The six month mark is coming up in July for the election of new Officials for the Parliament. How soon should the campaign start, or should we even bother having a Parliament considering the participation of the Third Parliament of Deviantopia?

If we, indeed, continue to have a Parliament, should we not, also, have a Judiciary Branch to take Law and Rule breakers to task? I have seen some OP's in the DA Political Forum that should definitely be charged with something!

Please do not Post any threads in here that should be for the Official DA Political Forum

: *SwordOfScotland- Club Founder and Forum Chief Justice

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*SwordOfScotland Club Founder

Who are the incumbents?

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SWITCHING ACCOUNT

The Official Bill Formulation Thread (and List of Incumbent Officials) [link]

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I. Elections:
I(a).Elections consist of three threads:
I(a)(i). One for nominations;
I(a)(ii). One for voting, to be open for no less than five days; and
I(a)(iii). One for results;
I(b). Cut-off Determination: Forum time stamps will be used to determine cut offs;
I(c). When Elections Will be Held: Elections are held every six months in January and July.
I(d). Elections Officer:
I(d)(i). Elections will be managed by a deviant who is not participating in the election; who is
I(d)(ii). Appointed by the parliament of Deviantopia by unanimous consent;
I(d)(iii). This deviant will be referred to as the elections officer;

II. Nominations: Any deviant is eligible to nominate him or herself for other deviants during this time. Only those deviants who accept their nominations will be included on the ballot.

III. Political Parties:
III(a). Recognition:
III(a)(i). In order to be a recognized political party, a party must have at least two candidates and a deviantArt page for the party;
III(a)(ii). Existing political clubs may be used as political parties for the purposes of elections;
III(b). Running As a Party Candidate: If a deviant is running for parliament as a member of an official party, they must state this during their acceptance of nomination.

IV. Ballot:
IV(a). Candidates appear on the ballot in order of when they accepted their nomination;
IV(b). Candidates running in a political party will have their icons grouped together on the ballot in order of when their first candidate accepted their nomination;
IV(c). Above the first candidate will read the name of the party with a link to their group platform, if any;
IV(d). Each candidate’s icon will appear on the ballot next to a link to their platform;
IV(e). The ballot must not contain any information that could be deemed to prejudice voters against a particular candidate;

V. Voting:
V(a). All deviants are eligible to vote;
V(b). At-large electoral system;
V(b)(i). Deviantopia uses an at-large electoral system;
V(b)(ii). Each deviant is entitled up to five (5) votes, with no more than one (1) vote per candidate;
V(b)(iii). Each candidate will be numbered in order of preference;
V(b)(iv). In the case of a tie, the order of preference will be used, and if no numbers are given, the order in which the candidates are written will be used;
V(c). All votes must respond directly to the election thread;
V(d). All votes by a single deviant must be case within the same reply;
V(e). Using Separate Accounts:
V(e)(i). No deviant may vote twice using separate accounts;
V(e)(ii). If the Elections Officer deems a deviant voted twice using different accounts, or otherwise participated in election fraud, that vote will not be counted;
V(f). If a deviant votes for more than five (5) candidates, the first five (5) candidates listed on the ballot will be counted, and remaining votes will not;
V(g). The Elections Officer has the final say as to whether a vote is disqualified;

VI. Results:
VI(a). The electoral officer must post full results of the election including the number of votes each candidate received, the number of votes cast but disqualified and a link to the original voting thread;
VI(b). Error in Results:
VI(b)(i). If the elections officer is deemed to be in error in the results, they must correct this error as quickly as possible;
VI(b)(ii). If that error results in a change of who is elected, then a new results thread must be posted;

VII. Start of New Term: The new parliament comes into effect the moment the results are published.

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The *hansard is the official headquarters of the Parliament and the Laws.

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It's the law!

Hi, I am new DA Political Forums but am very interested in what you guys got going here.

However if you choose to form a Judiciary Branch you should remember that it would be useless unless you also set up an enforcement and prosecution branch. (i.e Police)

Just an idea...

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"Reality is
that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

---Phillip K Dick; HOW TO BUILD A UNIVERSE
THAT DOESN'T FALL APART TWO DAYS LATER

I am glad to meet you, especially if you are interested in becoming an active member. I think you have a point there. If I appoint a Supreme Court, then I am going to have Prosecutors, Defenders, and Shire Reefs.



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I think the Parliament suffers more from a lack of real power than from a lack of participation. In fact, the latter probably extends from the former. It seems to me like the parliament ought to be tasked with two primary goals:

1) Representing the interests of dA Politics Forum users to Admins to get things done of their abilities (Things like a Forum FAQ or "RoE" and a Religion Forum).

2) Trying to elevate the level of discussion in the dA Politics Forum by posting unbiased reputable articles with intelligent discussion points and posting in other threads only to either (a) present the opening poster with why their thread is poor and (b) provide an enlightening addition to the discussion, preferably with supporting links.

The most power I think Parliament members have, is to show the rest of the community that debates don't have to become personal boxing matches -- that the best debates are "gentlemanly" and either end in someone changing their mind or agreeing to disagree.

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Don't fuck up the Parliamentary system. The person who created it will write you a note telling you you're trying to fuck it up, and to cease and desist