n
The Constitution of
ZAAKISTAN
In
effect the First day
of
the First Month
of
the year Nineteen
Hundred
and Ninety-Eight
Zaakistan is
a new country emerging from a ravaging, bloody civil war. General Zaak
Robichaud led in the conciliation of the two warring sides. His astounding
compromises caused the people of the nation to unanimously crown him King
and commission him to formulate a constitution. Zaakistan currently has a
population of 3,209,756 people.
I.
The Sovereign Ruler and Head of State of Zaakistan shall be King
Zaak, who shall, by his appointment of successors, and their subsequent
appointees, continue to rule the nation of Zaakistan.
A.
King Zaak claims the indisputable right to Head of State. King Zaak,
and all subsequent Monarchs, holds the right to appoint and crown the heir
of his or her choice to the throne anytime during his or her reign.
Monarchs following a rule of a Zaakistan Monarch may not be of any blood
relation to the previous two Monarchs. Any claim to the throne outside of
the official appointment of the king or queen is null and void.
B.
Zaakistan Monarchs may reign for a maximum of ten years less one
day. If the Monarch dies, the replacing Monarch may rule ten years less a
day from that day on.
C.
Monarchs must be married on their day of appointment and remain
married throughout their reign, with exception of the death of the spouse
during the Monarch’s reign. Should the spouse of the Monarch die, the
Monarch may not remarry during his reign.
D.
In case of a Zaakistan Monarch’s death, the pending appointee
shall assume the throne and be crowned by the Prime Minister. If the
pending appointee is suspect of foul play linked with the Monarch’s
death, a combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan may remove the pending
appointee from the throne with a vote of two thirds or more. In this case,
the Monarch’s spouse may choose a successor who shall assume the throne
and be crowned by the Prime Minister. If the spouse is deceased, the late
Monarch’s adjutant shall do the appointing in case of the Monarch’s
death.
E.
The previous Monarch shall crown all following Monarchs. Should the
Monarch be absent due to death, the Prime Minister should perform the act
of investiture, but has no say in deciding whom the Monarch is. The
Monarch alone can decide who his heir to the throne shall be with the
exceptions stated in section I. D.
F.
A Monarch must always have a publicly known person known as his
pending appointee. This position may fluctuate between several individuals
throughout the reign and does not ensure the pending appointee accession
to the throne on the day of appointment in the Monarch’s tenth year of
reign. The Monarch has full liberties as to his choice. The pending
appointee may only accede to the throne if these circumstances arise
1.
The Monarch dies during his or her reign.
2.
The Monarch crowns the pending appointee himself or herself.
G.
As previously mentioned, a Monarch must be married to be eligible
for kingship or queenship. The appointee must be a natural-born citizen of
Zaakistan. The appointee must be a minimum of thirty-five years old.
H.
The Monarch of Zaakistan holds the power to execute bills passed by
Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan with his or her signature. The Monarch
may not introduce legislation nor can the Monarch sign bills that are not
passed by Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan.
I.
The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered to direct the Armed Forces of
Zaakistan or to appoint a subordinate to direct the Armed Forces of
Zaakistan in his place. The Monarch or his appointed director of the Armed
Forces of Zaakistan may not mobilize these forces without consent of a
majority vote of the Prime Minister and his full Cabinet.
J.
The Monarch may not leave Zaakistan without consent of a majority
vote of the Prime Minister and his full Cabinet.
K.
The pending appointee holds no powers in this position. The pending
appointee may be a member of the government or judiciary, but must forego
these positions and all other duties upon his or her appointment as
Monarch and accept the duties of the Monarch solely.
L.
The Monarch does, by the denial of his signature, have the power to
deny the execution of legislation. This veto may be over-ridden by
1.
A two-thirds majority in the combined Legislative Assembly of
Zaakistan. Once a two-thirds majority in this assembly passes the
legislation, it becomes law and enforceable according to date of
enforceability in the legislation.
2.
A popular referendum organized by the Prime Minister in which
two-thirds of the electorate must be present and fifty percent plus one of
the ballots cast are in favor of the legislation.
M.
The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered with the power to appoint and
dismiss the ministers of the various Maisons and the Prime Minister. The
Monarch may also appoint and dismiss the executive bureaucracy.
N.
The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered to sign foreign treaties and
international agreements. The treaties and agreements are subject to
ratification by the combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan.
O.
The Monarch is empowered to grant full pardons or diminish a
sentence to any individuals or groups within his or her kingdom who may
have incurred sentences. The Monarch is required to commute all death
sentences to life imprisonment. Individuals who have incurred a death
sentence are indebted to the Monarch for the Monarch’s mercy.
P.
The Monarch may call any part of, or the whole Legislative Assembly
of Zaakistan into session. The Monarch may not block any part of, or whole
Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan from assemblage into session.
II.
Zaakistan is to be a non-nuclear nation. No individual, no group of
individuals, and no party of any kind may involve themselves nor any one
else in the proliferation, the stockpiling, the using, the designing, nor
the production of nuclear weapons.
III.
There shall be no divisions into territories or provinces. There
shall be no governments besides the municipal and the federal. The
municipal governments shall be given powers by the federal government. No
municipality shall have advantage over another nor greater than another in
terms of governmental power.
IV.
The Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan embodies the various federal
Maisons. Several Maisons representing several areas of government, each
with a minister whom together with the Prime Minister form the Cabinet.
The combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan is a temporary union of all
the national Maisons for certain issues discussed in section III.A. Every
member has an equal vote.
A.
The combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan is called at the
request of the Prime Minister to vote collectively on important
legislation decided upon by the Prime Minister, to amend the Constitution,
matters concerning the Monarch, to declare war, to ratify foreign treaties
and international agreements, and to override the Monarch’s veto.
B.
All legislation excepting those mentioned in section III.A. must
pass the Maison Paramount. The Prime Minister acts as head of the Maison
Paramount.
C.
There can be no more than ten Maisons, besides the Maison
Paramount. When new areas arise that need to be added or when areas need
to be moved from one Maison to another to even out the workload of the
Maisons, the Monarch and the Cabinet decide in conjunction with each other
what Maisons are empowered over what areas. All votes in this council are
counted equal. All Maisons are to have equal numbers of members. No Maison
may infringe upon the jurisdiction of another Maison, although Maisons may
work together in conjunction with each other on certain pieces of
Legislation decided by the Prime Minister. To launch the new government,
these are the Maisons that shall exist and the areas they shall have
sovereignty over.
1.
The Maison Paramount
2.
The Maison of Justice and Criminal Law
3.
The Maison of Foreign Affairs and Commerce
4.
The Maison of Tourism, Arts, and Leisure
5.
The Maison of Communication and Transportation
6.
The Maison of Industry and Technology
7.
The Maison of Internal Affairs and Defense
8.
The Maison of Natural Resources and Employment
9.
The Maison of Education and Health
10.
The Maison of Finance
D.
All Maisons shall elect a chairman at the first session of each
year. The chairman may not be the minister of the Maison. Chairmen must be
members of the Maison they chair. Chairmen maintain the right to vote in
the Maison.
E.
Both the monarch and the Prime Minister have the power to call
Maisons into special session. A single Maison may be called into special
session. All the Maisons must be called to mandatory sessions twice for a
minimum of 20 working days each session. All the Maisons must meet during
mandatory sessions. Each of these mandatory sessions are called by the
Prime Minister. The first of these mandatory sessions must occur between
January 30 and June 1. The second of these mandatory sessions must occur
between July 31 and December 1.
F.
Members of the Maisons are to be elected by citizens of Zaakistan
who are eighteen years of age and older. Persons taking part in national
referendums must be citizens of Zaakistan who are eighteen years of age
and older.
G.
All members of the Maisons are to be eighteen years of age and
older. All members of the Maisons are to be citizens of Zaakistan.
H.
Elections for all the Maisons are to be called on a minimum of
every five years. The Prime Minister has the power to call such elections.
A separate Maison may be dissolved by a majority vote in that Maison, on
which occasion an election for this particular Maison is to be held in no
more than two months following the dissolution of that Maison. The Maison
Paramount takes on the responsibilities of the dissolved Maison until a
new one is formed by popular vote.
I.
Elections of the members of the Maisons shall proceed as follows
1.
A member in each Maison shall represent a population of
approximately 1,250,000 people. This number of people is used only to
determine the number of members in each house.
2.
All federal votes are cast on identical ballots throughout
Zaakistan. Polling stations are to be made accessible to all citizens in
Zaakistan.
3.
Each voting individual is to vote once under each Maison Heading on
the ballot. Each Maison heading shall have any number of political parties
listed below it on the ballot. Parties may vary from one Maison to
another.
4.
Political parties are to submit a list of the names of candidates
equal in number to the amount of seats in the Maison they are running for.
The list should display the rank of the candidates in the party. The first
name on the list would get that first party seat in the Maison; the second
name would get the second seat for that party etc… Polling stations are
to post these lists of candidates for each party and for each Maison.
5.
Political parties are responsible for the ranking of their
candidates. They may however seek their own form of democratic method for
the ranking.
6.
Votes are to be separated by Maison when they are counted. The
temporary number of seats available are equal in all the Maisons and
determined by dividing the population of Zaakistan of the most recent
official government census by 1,250,000. This resulting figure is to be
rounded up to the nearest whole number and increased by three.
7.
Party votes are counted in individual Maisons only. A party may not
add votes from one Maison to another to ensure a number of seats in a
Maison.
8.
The party votes in each Maison are then divided into the total
amount of votes. A party must receive at least 4% of the total votes to be
eligible for a seat in the Maison. To determine the amount of seats a
party receives in a Maison, the party’s Maison percentage is multiplied
by the resultant number in section IV.I.6. The resultant number is rounded
down unless the numbers following the decimal point are greater or equal
to 75, in which case the number may be rounded up. This determines how
many seats a party gets. The Maison or Maisons who receives the greatest
number seats, sets the trend for all other Maisons in relation to their
number of seats. To equate the Maisons with fewer seats, the party with
the most seats is assigned all the extra seats up to the number of seats
in the Maison or Maison who received the greatest number in the
calculations.
J.
The Maison of Finance has exclusive rights over the distribution
and collection of government funds. Funds are to be disbursed to the
various Maisons during the first mandatory session. The Maison of Finance
is empowered to determine the Monarch’s wage and tax the Monarch.
K.
The Maison Paramount may originate legislation. This legislation
must then pass the Maison who has exclusive jurisdiction over it. The
Maison Paramount may only originate legislation twelve times each year and
can only be introduced by consent of the Prime Minister.
L.
The Maisons are authorized to carry out the following duties in
their own fields:
1.
Printing money and minting coins.
2.
Build up armed forces.
3.
Charter banks.
4.
Conduct investigations.
5.
Pass legislation on to the Maison Paramount.
6.
Removal and appointment of all Judges.
V.
The High Judiciary is composed collectively of the Maison of
Justice and a panel of Supreme Court Judges who are appointed by the
Cabinet on recommendation of the Maison of Justice.
A.
The Monarch invests the Supreme Court Judges with the following
powers, when they are as a collective unit called the Supreme Court of
Zaakistan, within a month of their appointment by the Cabinet:
1.
To declare legislation unconstitutional making them null and void.
2.
To hear appeals from lower courts.
3.
To add meaning to the Constitution by its rulings. These rulings
set precedent for the interpretation of the Constitution.
B.
Supreme Court Judges are to serve no more than twenty-five years.
Supreme Court Judges need to have served as a subordinate to a Supreme
Court Judge for a minimum of five years. The Cabinet upon recommendation
of the Maison of Justice appoints subordinates to Supreme Court Judges.
Subordinates number two for every Supreme Court Judge. Subordinates serve
as consultants to the Supreme Court Judges but resign the power to act as
a judge until their possible appointment as a Supreme Court Judge.
Subordinates are required to have served as a judge in a lower court for
at least five years. Judges in lower courts need to have served as a
prosecutor or a public defender for the state for a minimum of eight
years.
C.
The High Judiciary tries all cases of treason, all cases dealing
with the Monarch as a defendant, all cases of terrorism, all cases where a
representative in a Maison may be dismissed, and all cases dealing with
possible dismissal of high officers in the armed forces or judges.
D.
Causes for removal of a Supreme Court Judge may be any one or
several of the following:
1.
Failure to execute office.
2.
Gross misconduct.
3.
Incapacity to fulfill his or her duties.
4. Having committed a crime that may be penalized with more than six months in prison or a fine of more than $5,000.
E.
The Supreme Court of Zaakistan may have no more than nine judges.
When making a ruling, no less than five judges may be present.
