Article 1: Basic Governmental Structure
Section 1
By default, all lawmaking authority shall be vested in the massed citizenry of the Republic. As such, a law passed by the citizenry supersedes and overrules any law passed by any other body of government at the time of passage. A citizen-passed law is immune to repeal without popular approval for a period of one year after passing. The citizenry can pass a law ordering parts of the government to behave in a specific manner, or to eject specific members of the government from public service.
Section 2
Seeing as most people want to do things with their time other than make laws, the citizenry may elect a parliament to which they delegate the normal day-to-day lawmaking. This parliament shall possess the following legislative powers.
-The parliament can pass laws governing the day-to-day running of the Republic as needed, but cannot pass a law increasing their own powers.
-The parliament can create and dissolve public agencies to uphold the public good and defend the Republic from enemies foreign and domestic.
-The parliament cannot directly appoint the directors of public agencies. They are elected by the citizenry on the same schedule as members of Parliament.
Section 3
The Parliament shall be structured as follows.
-There shall be no fewer than one member of Parliament for every 50,000 citizens of the Socialist Republic of Amali, requiring no law to be passed in order to expand. At present, this means Parliament shall have a minimum size of 120.
Section 4
At the adoption of this constitution, the following public agencies shall be grandfathered in from the transitional government led by the Titan of Steel.
-The Public Defense Administration, responsible for upholding public safety from enemies both foreign and domestic.
-The Department of Public Infrastructure, responsible for construction of transportation, communication, housing, and manufacturing facilities to meet the public's needs.
-The Public Education Administration, responsible for ensuring the public is educated and informed on matters literary, mathematical, technical, medical, scientific, geographical, and political.
-The Census Bureau, responsible for keeping track of demographic information and the total population of the Republic.
-The Amali Health Service, responsible for ensuring easy access to quality medical care for the citizenry.
-The Amali Diplomatic Service, responsible for mediating official relations with other nations that are free of the Grand Dragons.
Section 5
There shall exist a Supervisory Court, directed by a number of Justices elected by and at the mercy of the public. The Supervisory Court is to ensure that the Parliament and public agencies do not violate the public's rights to determine their own fate, and to ensure this they have the authority to permanently remove members of Parliament and public agencies from public service, and to level appropriate penalties against non-government entities. The Supervisory Court also has limited abilities to repeal laws that violate the public's rights. That said, this removal requires a factual confirmation that the accused indeed did attempt to curtail the public's rights.
Article 2: Referenda, Elections, and Constitutional Updates
Section 1
A referendum can be called by any citizen on any matter at any time. These referenda do not require any sort of official approval, and attempts to stop them by Parliament or any public agency is grounds for the offending members of the government being removed by the Supervisory Court. In order for a referendum to have legal weight behind it, a minimum of 30% of the citizenry must have voted in the referendum in question, and to pass at least 55% of those who voted must be in favor. There is no hard cutoff for when a Referendum must be completed by, but if the public loses interest in a referendum for several months before starting it again, it should be considered a separate referendum.
Section 2
Elections are to be held on the winter solstice every other year. Citizens may vote on these elections at any point in the 14 days leading up to the solstice, and cannot be penalized in any way for voting by either governmental or non-governmental entities. Each vote is to be anonymous, so as to make coercing a certain vote more difficult. Any attempt to discourage, dissuade, or prevent citizens from voting on a significant scale is grounds for review by the Supervisory Court.
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Section 2a
Candidates and Political Parties may not undertake any form of campaigning or advertising for the election prior to 90 days before the last day of voting. Doing so early can get a Candidate or Party disqualified from the next election, subject to review by the Supervisory Court.
Section 3
Voting for Parliament is performed on a mix of per-district and per-party basis. Half the seats in the Parliament shall be apportioned among the republic on a regional basis, with districts drawn in such a way that they have roughly equal population and in a manner that does not overly favor candidates of any particular party. By default, districts will be drawn by the Census Bureau, and redrawn for each election. The Supervisory Court has authority to review the fairness or lack thereof for Parliamentary districts.
When voting for a district candidate, voters should rank each option by order of preference. Once all ballots have been counted, the candidate with the least first-choice votes is eliminated from consideration, and all ballots for them should be counted for the voters' second picks. This process will repeat, eliminating whatever candidate has the lowest total votes at each stage, until only one remains. That said, if one candidate manages to get more than half of the first-choice vote fairly, their victory can be declared as soon as the first round of counting is done.
The rest shall be up for election nationally, with each political party composing a list of candidates that they will be running for national appointment, and describing what policies or objectives they will attempt to implement. The total proportion of votes for each party shall be matched to the total proportion of nationally-elected seats each party can fill as closely as possible, with the caveat that a party must secure at least 5% of the vote to be up for consideration.
Section 4
The Constitution may only be edited by a referendum of the citizenry, but a constitutional referendum has somewhat higher conditions for passing. These conditions vary based on what part of the constitution is being edited.
-Alterations to Article 1 regarding government structure require at least 50% participation and 55% approval among participants.
-Alterations to Article 2 regarding voting rules require at least 60% participation and 70% approval among participants
-Alterations to Article 3 that add rights or responsibilities for the public at large require at least 60% participation and 70% approval among participants.
-Constitutional Edits not otherwise specified require at least 50% participation and 60% approval among participants.
Article 3: Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
Section 1
Any sapient being that meets the following criterion counts as a Citizen of the Republic, no exceptions. Anyone who tries to MAKE exceptions is to be put before the Supervisory Court.
-Citizens must be sapient, and have independent decision-making capacity.
-In the case of those magically subordinate to another being (Dungeon Minions for example), the ability to disobey a direct order from those they are magically subordinate to must be demonstrated. Once that is done, they are Citizens, NO EXCEPTIONS.
-Citizens must reside within the Socialist Republic of Amali on a permanent basis, and must have either resided here at the time of this constitution's adoption, or must have resided here for at least one year prior to voting.
-Citizens must not have entered the country to carry out the will of a foreign government (examples: diplomats, spies, saboteurs). If they remain in the country after being confirmed to leave the employ of those who sent them here, they become citizens after one year of residence, the same as anyone else.
Section 2
Citizens have the following rights guaranteed to them by this Constitution. These rights shall not be violated.
-Citizens are guaranteed access to the tools, education and means of production to make their own livelihood if they so choose.
-Citizens are guaranteed the right to defend themselves or others if they believe they are in grave danger. They cannot be criminally convicted for self-defense or defense of others.
-Citizens guaranteed the right not to be subject to government force unless there is probable cause to believe they have committed or are preparing to commit a crime. Warrants for arrest, search, or seizure are to be specific in their scope, and performing these acts without a warrant means the results are inadmissible in a court of law.
-Citizens cannot be coerced to say things that incriminate themselves, or to perform a crime. Further, if a citizen performs an act that is later made illegal, they cannot be convicted for their actions prior to the law's passage.
-Citizens are guaranteed the right to not be discriminated against for factors beyond their control; this includes discrimination based on species, gender, or illness.
-Citizens are guaranteed freedom to express their personal beliefs, with the caveat that speech or publications intended or highly likely to spread hateful sentiments is classified as verbal assault, not free expression.
-Citizens accused of a crime are guaranteed a fair and unbiased trial conducted in a timely manner, and are also guaranteed to be informed of the specific accusations being made of them. They are further guaranteed access to competent defensive counsel.
Section 3
Due to the potential harm certain professions could cause to the Republic and to public safety, there are some additional responsibilities that citizens are required to uphold.
-Publications that present themselves as a source of reliable news or could be easily mistaken for such must either; have prominent disclaimers regarding the truth of their content, or make a competent effort to verify that what they are saying is in fact true.
-Those selling weapons or dangerous substances must make a reasonable effort to ascertain whether their customers can be trusted with what they are selling.
-Those who rely on magically subordinated beings to ensure their wellfare may not bond pre-existing beings without written informed consent being provided before hand, along with clear terms for contract expiry. In the case of creating new beings to subordinate, the method of subordination cannot be one that causes suffering for the being created.