Free Democrats of Talossa

Free Democrats

Leader: Miestrâ Schivâ

Founded: 25 September 2015

Disbanded:present

Beliefs: Democratic, progressive, liberal, republican

The Free Democrats of Talossa (Els Democrätsen Livereschti da Talossa, FreeDems) are a Talossan political party formed by a merger of the ZRT and Liberal Congress parties, who had previously constituted the Free Democratic Alliance. At its formation, the party was the largest party in the Government, the second largest party in the 48th Cosa (with 47 seats) and counted 3 sitting Senators among its members.

Election Results

General Election	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-	Notes
February 2016, 49th Cosa	39	33.05 (#1)	66 / 200	19	in opposition
December 2016, 50th Cosa	25	23.58 (#3)	47 / 200	19	in government
October 2017, 51st Cosa	27	23.89 (#3)	48 / 200	1	in government
July 2018, 52nd Cosa	36	31.3 (#2)	62 / 200	14	in government
April 2019, 53rd Cosa	42	43.8 (#1)	89 / 200	27	in government

Constitution

At its founding Convention, the Free Democrats voted to adopt a Constitution to govern the party. The current version is available below.

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The Constitution of the Free Democrats of Talossa

I. Els Democrätsen Liverats da Talossa (the Free Democrats of Talossa) is an active political party in Talossa whose purpose is to fight for and defend liberty and democracy for its citizens and provinces.

II. The official slogan of the party shall be ‘livertà és democraçù pirméis!’ (liberty and democracy first!)

III. The official logo of the Free Democrats shall be as below:

IV. Membership shall be open to all Talossan citizens.

V. The party and its internal policy making decisions will be open and chosen democratically by its membership by simple majority vote; a constitutional amendment will require a 2/3 majority. Once a vote has been called, members have 3 days to cast their vote.

VI. The party shall elect from its membership the following officers:
a. A President, who will serve as the party leader of the Free Democrats and shall be responsible for the distribution of seats in the Cosa.
b. A Secretary, who will be responsible for conducting elections in the party in addition to preparing important party documents for publishing, and providing the parliamentary party with any assistance it might need. The Secretary shall serve as the President in the event of a vacancy.
c. Provincial Branch Chairs, who will serve as leaders of the party in their respective provinces and be responsible for the distribution of seats in the legislature of the province from which they are elected.

VII.
a. Provincial Branch Chairs shall only be elected from the membership of the province for which they are seeking office. In the event of a vacancy, the membership of the province may organize and elect a Branch Chair outside of convention. Until such vacancy is filled, The President shall serve as the de facto Provincial Branch Chair.
b. The President shall be empowered to make appointments to party offices in the event of vacancies.

VIII. All members of the party shall be eligible to both vote in elections to and stand for the above offices. Fourteen days’ notice should be given prior to these elections being held on the forum used for conducting party business, and nominations should open when this notice is given.

IX. The election of party officers shall be conducted annually in a Convention held at the earliest convenience during Winter, defined as December through March. An Exceptional Convention may be called by a petition of two-thirds (2/3) of the party membership, or by a simple majority vote of the party's officers.

X.
a. The candidate list for Cosâ elections shall be drawn up by a committee of the Party Officers, and ratified by a secret-ballot vote of all members, carried out by the Party Secretary.
b. Candidates for Senäts elections shall be chosen by a vote of all members residing in the Province affected, and the successful candidate announced by the Provincial Branch Chair. With the consent of the Party President and Secretary, the PBC may choose to allow non-party members residing in the Province affected to participate in such a vote. In the case of a contested nomination, the vote shall be carried out by secret ballot.
c. In cases of emergency such as by-elections, resignations or impending deadlines so that no time is left to conduct a vote as above, the Party President and Secretary may amend the Cosâ list, and a Provincial Branch Chair may nominate a Senäts candidate.

XI. Members are free to organize themselves into caucuses within the party. Caucuses shall annually make available to the Secretary a point of contact, purpose statement, and organizing document. The Secretary shall keep a list of all registered caucuses.

XII.
a. For the purposes of this rule, the “Caucus" comprises all Senators and MCs who are members of the Free Democrats of Talossa.
b. If the Party Leader considers a certain Bill on the Clark to be especially important for the enactment of the party's policy and principles, he may declare this bill to be subject to a "whipped vote", indicating that all members of the Caucus are expected to vote in accordance with the Leader's recommendation or otherwise abstain.
c. A declaration of a whipped vote, and any bill on which there is a whipped vote, shall specify precisely which plank of the party's policy, or constitutional principle, is involved.
d. A declaration of a whipped vote can be overridden by a vote of 50% or more of the Caucus members.
e. All Votes of Confidence shall be considered to be whipped unless the Leader or 50% or more of the Caucus specifically state otherwise. The opposite of a Whipped vote is a 'free vote'.
f. A member of the Caucus who votes contrary to a declaration of a whipped vote ("defies the whip") on two separate occasions in the term of a Cosâ may be suspended from Party membership by declaration of the Party Leader. This suspension may be overridden by a vote of 50% or more of the Caucus members, and in any case will expire at the end of that Cosâ term.
g. This section shall not apply to any circumstance covered by Constitution Section XV (the "Agnostic Clause").

XIII. In the event that a member is acting in a way that is damaging to the reputation of the Free Democrats, a petition representing at least half of the party membership may be presented to the party leader asking for the member's removal. The party leader shall schedule closed removal proceedings and notify the member in question, along with a copy of the petition, no less than ten days before such proceedings are to begin. During the proceedings, the member shall be afforded an opportunity to present his defense, and other members may also make their own arguments for or against the removal. On the fifth day of the proceedings, the party leader shall call a closed vote to be held on the removal. If two-thirds (2/3) of the membership vote in to remove, the member shall immediately be removed, and the party leader shall publicly announce the removal. A removed member shall be eligible to rejoin the Free Democrats after two General Elections following the removal.

XIV. The Free Democrats adhere to the notion of 'constitutional agnosticism' which can be understood as a commitment to bridging the gap between the existing debate versus monarchism and republicanism.

XV. Activities such as sewing, knitting and tea drinking are encouraged among members.

Party Policy

A. CULTURE

A1. The Free Democrats support Talossan culture built by its citizens, not the Government. The Ministry of Culture should work with non-governmental organisations and provincial governments to build Talossa's "civil society" - ways to be Talossan outside of the Government, including language, research, sports and leisure. We will prevent government appropriation of private projects through nationalisation, but where possible provide government support for such projects which need it.
A2. 'N naziun sanc glheþ, c'è 'n naziun sanc coraziun. We believe the state should make, and promote, the widest possible use of the Talossan language.
A3. We support common sense legislation to ensure the rights of individuals to enjoy whatever cultural aspect of Talossa they wish are not hindered by laws limiting the free exercise of expression.
A4. We support the Telecomuna project of a State-owned and administered national discussion forum. Our current over-reliance on privately owned and administered Wittenberg puts too much power in the hands of that site's unaccountable owners/administrators.

B. GOVERNMENT

The Free Democrats support a New Organic Law for Talossa, preferably including the following:
a) Changes to the monarchy: we support the abolition of the hereditary monarchy in favour of a lifetime elected position; and a system where the king of Talossa sits on the throne securely, but the throne itself is unstable and easily abolished.
b) Reduction of Cosa seat numbers.
c) Mandatory Cosâ lists (no seats to be distributed at whim by party leaders).
d) Support a more accessible judicial system for simple disputes.
e) Reform of registration fees for political participation, with the introduction of $5 for Senate candidates.
f) Slim down government: cut down on the number of departments, bureaus, and even Ministries. Shift as many functions as possible to the non-political Civil Service and Chancery.
g) Reduction of the King's influence on the democratic process. The Seneschál to be appointed by the King on the advice of a majority of Cosa seats.
h) Removal of Wisconsin law from El Lexhátx, and replacement of relevant sections with indigenous Talossan equivalents drafted with the input of top members of the Bar.

External links

• Free Democrats party forum