Electoral Code, 1671

[Principality of Curon 23]

Eʟᴇᴄᴛᴏʀᴀʟ Cᴏᴅᴇ, 1671

Issued & confirmed by the Chancellor of Curon,

Sylvester II Adelheid of House Halcourt

 

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Elections by their very nature are messy processes, and are often administered in a ramshackle way, with rules and procedures changing at whim. No longer shall this be the case in Curon, and frankly never has it been. The Chancellor and his designees have overseen elections in a unified manner since the inception of the tradition in Curonian lands. This document serves to catalogue and standardize such procedure, ensuring that through future transitions of power, elections shall be justly and fairly administrated in the same manner. Furthermore a number of reforms, so as to promote transparency and avoid future problems.

 

 

COMMISSION

I. There shall be established an Electoral Commission, which will convene to discuss the workings of the electoral system within the nation's borders.
II. There shall be appointed a Commissioner, who will be responsible for the enactment and execution of this here Act, and the maintenance of an Electoral Commission, in which they shall be the chair.

III. The Commissioner shall hold office at the pleasure and discretion of the Chancellor.

IV. There shall be officers who hold membership in the Commission to represent the interests of the people, and who shall be subject to the directions of the Commissioner. 

V. Members of the Commission shall be appointed exclusively by the sovereign, or by virtue of past service as Mayor of Cyrilsburg, or Mayor of a vassal state's city.

 

NOMINATION

I. All candidates wishing to be duly elected to their respective offices must submit a public writ. 

II. Furthermore, three citizens must support their nomination and publicly declare such.

II. The current qualifications for running in an election shall be as follows.

a. Candidates must be of the majority, at least sixteen years old.

b. A property within our nation must be proved to be theirs.

c. Under Curonian law, they must be a legal citizen.

III. The current grounds for disqualification are listed below.

a. The candidate is a subject, vassal, or owes other obligation to a foreign entity.

b. A conviction of treason, or other such severe indictments.

IV. Candidates must find a second candidate to team up with, declaring one junior and one senior.

a. If elected, they will be Mayor and Deputy Mayor. 

b. One may declare candidacy without a partner and later find one.

c. A team is locked in once polling begins and cannot be changed.

d. If one wins the election and their junior partner drops out, they may select a new junior partner.

e. If a senior partner drops out, they surrender their campaign to their junior partner, who may select a new partner.

 

ELECTION

I. The government shall declare publicly that the candidacy period has begun, allowing candidates to be nominated as per the above procedure.
II. After a set time, mayoral debates shall be scheduled. Candidates will convene to discuss important issues in a public forum, with summaries published soon thereafter.
III. Polling shall begin soon after debates, wherein legal voters may submit their ballots, and the election shall begin in earnest.

IV. After the completion of the voting period, the Electoral Commission shall convene to count and tally votes. Legal votes shall be counted if meeting below prerequisites.

a. The voter owns property in Cyrilsburg or a vassal city of our nation.

b. The voter gives military service to our nation or a vassal.

c. The voter is an established member of a local family and, while not holding property, lives in our nation.

d. The voter is confirmed personally by citizens.

1. A list of unconfirmed voters will be released publicly for our people to review. 

2. Citizens are encouraged to inform electoral staff if the individual is foreign or not.

3. After public review, those who have not been confirmed legal votes shall be nullified.

V. A mayoral inauguration shall occur, wherein all candidates are to attend. The winner of the election will not be announced until the ceremony takes place.

VI. The first Saint's Day of the new Mayor's reign is the only point where new information may remove them from office without a trial, by way of one of the following.

a. If they are proved incapable or disqualified by this act's terms, they shall be removed in favor of the next highest voted candidate.

b. If citizens or other means verify votes and shift the major victory to another within this first day, the Mayor shall become that newly verified winner.

c. If the Mayor fails to swear an oath to the sovereign, they will be removed from office, and possibly charged.

 

PROHIBITION

I. In order to ensure the just and fair rule of any elected officers, the following is disallowed in regards to candidates.

a. Conspiracy, where a group of people conspire to change the outcome – for example, by planning to drop out of the election at a certain date to change its outcome, or other such plots.

Neglect is regarded as the refusal to discharge a given official duty by an officer.

b. Neglect, in which the official fails to fulfill the duties they are assigned.

II. Voters too must be held to high standards, and so the following is prohibited on their behalf. These prohibitions obviously apply to candidates also.

a. Bribery, wherein a third party pays the official to sway their opinion, or otherwise exchanges value to do so.

1. Exchange of property, money, services, items, promises, gifts, or anything else of value is not illegal.

2. Yet where that exchange involves two parties who may conspire change or activity, then that constitutes bribery. 

b. They who threaten, offer, or suggest violence, injury, or damage to a candidate in an attempt to voice withdrawal of candidacy, or any support of such, or they who cause, inflict, or cajole any violence, injury, or damage to a candidate for withdrawal, omission, support or opposition shall be guilty of conspiracy to influence an election.

c. Voting more than once at the same election will result in a penalty not exceeding one hundred, or imprisonment for no more than four saint's days.

d. Willfully promulgating a false statement in a statement, application, return, or declaration to the public or Commission in an attempt to defame or hinder the election of an individual is libel and punishable by a 800 mina fine.

 

 

IN NOMININE DEI †
HER SERENE HIGHNESS, Linette Eliza of House Devereux, Sovereign Princess of

Curon, Duchess of Eastbourne and Eruthos, Countess of Riga, Westmark, Beauclair, Sunholdt, Wett, and Eastmark, and Baroness of Cyrilsburg