts to change the current provisions to replace or establish a successor to the Monarchy - that is, the standard provisions of Organic Law amendment - without a full reform and/or replacement of provisions for Talossa's Head of State.

PROPOSAL 2
That Section B of the Party Platform be changed in its entirety from:

B. CUTTING THE RED-AND-GREEN TAPE
Talossa's government and legal structure is top-heavy, unwieldy, hard to navigate and no fun. We support the repeal of all laws and abolition of all Government posts and procedures which are more trouble than they are worth to keep going. We want a smaller, consistently active Cabinet, a Ziu which offers active oversight of the Cabinet and intelligent scrutiny of laws, and a functioning Judiciary.

to:

B. A POLITICAL SYSTEM FOR EVERYONE
Free Democrats want a political system where *democracy and expertise* balance each other. We want an end to "green-and-red tape"; our politics and laws have to be simple and straightforward enough that any citizen can become a political leader or seek justice in the Corts with minimal training. In turn, the Royal Civil Service should recruit those with specialist skills to work for the Kingdom independently but under political supervision.

PROPOSAL 3
That a new Section  of the Party Platform be added:

SECTION E. FEDERALISM REFORM
Provincial governments in Talossa only function intermittently; by and large the provinces only act as electoral districts for Senators. We support reforms to the Senäts and other Organic provisions to provide incentives for provincial governments to be more active, or to create new provinces, either by splitting or merging.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

AUSTÁNEU on Party President
PËR on everything else

[mpf]

I also abstain on Party President, I am not sure I know the candidate.

I vote per on the rest.

[GV]

AUSTÁNEU on Party President
PËR on everything else

[King Txec]

Why is everyone abstaining on party President?

I vote PER on everything.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

PER on all

[Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir]

I vote per for Miestra for party president
I abstain on party Secretary.
And I vote Per on all amendments

[Bentxamì Puntmasleu]

For Party President - Miestră Schivă

For Party Secretary - Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir

On all proposed amendments to the Party Constitution and Platform - PËR

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

I beg the indulgence of my cünpartiàes, I've been laid low by a respiratory infection (not COVID, though it feels pretty bad). The formal conclusion of the voting thread and the Closing Speech will hopefully happen soon.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

Sorry for the delay.

All Constitutional amendments pass unanimously.
All Policy amemdnemtns pass unanimously.
Miestră Schivă is elected President with three abstentions.
Antaglhă Xhenerös Somelieir is elected Secretary with one abstention.

Closing speech to come soon.