Direct democracy (Latao)

This articles describes the direct Democracy' as installed in the Confederacy of Latao, Atlantian Oceania – Latao is a Democratic & Republican Federal State.

Before reading about the detailed implementation of direct Democracy in Latao, please keep the following terms & fact on mind:

1. Latao is ruled by an Executive, containing seven Members, including a President. The federal Executive is called the National Executive Committee (NEC)
2. Latao’s Parliament is a two-Chamber parliament
3. The Confederacy Council (CC) contains 300 seats and represents the people of Latao
4. The Senator Council (SC) contains 45 seats and represents the Districts (States) of Latao
5. Both chambers together, are referred to as the Federal Assembly (FA)
6. Executive and Legislative together, are referred to as Federal Government or just Government

The constitution provides several democratic instruments to implement direct Democracy on federal and local levels. The two main types are the Initiative and the Referendum.

Initiative

The Initiative is designed to let the people of Latao demand new articles in the constitution or laws, or to change existing articles in the constitution or laws.

Referendum

The Referendum is designed to give the people of Latao, as well as members of the parliament the possibility to avert something they really dislike. The Referendum is therefore sometimes referred to as a Veto.

As we see from the above basics, direct Democracy cannot make the people actually rule themselves, it can however empower the people to control the government, by saying “yes” or “no” to concrete questions, ideas and laws.

These types of direct-democratic instruments provided by the constitution, different in the “target”, the way they affect the country.

Constitutional Instruments

Constitutional instruments aim at changing the constitution. New articles can be added or existing articles can be changed or removed, as long no modification violates existing facts. The Constitutional instruments are the most powerful in the Confederacy of Latao.

Constitutional Initiatives can be forced directly by the citizens of Latao. Constitutional Referendums can be forced directly by the citizens of Latao and the members of the Parliament.

Administrative Instruments

Administrative instruments aim at changing the law, derived from the constitution. New laws can be added or existing laws can be changed or dropped from the lex, but the underlying constitution itself is not affected. Modifications must however be valid, which means they must not violate any existing laws or the constitution. Administrative instruments can be held easier than constitutional instruments.

Administrative Initiatives can be forced directly by the citizens of Latao. Administrative Referendums can be forced directly by the citizens of Latao and the members of the Parliament.

The government decides, weather or not a poll is held to legitimate concrete political issue. The people of Latao and the members of the Federal Assembly (Parliament) are free to force a poll by using the instruments of the Referendum.

Calling democratic Instruments from the People

The procedure of calling democratic instruments directly by the people on federal or local level of the nation is almost the same.

Terms

The following are being used in the context of direct Democracy in Latao:

Initiative Committee (IC)

The IC is the group of citizens that organizes an initiative.

Referendum Committee (RC)

The RC is the group of citizens or Parliament members that organizes a referendum.

Parliamental Democracy Commission (PDC)

The PDC is a parliamental commission that consists of members of the Federal Assembly. The PDC deals with legal matters of proposals.

Democratic Instruments used on Federal Level

This section describes, how the direct-democratic instruments are being used when operating on the entire nation, the Federal Level.

Rules

1. Constitutional instruments used on Federal level require the collection of 100.000 signatures.
2. Administrative instruments used on Federal level require the collection of 50.000 signatures.
3. Citizens of the Confederacy of Latao who are allowed to vote must give the signatures freely.
4. The lists of signatures must be ordered by Districts and Communities before it is submitted to the PDC.

Constitutional Initiative

1. The IC registers its initiative (proposal) with the PDC. From the date of registration, the IC can start collecting the required signatures within 6 months.

The initiative is cancelled, if the IC fails to collect the required number of valid signatures within this period; no further action is taken by the state in that case. The committee should ensure, that the contents of its proposal are valid.

1. The PDC verifies that the proposal and the given collection of signatures are valid.

If something is not valid, the PDC returns the proposal to the IC with detailed information, why the proposal has been rejected. The Judicative authorities must be brought in, when something seems to be wrong with the collected signatures, such as fakes.

1. If everything’s correct, the PDC authorizes the initiative.
2. The IC must confirm the authorization within the next 10 years.
3. Once the initiative (ex-proposal) is authorized and confirmed, the Federal Assembly specifies a date for the poll. The poll must be held within 1 year after the IC has confirmed the initiative. The IC may define the earliest date possible within that period.
4. The IC may now start its political engagement to get support for their initiative.
5. The PDC destroys the lists of signatures submitted by the IC 60 days after the poll.

Constitutional Referendum

1. The RC collects the required signatures. This may happen directly “on the streets”, meaning inside cities etc.
2. The PDC verifies that the given collection of signatures is valid. If something is not valid, the PDC returns the request to the IC with detailed information, why it has been rejected. The Judicative authorities must be brought in, when something seems to be wrong with the collected signatures, such as fakes.
3. If everything’s correct, the PDC authorizes the referendum and specified a date for the poll.

The poll must be held within 1 year after the referendum is authorized. The RC may define the earliest date possible, within that period.

1. The RC may now start its political engagement to get support for their referendum.
2. The PDC destroys the lists of signatures submitted by the RC 60 days after the poll.