Difference between revisions of "Union of Independent States"

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Constitution

=Preamble

We, the members of the Union of Independent States, in an effort to better the Union and its members and to better preserve its ideals of peace, justice, and equality, hereby establish this Constitution of the Union of Independent States and promise to uphold it to the very best of our ability, within reason.

The Constitution of the Union of Independent States

Here is the constitution of the Union of Independent States, it consists of twelve articles, each dealing with one aspect of the Union:

Article One; concerning the election process

The election occurs once every 100 days. Any United Nations member may run. Voting starts once the current delegate's 100 day term has expired. The voting period lasts five days. The candidate with the most votes at the end of that period is the delegate for the next 100 days, at which time the next election occurs.

Article Two; concerning free speech

Any nation has the right to post anything it wants on the regional message board and on the forum, so long as the content of these posts complies with the NationStates Terms of Service, the NationStates rules, the constitution of the Union of Independent and (on the forum only), complies with the official The Union Forum rules.

Article Three; concerning amendments to the Constitution

Any amendment to the constitution can be proposed by any member of the Union of Independent States, including but not limited to puppet nations and non-United Nations nations. The amendment should be proposed on the regional message board or on The Union Forum. Once the amendment has been proposed, all United Nations members may vote on it. The voting period lasts five days. Once the voting period ends, the votes are counted. If more than half of the votes are approving of the proposal, the proposal has been ratified and the amendment becomes an official part of the constitution. If exactly have or fewer of the votes are approving of the proposal, the proposal is thrown out and is not made part of the constitution. The proposal may be re-submitted any number of times, so long as it is not submitted before ten days have passed since the failure of the original proposal. If it is re-submitted before that ten day period has expired, the proposal is removed from the voting floor and that proposal cannot be re-submitted until ten days from the time that it was removed from the voting floor.

Article Four; concerning the Vice-Delegacy

In addition to the position of the delegate, there shall also be a position of vice-delegate, who shall assist the delegate in all regional affairs, including but not limited to: approval of proposals; writing and editing of the regional fact-book; appointments to other official regional positions; and amendments to the constitution. The vice-delegate shall be the second-place winner in the election of the delegate. Also, the vice-delegate shall select two out of the five of the members of the Judicial Panel. However, if there is only one candidate for the position of delegate in an election, that nation shall personally select a vice-delegate. This selection shall occur before any selection of Judicial Panel members is made.

Article Five; concerning the Judicial Panel

From the members of the Union of Independent States (whether they be members of the United Nations or not) shall be selected five justices who serve an unlimited amount of time on the Judicial Panel of the Union of Independent States, which is to be used to take disciplinary action on members of the Union of Independent States who violate the rules of The Union Forum and/or the official NationStates rules outlined in the Etiquette section of the NationStates FAQ and/or the official NationStates Terms and Conditions and/or the Constitution of the Union of Independent States. Two of the members of the Judicial Panel shall be selected by the delegate; two shall be selected by the vice-delegate, and a chief justice shall be selected by the initial four members of the Judicial Panel. If the nation selected to be chief justice is already a member of the Judicial Panel, that nation shall hold two positions on the Judicial Panel: one as a regular justice, and one as chief justice. Should disciplinary action need to be taken on one of the members of the Judicial Panel, that member shall be forced to abstain from that voting.

The nation in question shall be given a hearing which is to last as long as is necessary for all sides to be presented and for the Judicial Panel to reach an agreement. The hearing shall work like this:

1. An accusation is made by any member of the Union of Independent States against any other member of the Union of Independent States.
2. Any nation (including the nation which is the subject of the hearing) will make arguments proclaiming the guilt of that nation.
3. Any nation (including the nation which is the subject of the hearing) will make arguments proclaiming the innocence of that nation.
4. The Judicial Panel will confer and will return a verdict of either "guilty" or "not guilty." In order to return a "guilty" verdict, at least three out of the five members of the Judicial Panel must vote that the nation in question is guilty "beyond the shadow of a doubt." In order to return a "not guilty" verdict, the Judicial Panel must not return a “guilty” verdict.
   • If the verdict returned is "not guilty," the nation in question is not given any punishment.
   • If the verdict returned is "guilty," the Judicial Panel will then decide on a punishment for that nation. They may either expel the nation from the region, ban the nation from the forums, bar the nation from ever serving in regional government, bar the nation from serving in regional government for a set amount of time, or force than nation to resign from the United Nations. In order to force the nation to resign from the United Nations, the delegate will threaten to eject and ban (for a predetermined (by the Judicial Panel) amount of time) that nation from the Union of Independent States should they not resign from the United Nations within five days. The Judicial Panel may also decide on a differant punishment, but that punishment must be ratified by the delegate of the Union of Independent States.

Article Six; concerning separation of powers

Any member of the Union of Independent States shall only be allowed to hold one position in the regional government at any time. Positions in the regional government include the positions of delegate, vice-delegate, and Judicial Panel member.

Article Seven; concerning organization of the regional government

The government of the Union of Independent States shall be organized into two branches: the legislative branch and the executive branch.

The Legislative Branch:

• The Judicial Panel
  • Two judges chosen by the delegate
  • Two judges chosen by the the vice-delegate
  • One chief judge chosen by the other four judges on the judicial panel.

The Executive Branch

• One delegate
• One vice-delegate

Article Eight; concerning creation of provisions for an inactive regional government

If the elected delegate of the Union of Independent States is inactive for more than sixteen days, all UN nations shall be required to un-endorse the delegate and endorse the vice-delegate until the delegate becomes active again. For this period, there shall be no second-in-command.

If the delegate ceases to exist due to inactivity, a new election shall be held. For the duration of the election period, the former vice-delegate shall be delegate.

If the vice-delegate ceases to exist due to inactivity, the delegate shall select a new vice-delegate. If that person accepts the nomination, the Judicial Panel shall investigate the nominee. If the Judicial Panel finds out anything about the nominee that would hinder its ability to contribute to the regional government, the Judicial Panel shall vote. If a majority votes to accept the nominee, that nation shall then be the vice-delegate for the remainder of the delegacy. If a majority of the Judicial Panel votes to deny the nominee, the delegate shall be required to pick a new nominee for the position of vice-delegate, until one in voted into office by the Judicial Panel. Any member of the Judicial Panel may abstain from the voting. If there is a tie, the vice-delegate shall be denied. Also, if the nominee is a member of the Judicial Panel, they shall be forced to abstain from the voting. If they are voted into the position, they will be required to step down from the position of member of the Judicial Panel, in compliance with Article Six of the Constitution. If that member was chosen by the delegate to be on the Judicial Panel, the delegate will choose a new nation to fill the vice-delegate's spot. If the new vice-delegate was chosen to be a member of the Judicial Panel by the old vice-delegate, the new vice-delegate will pick a nation to fill the spot. If the chief justice becomes vice-delegate, the members of the new Judicial Panel shall vote again for a new chief justice.

If a member of the Judicial Panel ceases to exist due to inactivity, the executive who chose that member, either the delegate or the vice-delegate, shall choose a new nation to fill the spot.

If the chief justice ceases to exist due to inactivity, the Judicial Panel shall vote again for the position.

When the delegate is inactive for more than sixteen days, a call will be put out to members of the ADN, of which the Union is a member, to come to the Union and endorse the vice-delegate. Also, if the delegate becomes active again, another such call shall be sent out to the ADN, to re-endorse the delegate.

If the delegate knows in advance that they will be inactive for more that sixteen days, the delegate can either choose to temporarily transfer power to the vice-delegate, or to extend their period of inactivity in power to thirty-six days. If the delegate will be inactive for more than thirty-six days, they will be required to transfer power to the vice-delegate immediately.

Also, it should be kept in mind that the Judicial Panel is only confirming the selection of vice-delegate. They should only vote to deny if they feel that there is something greatly wrong with the vice-delegate. It is not a vote of whether they like the choice or not, only whether the nominee will be able to competently hold the position.

Article Nine; concerning the freedom of nations

Any nation in the Union of Independent States may have any name, motto, currency, flag, or national animal, so long as they comply with the NationStates Terms of Service and the official NationStates rules. In addition, any nation may choose any answer to any issue. Any nation may also have any style of government that it wants. The regional government may not intervene and force a member nation to change one of these things.

Article Ten; concerning emergency provisions for the case of an invasion

Because the threat of invasion is omnipresent, and because, while the Alliance Defense Network (which we are a member of) is quite powerful, yet not invincible, a provision is hereby established to be used in the event of an invasion or similar regional crisis: Emergency Delegate Powers. At any time, any member of the Union of Independent States may nominate the delegate to receive Emergency Delegate Powers. Then, the delegate must accept or decline the nomination. If the delegate declines, they will not receive such powers. If they accept, a vote will be made. The voting period will last forty-eight hours. Any UN member of the Union may vote. If more than one half of votes are "yea," the delegate shall receive the powers for no more than ten days, after which a new vote will be held. The delegate may relinquish Emergency Delegate Powers at any time. If one half or more of all votes are "nay," the delegate will not receive the powers. The Emergency Delegate Powers are these: the delegate may eject any number of nations which have entered the region in the last twenty days; and the delegate may eject one nation every five days which has entered the region before the last twenty days. The delegate may do these two things without any consent from the Judicial Panel or any other branch of regional government.

However, if, at any time, the Judicial Panel feels that the delegate is abuising their Emergency Powers, the Judicial Panel may hold a vote to take away the powers. If two or more members of the Judicial Panel vote to take a way the powers, then they shall take them away immediatly. If fewer than two members vote to take them away, the delegate will keep their Emergency Powers for the remainder of the ten day period. In addition, if fewer than two members vote to take away the powers, the Judicial Panel may hold a new vote to take away the powers no sooner than twenty-four hours after the old vote has concluded.

Article Eleven; concerning limits on the number of terms a Delegate can have

Any elected Delegate of the Union of Independent States shall hereby be able to serve no more than two consecutive terms as Delegate. No other member of regional government is subjected to this rule.

Article Twelve; concerning tie-breakers for Delegacy elections

If, in an election for the position of Delegate of the Union of Independent States, two or more nations receive the same number of votes, the incumbent nation will be forced to withdraw from the tie-breaker. If there are still two or more nations with the same number of votes, another vote will be held without the incumbent, this time lasting only two days. If, at the end of that voting period, there are still two or more nations with the same number of votes, the Chief Justice of the Judicial Panel will decide who the next Delegate will be.

Nations are still allowed to withdraw from the tie-breaker at any time. In addition, the last nation to withdraw will become Vice-Delegate, or, if there are more than one, the Delegate will follow the procedure for picking a Vice-Delegate as outlined in Article Eight of the Constitution of the Union of Independent States.

Article Thirteen; concerning means for the elected delegate to maintain order

Once the election is over and a delegate has been elected, every single member of the Union of Independent States who is a member of the United Nations shall be forced to endorse the elected delegate. If a member of the Union of Independent States does not endorse the delegate, they shall be subject to trial by the Judicial Panel of the Union of Independent States.