Audentior Constitution

 

General: The Audentior Government shall be divided into three parts; the High Council, the Tetrapole, and the Court of Equity.  The High Council shall serve as the Executive Branch, the Tetrapole as the Legislative, and the Court of Equity as the Judicial.  In addition, from these branches shall be chosen the Council of Progress, a coordinating body that settles rifts between the three.

 

Elections: Official elections shall be arranged by the PICO: Democracy.  They shall occur on the 10th day of every second month.  No official campaigning may be started before the 1st of the month of the elections, so as to avoid semi-permanent re-election campaigns.  Unofficial campaigning may of course still be done.  Should the PICO: Democracy fail to hold an election at the appointed time, the Council Of Progress will organize the election for no later than the 1st of the next month.  The PICO: Democracy will not be eligible for re-election in this case.

 

The High Council: The High Council shall consist of seven members.  These seven members are the PICO: Diplomacy, PICO: Military, PICO: Democracy, PICO: Nationality, PICO: Citizenry, PICO: Military, and PICO: Technology.  The jobs of each of these officials should be self-evident.  Should any two of them together agree to call it, the High Council of all of these officials shall meet.  Their job is to coordinate between the departments and to elect the Executive Chair.  The High Council is bound by laws passed by the Tetrapole, so long as they do not conflict with this Constitution.

 

The Tetrapole: The Tetrapole shall serve as the legislative branch of Audentior.  One representative is sent to the Tetrapole from each province.  This representative may be, but does not have to be, the provincial governor.  In addition, those people who belong to no province choose one Tetrapole representative.  The Tetrapole creates and passes legislation by a majority vote, except where otherwise indicated in this Constitution.  Should a vote end in a tie (and only in this situation), the Legislative Chair shall be given two votes.  The Tetrapole may not unilaterally revise this Constitution nor may it contradict the Court of Equity in judicial decisions.  Its first job is to elect a Legislative Chair.

 

The Court of Equity: The Court of Equity serves as the highest Audentior court.  One High Judge, three jurors, one Default Prosecutor, and one Default Defense are elected by the people.  The Default lawyers are those used in a case where one or both sides do not wish to hire an independent lawyer.  The two lawyers, three jurors, and High Judge elect a Judicial Chair.  All decisions of the Court of Equity are final.

 

The Council Of Progress: The Council of Progress consists of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Chairs.  Each representing one branch, they serve as mediators between the branches, directors of long-range policy, and as initiators of new programs.  Their first job is to elect a High Chair from among their members, symbolically the highest government official in Audentior, though he does not have significant actual power.

 

Impeachment: Any official may be impeached at any time.  To do so, a person must organize an unofficial election in the Audentior forums.  The intention must be clearly stated, and the election must be approved by the PICO: Democracy (if it is the PICO: Democracy himself being impeached, the Council of Progress shall do the approval).  Should the turnout of the election be greater than the turnout of the election in which the official being impeached was chosen, and if the percentage of people voting for the impeachment is greater than the percentage that voted for the candidate originally, the official is removed from office.  It is up to the PICO: Democracy to organize elections for a replacement; again, if the PICO: Democracy was impeached, the responsibility shall be given to the Council of Progress.  Members of the Council of Progress may not be impeached from the Council directly; any impeachment must be to remove them from their primary position, which then removes them from the Council.

 

Foreign Relations: The PICO: Diplomacy has the power to mutually recognize all nations.  However, for unilateral Audente recognition, the Tetrapole must vote on it and pass it with a majority.  A majority vote in the Tetrapole also may override any mutual recognitions made by the PICO: Diplomacy.  Alliances, cease-fires, or any other treaty more complex than simple recognition must be passed by a 2/3 majority in the Tetrapole or a simple majority in the Tetrapole with the support of the PICO: Diplomacy.  Declaring war on a foreign nation requires a unanimous vote of the Tetrapole, a 2/3 vote of the Tetrapole and the support of either the PICO: Military or PICO: Diplomacy, or a majority vote of the Tetrapole and the support of both the PICO: Military and the PICO: Diplomacy.  This is reduced to a simple majority vote of the Tetrapole if the nation in question has already declared war on Audentior.  In an emergency situation, the PICO: Military or Council of Progress may deploy troops to protect Audentior, but must abandon this if a majority of the Tetrapole later votes against it.

 

Limitations of Government: The government may pass any law unless it violates one of the rules in this article.  The government in this case refers to any specific branch of the government or the whole government acting together.  The areas in which the government may not pass laws are the following:

-The government may not pass a law restricting a citizen's right to choose a religion, or endorsing any religion over another.

-The government may not pass a law restricting free speech, except for blatant slander

-The government may not pass a law making any citizen inferior to another by classifying them as an "Enemy of the People" or another such derogatory title

-The government may not pass a law restricting emigration

-The government may not pass a law mandating or practicing discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

-The government may not break up any political party or association

 

Unofficial Elections: It is possible that the people of Audentior may feel strongly about an issue that the Tetrapole is not willing to vote upon.  In this case, they may hold an unofficial election.  Unofficial elections may be started by anyone at any time in the Audentior forums.  They must be approved by the PICO: Democracy or, in his absence, the Council of Progress.  It is the duty of these bodies to approve all fair unofficial elections.  Should the number of voters in an unofficial election be at least equal to those voting for Tetrapole in the last election, and should the measure in the election pass, Tetrapole is legally required to enact legislation addressing the issue in the unofficial election.

 

Provinces: Audentior shall be divided into provinces.  Any nation that wishes to join Audentior as a province may do so, and any person who wishes to form a new province likewise is allowed to do so.  All provinces must be admitted by a majority vote of the High Council, and each province may send one representative to Tetrapole.  Provinces are completely responsible for their internal affairs, and may choose to carry them out in whatever method they wish, so long as the provincial representative to the Tetrapole is elected democratically.  Should there be an internal revolt in a province, the Audentior government shall stay neutral, unless one side or the other wishes to take the province out of Audentior, in which case the government shall support the loyalist side.  Any province leaving Audentior without the consent of the Tetrapole shall be interpreted as an act of war.

 

Amendments: This Constitution may be amended only by a 2/3-majority vote of Tetrapole and a 2/3-majority vote of the people.