The Active Monarch Assurance Amendment

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

@Ian Plätschisch I hope this is OK to bring your previous amendment back here for potential discussions. I was inspired by your recently reelected party president's speech. I do agree with her and hopefully you that the time is right now after observing the activity levels of the King during my own term and that of Therxh's term. There is a similar proposal that I brought forward for discussion internally in the TNC.

WHEREAS There is no point in being longwinded here because everything that can be said about an elective Monarchy has already been said,

THEREFORE Org II.3 is replaced in its entirety with:

A Conclave shall be called within three months of every seventh anniversary of a monarch's accession to the throne, the abdication or death of the Monarch, or as otherwise provided in Section 4. The first of such Conclaves shall take place within three months of the date this section comes into force and shall have full authority to remove and replace the current Monarch. This Conclave shall be chaired by the Senior Judge of the Uppermost Cort, or in their absence the next available Judge in order of seniority.

The Senior Judge shall call a Conclave by publicly submitting to the Secretary of State a message to all eligible electors announcing the Conclave and providing instructions on how and when to register to participate. Whenever the Conclave is called by the Ziu, the Túischac'h (or another Cosa official if the Túischac'h is unavailable) shall submit this message instead. Upon receiving the message, the Secretary of State shall be responsible for communicating the message to all eligible electors. The Conclave shall commence fourteen days from the moment the Secretary of State sends the message to the electors.

Any Talossan who has been a citizen for at least seven years as of when the Judge (or Cosa official) submits the message to the Secretary of State and fully completes their registration with the Senior Judge before the Conclave commences, shall  be eligible to be an elector in the Conclave,

All discussions of the Conclave shall be open, but its votes shall be by secret ballot. The votes of every elector shall have equal weight. All other operations of the Conclave shall be decided by the Conclave or prescribed by statute.

Should more than 60% of the Conclave express that they desire the Monarch not remain on the throne, then the Conclave shall be called and meet again in six months according to the procedures above. At this meeting of the Conclave, a new Monarch of Talossa (who may be the current Monarch) shall be chosen. The candidate who receives the expressed support of 2/3 of the Conclave shall immediately have their nomination submitted to all eligible voters for approval. The Secretary of State shall send to all eligible voters a simple ballot asking "Do you wish for [Name of Nominee] to become Monarch of Talossa?". Voters may only respond Yes or No to this question. If after 30 days from the date the ballots are first sent, the nominee receives more 'Yes' votes than 'No', s/he shall assume the title of "Heir Presumptive". The Conclave shall reconvene and repeat this process should there be more 'No' votes than 'Yes' for the nominee. The Conclave may be called to choose a new Monarch whenever there is no Monarch.

The Heir Presumptive shall swear an oath promising to protect and uphold the Organic Law of Talossa and the rights of all its citizens, and thereupon become Monarch of Talossa, replacing the previous Monarch (unless both are the same person).

FURTHERMORE Org II.4 is amended to read:
In dire circumstances, when the Monarch is judged by competent medical authority to be incapable of executing his duties, or if he is convicted by the Talossan Uppermost Cort of violation of this Organic Law, treason, bribery, nonfeasance endangering the safety, order or good government of the Kingdom, or other high crimes, or when the Ziu deems it necessary due to neglect of duties or gross inactivity, the nation may remove the Monarch from the Throne. The Cosa shall pronounce by a two-thirds vote, with the approval of the Senäts, that the Monarch is to be removed, and this pronouncement shall immediately be transmitted to the people for their verdict in a referendum. If a majority of the people concur, the Monarch is removed, the Council of Regency shall assume all duties of the Monarch and a Conclave is to be called within three months to nominate a successor. 


FURTHERMORE Org II.5 is amended to read:

The Monarch may, at whim, appoint, replace, or remove a Regent (or a Council of Regency, which is considered equivalent to a Regent), who shall administer the government in the name of the Monarch, and exercise all powers Organically or legally vested in the Monarch, except the power to appoint or replace a Regent. No person not a citizen of Talossa shall be competent to serve as Regent or member of a Council of Regency. The Ziu may by law remove or replace any appointed Regent, and if the Ziu removes a Regent appointed by the Monarch, the Monarch may not reappoint the same person Regent without the prior consent of the Ziu. Whenever there is no Monarch, the Uppermost Cort shall serve as the Council of Regency.

FURTHERMORE The name of Title L of el Lexhatx is amended to "Laws Supplementing Article II of the Organic Law"

FURTHERMORE Lex.L.10 is replaced with the following:

10. The following provisions apply to Conclaves called in accordance with Article II, Section 3 of the Organic Law.

10.1 The Conclave may, as it deems necessary, adopt a rule, procedure, or protocol to conduct operation provided a majority of Electors supports any such rule, procedure, or protocol, or change thereto.  Any rule, procedure, or protocol adopted by a Conclave will not a subsequent Conclave.

10.2 Before any vote for Monarch is cast, the Conclave shall choose an Elector to serve as Herald in a manner it deems appropriate.  Within 96 hours of a vote for Monarch ending, the Herald, the Secretary of State, and the Council of Regency shall, separately and independently of the other, count such votes, and the Herald, the Secretary of State, and the Council of Regency shall, separately and independently of the other, report one result to the Conclave.   After 96 hours, the vote for Monarch is verified based on the vote count of the majority of timely reported results.

Uréu q'estadra så
Breneir Tzaracomprada (MC-TNC)

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Note: Renamed thread for the actual amendment proposal now.
Awaiting conclusion of internal TNC discussions before starting the Hopper clock, I think.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

Preliminary discussion among the Free Democrats gives a THUMBS UP to this proposal.

If the TNC internal discussions turn out negative, I'm interested to hear what the next idea down the pipeline might be.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Preliminary discussion among the Free Democrats gives a THUMBS UP to this proposal.

If the TNC internal discussions turn out negative, I'm interested to hear what the next idea down the pipeline might be.

Thanks Miestra. This is getting really exciting.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

It seems apposite to repost here the newly amended plank from the Free Democrats platform:

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.

The bill before you here was hammered together over literally years of debate to offer the maximum amounts of concession to Monarchist opinion while still dealing with the essential issue - a life-term monarchy in Talossa encourages the King to do nothing, because no-one can make him active. If someone has a better idea than this to impose consequences for a head of state who does nothing, we crave to hear it. If not, the Monarchy is increasingly looking unsalvageable, and Republican sentiment will rise once more.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Folks, there have been some edits to the bill being considered internally by the TNC. The edits are in bold and were suggested by Dama Litz. I think these are procedural improvements that do not alter the character of the effort but please review and let me know if you disagree. The vote is not yet finalized internally but I wanted to allow plenty of time for everyone to review here in the Hopper.

I would also, if possible, like to start the clock on official review here in the Hopper as well.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I don't have any serious objection to these amendments. I've asked other Free Democrats to weigh in.

[Ian Plätschisch]

I like it.

I would reword the first sentence to make it clear that this happens every seven years, not just once seven years after the initial ascension:

A Conclave shall be called within three months of every seventh anniversary of the Monarch's accession to the throne

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I like it.

I would reword the first sentence to make it clear that this happens every seven years, not just once seven years after the initial ascension:

A Conclave shall be called within three months of every seventh anniversary of the Monarch's accession to the throne

Thanks Ian, that is definitely the intent here so that change has been made.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Also, it should be "ascension" instead of "accession"

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Also, it should be "ascension" instead of "accession"

Word corrected.

[Dame Litz Cjantscheir, UrN]

Also, it should be "ascension" instead of "accession"

Nope, "Accession" is correct. 

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

Not sure if we common rabble are permitted to speak in the Hopper section but on a point of grammar, "to accede to the throne" and "to ascend the throne" are equivalent terms.

[Dame Litz Cjantscheir, UrN]

Not sure if we common rabble are permitted to speak in the Hopper section but on a point of grammar, "to accede to the throne" and "to ascend the throne" are equivalent terms.

The Hopper is open to all citizens to participate and add their two bence worth. 

Yes, you're correct, but in my humble opinion, accession is more apt when speaking about Monarchs and Thrones, for example in the UK we have the "Accession Council", a "Proclamation of Accession" etc.., so in this this instance it is more an apt word than "ascend", which to me has a more religious/spiritual meaning, e.g. He ascended into Heaven...

[Ian Plätschisch]

Also, it should be "ascension" instead of "accession"

Nope, "Accession" is correct.

I stand corrected, you're right