Category Archives: Chancery

50th Cosa election, Chancery, Cosâ, news, Senäts

Chancery prepares for 50th Cosa election

Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir has published the rules for the 50th Cosa election.

Parties planning to contest the election are encouraged to pre-register with the Chancery. As well as the Cosa election, four provinces will be electing a Senator, three under the auspices of the Chancery. 

Benito and Vuode’s Senators are up for election following the usual schedule, while Florencia and Fiova are holding by-elections.

Benito Senator and ModRad Lüc da Schir has already announced he intends to seek an additional term in the Senäts. No other candidate has yet announced in this contest.

In the case of Vuode Senator Grischun has publicly announced that he will not seek an additional term as Senator. No candidate to replace him has emerged since this announcement.

Florencia will be voting to permanently replace its Upper House representative after the resignation and subsequent renunciation of citizenship of Pôl d’Aurìbuérg earlier this year. Mà la Mhà was appointed as a temporary relacement and appears to be returning to activity after a series of family bereavements limited his,Talossan time.

Fiova will also elect a Senator to replace C. Carlüs Xheraltescú following his failure to vote on two consecutive Clarks. Fiova organises its own Senäts elections and so does not depend on the Chancery system.

The Chancery traditionally publishes the rules of the election well.in advance of the actual launch. At the time of writing the King has yet to dissolve the Cosa as required under the Organic Law.

50th Cosa election, Chancery, Cosâ, news, Senäts

Chancery prepares for 50th Cosa election

Update: Five provinces will have Senäts elections this election. Incumbent Senator Sevastáin Pinátsch will also be seeking re-election (see comment)

Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir has published the rules for the 50th Cosa election.

Parties planning to contest the election are encouraged to pre-register with the Chancery. As well as the Cosa election, four provinces will be electing a Senator, three under the auspices of the Chancery.

Benito and Vuode’s Senators are up for election following the usual schedule, while Florencia and Fiova are holding by-elections.

Benito Senator and ModRad Lüc da Schir has already announced he intends to seek an additional term in the Senäts. No other candidate has yet announced in this contest.

In the case of Vuode Senator Grischun has publicly announced that he will not seek an additional term as Senator. No candidate to replace him has emerged since this announcement.

Florencia will be voting to permanently replace its Upper House representative after the resignation and subsequent renunciation of citizenship of Pôl d’Aurìbuérg earlier this year. Mà la Mhà was appointed as a temporary relacement and appears to be returning to activity after a series of family bereavements limited his Talossan time.

Fiova will also elect a Senator to replace C. Carlüs Xheraltescú following his failure to vote on two consecutive Clarks. Fiova organises its own Senäts elections and so does not depend on the Chancery system.

The Chancery traditionally publishes the rules of the election well in advance of the actual launch. At the time of writing the King has yet to dissolve the Cosa as required under the Organic Law.

49th Cosa election, Carbonel, Chancery, Elections, freedems, ModRads, news, Progs, RUMP, TNC

49th Cosa Election: FreeDems largest party in Cosa, TNC make breakthrough

The Chancery has published the unverified results of the 49th Cosa Election. After 199 of 200 seats have been provisionally allocated, and contrary to most expectations, the FreeDems have achieved their goal of overtaking the RUMP as the Kingdom’s largest party:

Votes per party
FreeDems: 39 votes (+9)
RUMP: 36 votes (-7)
ModRads: 22 votes (-7)
TNC: 17 votes (NEW)
Progressives: 2 votes (-7)
Republicans: 2 votes (NEW)

Seven citizens voted “present”, down from 9 in the 48th Cosa election. A total of 19 votes were cast for parties unrepresented in the 48th Cosa, compared to 16 for “new” parties in the last election.

Hailing the result as “historic”, FreeDem leader Miestrâ Schivâ invited the leaders of the other non-RUMP parties to contact her, stating “lets set up a government”. The FreeDem pledge to avoid traditional coalition, expand the role of non-political activities in Talossa and to maintain a hard line against royal “tyranny”” appear to have struck a chord with voters. With 66 seats, the FreeDem leader is however considerably short of a parliamentary majority, and will need to make arrangements with at least the ModRads to be assured of a clear majority in the Cosa:

Seats by party (199/200)
FreeDems: 66 (+19)
RUMP: 61 (-7)
ModRads: 37 (-9)
TNC: 29 (NEW)
Progressive: 3 (-11)*
Republican: 3 (NEW)*
* Provisional. Pending allocation of final seat

RUMP leader Sir Alexandreu Davinescu congratulated the FreeDems for their “strong showing”, and also congratulated the TNC for demonstrating that “new parties have a lot to offer Talossa”. Despite a series of ambitious campaign promises and an unsparing critique of what he claimed was the negligence of the coalition throughout its term in office, the RUMP leader appears to have been unable to convince voters that his party was essential to the next government. Critically for the RUMP, this new decline in support means that they have lost the blocking minority in the Cosa that gave them considerable influence in Organic Law matters. Sir Alexandreu also lost his bid to unseat ModRad Epic da Lhiun as Senator for Mariitimi-Maxhestic.

The ModRads, whose dramatic exit from the previous coalition led to considerable mutual recrimination between them and the FreeDems during the campaign, by contrast appear to have paid a price for their Christmas gambit. Having disavowed any ambition to lead the next government early in the campaign, the party appears to have suffered from the successful framing of the race as a Schivâ/Davinescu horse race, as well as competition from the TNC, led by ex-ModRad Breneir Itravilatx.

The TNC created the other surprise of the election, with a total of 17 votes in their first outing. With the “outsider” parties of the 48th Cosa apparently defunct, the TNC may have picked up support from heir now homeless voters. The party may also have profited from the decline in ModRad support, as well as the collapse in votes for the Progs, who were reduced to residual status with only 2 votes after a late start to their campaign.

Another minor party, Colonel Carbonel’s Republican Party, also has a total of two votes,  leaving the Chancery to decide how to allocate the final seat between them.

49th Cosa election, Chancery, Database, news, privacy

49th Cosa Election: SoS adds privacy options to Database

Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir has created a system allowing citizens to manage the privacy of their personal emails in the Database. The development is in response to the concerns first publicised by the Secretary himself, in a Wittenberg post entitled “Selling citizens emails”. In the post, since updated, S:reu Furxheir speculated that for the price of a registration fee a “a spammer could come here, post for a few days, become a citizen, and for only 20$ get the list of emails and then, resell the list to someone else”.

This issue, as later acknowledged by the Secretary, was in fact addressed by an amendement to El Lexhatx D8.5, passed by the 47th Cosa as 47RZ15 (the “Communications Privacy Act”), sponsored by C. Carlüs Xheraltescù MC and then-MC Lüc da Schir. The act specifies that any citizens may opt-out of having their email included in the database by contacting the Chancery, but must opt in to receive emails from party leaders at election time. The change was made, according to the preamble of the Act, to allow “informed consent” by citizens on the use of their email addresses.

In order to allow citizens to control the privacy of their email address, the Secretary has proposed a number of options via the Database. S:reu Furxheir has created a new section of the Database, entitled “Manage Privacy“, located in the “Database Actions” section of the menu. This allows citizens to set ther own preference as to whether they would like to receive political party emails or not. By selecting their name from the drop-down menu a code is sent by email allowing the user to amend their privacy setting.

Within this menu, citizens can set their privacy to completel hide their email, use an email alias, or publicly reveal their email address. The alias consiting of [citizen number]@talossa.ca. This allows them to receive emails on their usual address but to keep this address private. According to S:reu Furxheir, as of 3rd January 5 out of the 19 citizens who had used the privacy feature agreed to share their email addresses.

However RUMP leader Sir Alexandreu Davinescu described this as “nothing to celebrate” and criticised the Chancery for “stoking up people’s fears” about privacy issues, instead of promoting a sense of “community”. TNC leader Breneir Itravilatx also criticised the controversy for its “divisiveness”, and declared that his fledgling movement would be sending its programme to citizens who had opted into the communication before announcing it on Wittenberg.

They in turn were cricised by Miestrâ Schivâ who accused them of “gaslighting/speaking from privilege” for “telling people that they are wrong and foolish to be worried about their privacy”. Seneschal C. Carlüs Xheraltescù called for “prudence” and urged that Talossa should “never be complacent” about privacy. Both also accused Sir Alexandreu and S:reu Itravilatx of political motives in criticising the privacy provisions.

49th Cosa election, Cabonel, Chancery, Cjantscheir, Davinescu, Furxheir, Itravilatx, KIng John I, news, Royal Talossan Bar, Schivâ

49th Cosa election: Royal Society debate proposed; Carbonel changes tack

Talossan National Congress leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Breneir Itravilatx has revealed that behind-the-scenes talks have been underway on organising an all-party leaders debate under the auspices of the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge. S:reu Itravilatx stated that there was “tentative approval” from himself as leader of the TNC, Alexandreu Davinescu of the RUMP, Miestrâ Schivâ of the FreeDems and Lüc da Schir of the MRPT, and suggested “two or three debates perhaps with each one focused on a host of related issues”.

FreeDem leader Senator Miestrâ Schivâ announced that a condition of her involvement was the presence of Colonel Maximo Cabronel, leader of a Republican Party currently unrepresented in the Ziu. The Senator declared that “all parties invited, or only me and AD – those are my conditions”. The latter proposal, a one-on-one debate between the FreeDem leader and her RUMP counterpart, has been rejected by Sir Alexandreu in a heated exchange on Wittenberg.

Meanwhile Colonel Carbonel himself has announced that “after a small conversation with the Secretary of State’s [Marti-Pair Furxheir’s] office” he has rescinded his earlier criticism of the Chancery over its handling of the election date controversy caused by the delayed issue of the Writ of dissolution by King John I.

The Colonel stated that he wishes to “build a case” against the King, who he now declares is the “one man responsible” for the controversy, and has offered to pay for legal counsel. Dama Litz Cjantscheir, in her capacity as Chancellor of the Royal Talossan Bar, however cautioned Colonel Carbonel that “members of the Royal Talossan Bar are expressly forbidden to charge and/or accept any fee or charge for their services”, but that they may charge out of pocket case related expenses if agreed with their client before hand.

49th Cosa election, Chancery, Furxheir, KIng John I, news

49th Cosa Election: Cosa dissolved-but when is the election?

In the face of mounting criticism of his inaction, His Majesty King John I issued a writ of dissolution for the 48th Cosa. Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir has however declared that as a result of the provisions of the Organic Law, the general election date will as a result be delayed until 15th February, instead of 15th January as expected. This means that according to the estimate of Senator Lüc da Schir, the Kingdom faces a 55 day electoral campaign, which appears to be the longest in our history.

According to the Secretary of State, who has received the support of the government in his legal interpretation, the fact that the King did not explicitly dissolve the Cosa at the expected time (in December) means that under Article VII, section 3 of the Organic Law, which prescribes that the election must be held “during a period beginning from the fifteenth day of the calendar month following the dissolution of the prior Cosa.”

This interpretation has been challenged by His Majesty, who questioned the S:reu Furxheir on the practices of former King Robert I with respect to dissolutions, and who asserted that in his view “that it would make better sense in Talossan terms if, when the law says someone SHALL do something, and he doesn’t, that we 1) tell him (with whatever force seems appropriate) that he should have done it, and 2) act as if he had.” Sir Cresti Siervicül MC echoed the King’ objections, claiming that in a similar situation in December 2013 the election went ahead despite the lack of a dissolution. The Secretary however disagreed with this interpetation, stating that at the time the issue had not been detected until after the election had gotten underway, and that he had taken control of the process after the Cosa had disbanded, and had assumed the writ had been forwarded to his predecessor.

Speaking on behalf of the government, FreeDem party leader and Attorney-General Senator Miestrâ Schivâ affirmed that the Secretary of State had the full support of the government, and that as far as she was concerned those who disagreed with the Secretary’s decision could seek an injunction by el Cort Inalt. At the time of writing Colonel Maximo Carbonel, leader of the Republican Party, which is currently without representation in the Ziu, was requesting advice on Wittenberg on making a legal challenge.

48th Cosa, BenArd, Chancery, Democracy, Elections, freedems, Furxheir, Hayes, MRPT, news, RUMP

48th Cosa: BenArd seats redistributed; Hayes stays in the Cosa

According to an announcement by Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir, MC-elect Béneditsch (BenArd) Ardpresteir hs not paid the US$20 seat registration fee, nor provided the Chancery with a seat alloction. This means that under Article VII, section 9 of the Organic Law, the seats are considered vacant and, in the absence of a party leader to re-allocate them, a replacement will have to be appointed by the King “using his best judgement”. The King has therefore filled the vacant seats based on the final proposal published by the Chancery.

S:reu Furxheir also revealed that he had finally received the seat allcoation from the other independent MC-elect, Nicholas Hayes. S:reu Hayes, who has maintained a low public profile since his election, was thought to have forfeited his seats in the same way as S:reu Ardpresteir as he had failed to supply a seat allocation to Chancery. This was apparently rectified on 21st July, leaving only the four seats abandoned by S:reu Ardpresteir to be redistributed.

According to the final calculations published by the Chancery for the King’s guidance, the vacant seats are to be allocated as follows:

RUMP 2 seats (allocated to Sir Alexandreu Davinescu)
MRPT 1 seat (to Lupuluc da Fhoglha)
FDA 1 seat (to C. Carlüs Xheraltescù)

This leaves the now 200 seat Cosa with the following composition:

RUMP 69 seats
FDA 48 seats
MRPT 47 seats
TSP 16 seats
PP 14 seats
Hayes 6 seats

The government parties improve their relative position slightly, due to the (apparent) renaissance of S:reu Hayes and the non-arrival of the historically RUMP-aligned BenArd. (Hayes is not formally a supporter of the coalition but was appointed a Deputy Minister of the Interior by the present government). However the RUMP have strengthened their position in constitutional matters by extending their blocking minority position.

48th Cosa, Chancery, Clark, Cosâ, Democracy, ian Plätschisch, news, Organic Law, Pinátsch, Proclamation Crisis, Senate, Tresplet

July Clark: Democratic Amendment fails, three out of four bills defeated

As predicted by ETT, 48RZ2 (the Democratic Amendment) failed to overcome determined RUMP opposition in the Cosa. The Amendment was supported by 123 seats, with the coalition parties and the Socialists voting për. The 67 seats held by the RUMP voted contrâ. This meant that the Amendment failed to reach the required two-thirds majority in the Cosa. No MCs abstained, but neither Nicholas Hayes nor Béneditsch Ardpresteir participated in the vote, and thus would seem to have exited the Ziu. As reported by ETT, since since neither has completed the formalities necessary to claim their seats, according to the Chancery, the seats they won the general election will be re-allocated. In the Senäts, the Amendment actually passed, with a majority of 6 Senators voting për, and two abstaining.

In fact three of the four bills clarked failed to pass the Ziu. As well as the Democratic Amendment, two other bills, an Organic Law amendement and an ordinary statute, were defeated.

48RZ1, the Automatic Votes Validation Amendment, clarked by the Secretary of State Marti-Pair Furxheir, would have revised the electoral provisions of the Organic Law. It would have moved the point at which election were validated from the level of each individual vote cast to a verification of the electronic voting system itself. The Amendment failed in the Cosa, as it was unable to reach a two-thirds majority. In the Cosa 100 seats voted për, 79 contrâ, with 11 abstentions. In the Senäts, 4 Senators voted për, 3 contrâ, with 1 abstention.

48RZ4, the Easy Conversions Bill was a statute proposed by Ian Plätschisch MC and would have changed the official system of measurement of the Kingdom to the metric system. In the Cosa, the bill received majority support, but the Senäts deadlocked, leading to its defeat. In the Cosa, 111 seats voted për, 56 contrâ, with 23 abstentions. In the Senäts 4 Senators voted për, 4 contrâ.

The fourth and only successful measure in the July Clark was 48RZ3, the We Had a Short Amendment Buried in a Larger One Act. This Organic Law amendement was proposed by Senator Munditenens Tresplet. Its corrects an anomaly that had been created by a previous constitutional reform relating to the right of Members of the Cosa to declare themselves the nominal representative of a particular geographic constituency, despite MCs actually being elected from one national constituency. The amendment received the required majorities in each house of the Ziu. In the Cosa, 152 seats voted për, 11 seats contrâ, with 27 abstentions. In the Senäts, 7 Senators voted për, with one Senator voting contrâ.