FT 2-04: Concurrent Elections Amendment (Failed)

[Barnes]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. ii. The following shall be inserted following Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont, and all successive sections renumbered accordingly:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. The existing Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Section 3 (Ministerial elections)
i. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. The following shall be inserted following Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont, and all successive sections renumbered accordingly:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Section 3 (Early elections)
i. Article V, Section 4 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. Article V, Section 6 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

iii. Article V, Section 9 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended to read as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[/quote]

[Barnes]

Order, order! I call the Prime Minister.

[Barnes]

I rise to enthusiastically support these constitutional amendments moved by the Prime Minister. These alterations to our constitution will cement our parliamentary system of government in the Commonwealth and serve as a draw to interested players looking for a different style of government to the rest of Atlasia.

As I proposed in my election manifesto, these reforms tie the terms of the Prime Minister and the House to ensure that our elections consistently produce governments which reflect the will of the people. Furthermore, the House will now have the ability to bring down the Prime Minister in a non-confidence motion and thus exercise a significant check on the power of the executive. As a counter-balancing feature, the Prime Minister will now have the ability to dissolve the House for an early election. In so doing, however, he will also submit his own position to the will of the voters.

I do plan to propose a few amendments, however. Namely, including a provision that whenever a Prime Minister resigns, the House is automatically dissolved and an early election called; and, a limitation of perhaps four weeks on the power of the PM to dissolve the House.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

My thanks to the Speaker.

In simplest terms, as I conceive of it, this amendment serves as a capstone to the parliamentary reforms begun this past January by the introduction of the Second Constitution. More specifically, the proposal on the floor would make the following changes to the governing constitution:

(1) Under the current system, the prime minister serves a term of four months, while the House of Commons sits for half that period (with elections taking place every two months). The amendment would adjust these terms by specifying that all elected officers of the region serve terms of three months, barring an early election. As the honorable Speaker correctly notes, this will have the effect of ensuring that the entire parliament (PM + members) is elected at once, ensuring that the prime minister and the Commons are not acting on separate and possibly conflicting mandates.
(2) The proposed amendment would allow the prime minister to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections, as is done in Britain. It would likewise allow the Commons to pass a vote of No Confidence by a 3/5 majority.
(3) The date for the inauguration of new MPs is moved from the Friday after election to the Wednesday after the election, allowing for quicker turnover between governments.

I am interested to see what the membership thinks of this proposal, and to hear any proposed adjustments as the Speaker and others may feel necessary.

[Barnes]

I move the following amendments (all of which are colored red for ease of identifying):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. ii. The following shall be inserted following Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont, and all successive sections renumbered accordingly:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. The existing Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Section 3 (Ministerial elections)
i. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. The following shall be inserted following Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont, and all successive sections renumbered accordingly:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

iii. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Section 3 (Early elections)
i. Article V, Section 4 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ii. Article V, Section 6 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

iii. Article V, Section 9 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fremont shall be amended to read as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[/quote]

[Barnes]

A reminder that Honorable Members have about two hours left to object to the adoption of the proposed amendments to the legislation.

[Barnes]

The amendments are adopted nemine contradicente. Order!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

All sound adjustments, to my eye; I thank the Speaker.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Ideally, I'd like to hear someone other than me and Barnes to weigh in on this; but if there is no further debate, I will motion for a final vote tomorrow.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Right then, I move for a final vote.

[Barnes]

Members have twenty-four hours to object to the Prime Minister's motion.

[Barnes]

There being no objection, the motion is agreed to.

The question is now that this bill now be approved. As many as are of that opinion, say Aye; those opposed, No. Division!

I remind Members of the constitutional requirement that at least a four-fifths majority must be reached to approve this bill.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AYE!

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

abstain

[Barnes]

Aye!

[anthonyjg]

Aye

[Barnes]

Order! My apologies for not updating this yesterday.

The result of the division is Ayes: three; Noes: nil, with one abstention. Having not received the constitutionally required four-fifths majority, the question is resolved in the negative.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

It's very disappointing to see this fail, considering only one member apart from the sponsor even bothered to voice an opinion on the matter prior to the vote. If this keeps up, I might have to dust off the bullhorn and cattle prod from my ConCon days and reinstate myself as Nag-in-Chief of Atlasia.