Bill: Draft Electoral Coalitions Legalization Act

[Strataguy1]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
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A BILL TO

Legalize Electoral Coalitions​

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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:​

PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Electoral Coalitions Legalization Act’.

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage

(3) This Act has been authored by Representative Strataguy1.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Representative Dogen Iris-Holmes.

(5) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Redmont Electoral Act

2. Reasons and Intent

(1) In the current way, the Redmont Electoral Act deals with the endorsement of candidates and the actions of parties; it makes it so that it effectively prohibits electoral coalitions. For democracy and cooperation, this is to be seen as an ill of our system and one that must be fixed.

(2) In the history of Redmont, parties have often worked together in elections; however, in the past there has not been a legal framework for them to do this work, leading to the ballots not entirely representing the unity of these parties' endorsements.

(3) There is no justifiable reason to ban coalitions' appearances on ballots; this Act aims to allow parties to legally coalition in the name of electoral performance without having to find loopholes in our law to do so.

3. Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Electoral Coalition. A formally registered alliance between 2 or more registered political parties with the intent of being a short-term tool to unify the participating parties' electoral tickets and chances.

PART II — Additions

4. Electoral Act Additions for Coalitions

(1) Following Section 26 of Part V of the Redmont Electoral Act, a Part is to be inserted which reads as follows:

PART VI — Electoral Coalitions

27. Recognition and definition of an Electoral Coalition

(1) An electoral coalition is an agreement made between two or more registered political parties with consent explicitly given between recognized party leaders.

(2) Registered political parties are within their rights to exit an electoral coalition at any time, provided it is done before voting starts in an election the electoral coalition is participating in and with notice given to the Department of State.

(3) Electoral coalitions may not significantly infringe on a party's organizational independence and must only be used for electoral purposes.

28. Coalition Registration

(1) Electoral coalitions must be allowed to register with the Department of State, assuming they have:
(a) the consent of the recognized leaders of all parties involved.
(b) An assigned coalition Representative.
(c) An official name and abbreviation.
(d) A list of the coalition's constituent parties.
(e) What election they will be contesting as a coalition.
(f) A list of all candidates contesting under this coalition, what they will individually be running for, and which party they originate from.

(2) If an electoral coalition has put forward a valid registration at least 48 hours before the election they are contesting opens, assuming they have not been officially denied by the Department of State, they are to be allowed to run.

(3) If enough parties leave a coalition to where it falls below the 2-party threshold or the election in which the coalition is contesting passes, a coalition is to be considered dissolved.

(4) If a coalition sees it necessary, as long as their official application was put in 48 hours before voting, they may change or add to their list of candidates contesting, assuming the declaration period has not closed yet.

29. Ballot Recognition

(1) Candidates contesting under a coalition shall appear on the ballot under their coalition's official abbreviation, with the party they affiliate with being listed to the right of the coalition's official abbreviation.


PART III — Amendments

5. Electoral Act Harmonization Amendments

(1) Section 6, Part II of the Redmont Electoral Act is to be amended as follows:

6. Declarations

(1) A citizen may declare their candidacy or the candidacy of their ticket by replying to the Election Thread using the template specified in that thread.

(2) A candidate or ticket may be officially affiliated to a maximum of one party or coalition, the abbreviation of which is listed on the ballot next to the candidate's name.

(3) A party or coalition affiliation is removed by the Department of State at the request of the party leader or coalition representative, or if the candidate is not listed on an optional list of endorsed candidates for that election provided to the Department of State by the party leader or coalition registration.

(4) No more candidates than there are seats up for election may be officially affiliated to any single party or single coalition. In the event that this does occur, all candidates sponsored by that party or coalition lose their party respective party or coalition affiliation.

(5) If the candidate does not indicate an official affiliation, declares with an unregistered party, or loses their affiliation pursuant to Subsections (3) or (4), or declares as a party currently running under a coalition, they will be listed in the ballot as an independent (IND).


(2) Section 19, subsection 9, Part III of the Redmont Electoral Act is to be amended as follows:

(9) Despite Section 6(2), no candidate in a BAR Council election may be officially affiliated to any political party or electoral coalition. All candidates are listed as independents.

(3) Section 34, Part VIII of the Redmont Electoral Act is to be amended as follows:

31. Plugin implementation
(1) Subsections (7) and (8) of Section 11 of this Act enter into effect no earlier than upon publication of an announcement by the Department of State stating that the necessary plugin features to randomize individual ballots' orders have been implemented.

(2) Subsection (1) of Section 29 of this Act shall enter into effect upon publication of an announcement by the Department of State confirming that the necessary plugin features to display both electoral coalition and constituent political party abbreviations on ballots have been implemented.

6. Electoral Act Heading and Numbering Amendments

(1) Parts VI and VII of the Redmont Electoral Act are to be amended to the following

PART VII — AMENDMENTS

2730. Amendments to the Bar Association of Redmont Act

2831. Repeal of the Electoral Act

PART VIII — TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

2932. Ongoing elections

303. Extension of BAR Councillor terms

314. Plugin implementation