The Royal Elections Act (Amendment)

[King John]

WHEREAS the Organic Law is rather vague about the procedure to be followed in electing a new King, should that unhappy eventuality arise, and

WHEREAS it is precisely at such moments of crisis that clear and unambiguous constitutional procedures are most to be desired,

THEREFORE the Ziu hereby approves this amendment to the Organic Law, and transmits it to the people for ratification.

The last sentence of Article III Section 4 ("Where there is no person entitled to succeed to the Throne under the rules of the preceding article, the nation shall elect, by a two-thirds majority, a new King, to whom and to whose family the existing laws of succession shall immediately apply") is amended to read:

When on the death or abdication of the King there is no person entitled to succeed to the Throne, the Uppermost Cort shall serve as a Council of Regency pending the election of a new King, and the Ziu may, by a vote of two-thirds in each House, elect a King, who shall succeed to the Throne immediately upon ratification of his election by a majority of the people in a referendum to be held for that sole purpose.

Uréu q'estadra så — John Woolley (Senator, Florenciâ)

[Joseph Walkland]

Perhaps there should be some way of defining the Royal hopefulls, (eg, each member of the Cort to nominate someone, and each Constable, and the PM)

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

I think this is a reasonable proposal. A technical suggestion -

Regency is covered by sections 7 and 8 of Article III. Is your clause about the UC serving as a Council of Regency necessary considering the existing language in section 8 stating "should a Sovereign decease, being heirless . . . and having made no last Will and Testament, the Uppermost Cort at the time of such decease shall be a Council of Regency"? The House Law states that abdication has the same effect as death, and we applied section 8 on that principle in King Louis's case.

If you think we need something more, I would prefer to amend section 8 along with section 4 rather than scatter provisions about regency throughout the article. It makes it easier to follow the law and easier to amend it later (without missing something) if you keep all provisions about the same thing in the same place.

[King John]

Dang. I've been struggling over this. OK, suppose we remove the last part of section 4 (the bit about electing a King), and replace sections 7 and 8 with this:

7. From time to time, a Regent (or a Council of Regency, which is considered equivalent to a Regent) may be appointed, who shall administer the government in the name of the King, and exercise all powers Organically or legally vested in the King, except the power to appoint or replace a Regent. A King who has not attained the age of eighteen years, which age is declared to be the legal majority of the Sovereign, may exercise his royal powers only through a Regent. No person not a citizen of Talossa shall be competent to serve as Regent or member of a Council of Regency.

8. The King may, at whim, appoint, replace, or remove a Regent, and may, by his last Will and Testament, appoint a Regent to serve during the minority of his successor. During the minority of the King, the Ziu may by law appoint a Regent. The Ziu may by law remove or replace any appointed Regent, and if the Ziu remove a Regent appointed by the King “at whim”, the King may not reappoint the same person Regent without the prior consent of the Ziu.

9. During the minority of the King, if the Regency for any reason be vacant, the Uppermost Cort shall be a Council of Regency.

10. If on the death or abdication of the King there be no person entitled to succeed to the Throne, the Uppermost Cort shall be a Council of Regency pending the election of a new King, and the Ziu may, by a vote of two-thirds in each House, elect a King, who shall succeed to the Throne immediately upon ratification of his election by a majority of the people in a referendum to be held for that sole purpose.

That does it all, I think.

— John Woolley, UrN