Estats Xhenerais

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

It appears that no one claimed a seat in the Estats Xhenerais. Does this mean that we go without a provincial government this term or does the old Estats Xhenerais remain seated? I'm very confused.

[Eðo Grischun]

If we go with a plain text reading of the law then I think, technically, no seat claims means no session of the States General takes place.

I'm thinking this might present an opportunity for the province to hold a meaningful conversation on our future; be that, in lieu of a functioning legislature, a summit of sorts or be it a constitutional convention.

[Sir Lüc]

In the recently concluded General Elections, the Chancery included a ballot question for each provincial assembly's seat claim process. This was done partially because I was concerned the recent activity levels of many provinces suggested many provincial elections were at risk of not being organised.

In doing so, I attempted to check most provincial legislation to make sure there was a way to accept claims in this way, and indeed, some provinces already chose to fully adopt the seat claims made through the Chancery as valid; this is however fully up to each province. In Vuode's case, I specifically used the same wording for the claim as mandated by your laws, and noted that the window for claiming seats coincided with the electoral period, which again would suggests database claim as valid.

That said - the seat claims for Vuode are at the bottom of this page: https://database.talossa.com/elections/2025-general-elections

It would therefore appear that @Eðo Grischun , @Adam Grigoriu , @Trotxâ Betiñéir, UrN  and @Bentxamì Puntmasleu elected to claim a seat, and three other voters either explicitly did not claim a seat or left this part blank.

You're now fully empowered to either accept these claims as validly made, like some provinces already have, or reject them.

[Eðo Grischun]

Thanks Luc. I had forgot that was on the national ballot.

This will come down to how strict are we going to read the Vuode constitution where it says seats are claimed by making a *public* declaration. 

Does a ballot return count as a public declaration?

And, even if it does, what about ballots that were not made in public, but cast in secret?

What I can say with certainty is that the spirit behind the Vuode Constitution (even though it doesn't explicitly say this) was that the province was in outright opposition and rejection of the notion that the Chancery would hold our provincial ballots. This, in my opinion, was one of the cornerstones in the authoring and passage of our constitution.

Unfortunately, three of the most active people who had a hand in those events are not around (Dreu G, Viteu M and Sir T).  One could argue that the mandate has shifted due to a change in demographic.  Even if we consider that a material enough change of circumstances, it wouldn't warrant us to abandon the text or spirit of the law as it stands.  Indeed, it strengthens my call for a fresh provincial constitutional convention.

My opinion is that the claims made via national ballot are not valid on the basis that these particular points of our constitution were written as an assertion of our autonomy from Chancery interference.

[Eðo Grischun]

I will add that if a session of the States General does not or cannot form, then it does not mean we find ourselves in a state of anarchy.  In such an event, the failsafe is for the Constable to administer the Province under Crown Rule.