Free Democrats of Talossa

Free Democrats of Talossa

Leader: Miestră Schivă Party President, Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir Party Secretary

Founded: 25 September 2015

Beliefs: Democratic, progressive, liberal, republican

Color:

The Free Democrats of Talossa (Els Democrätici 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
December 2019, 54th Cosa	33	41.8 (#1)	84 / 200	5	in government
August 2020, 55th Cosa	46	49.5 (#1)	99 / 200	11	in government
June 2021, 56th Cosa	31	42.47 (#1)	85 / 200	14	in government
April 2022, 57th Cosa	30	37.97 (#2)	76 / 200	9	in government
February 2023, 58th Cosa	26	29.89 (#2)	60 / 200	16	in opposition
October 2023, 59th Cosa	35	42.68 (#2)	85 / 200	25	in opposition
July 2024, 60th Cosa	32	40 (#1)	80 / 200	5	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.

a. Membership shall be open to all Talossan citizens who agree to abide by this Constitution, endorse the Party Policy, and are not currently members of another nationally registered party. However, the rights of any party member in good standing to seek changes to the Constitution or Policy in accordance with this Constitution shall never be infringed.

b. A prospective member must provide such contact information to the Party Secretary as the Party Secretary may ask for. The Party Secretary shall keep this information confidential, to be shared only with the Party Leadership, and used only for party business.

c. The Secretary of the Party shall be entitled, no more than once a year, to conduct a Census of all party members to make sure they still see themselves as Party members and that their contact details are up to date. A Party member who does not reply to this census within 30 days shall be deemed to have offered their resignation, which shall be accepted at the discretion of the Party Leadership.

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. In addition, any province of Talossa which includes 3 or more party members shall be entitled to elect a Provincial Branch Chair. Such an election may take place at the Party Convention or at any other time.

VII.
a. The Provincial Branch Chair shall be responsible for the distribution of seats in provincial legislatures, taking into account advice from Free Democrats in the province under consideration. If there is no Provincial Branch Chair, or they do not complete this duty in time, the Party President shall perform this duty.
b. If the President is unavailable or resigns, the Secretary shall assume their duties until the next Convention. If the Secretary is unavailable or resigns, the President is empowered to appoint a new Secretary until the next Convention.

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, if any member so requests, 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.
d. If there is no PBC, the Party President shall perform the functions in (b) and (c) above.

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.

a) The Party Leadership, upon petition of at least 1/2 of party members or at its own initiative by majority vote, shall suspend members for:

i) stated violations of this Constitution;

ii) publicly voting for or joining another nationally registered party;

iii) bringing the party into disrepute in a stated way.

b) A suspension decision, the justification for it, and the provisions for lifting this suspension (as contained in the rest of this section) shall be communicated to the suspended member as soon as possible and through all possible means of communication. A suspended member's rights under this Constitution shall cease to apply during their suspension, including the right to participate in Party discussion forums.

c) On the first day of the next Party Convention, the Party Leadership shall publicly announce a recommendation for every suspended member whether to lift their suspension, continue their suspension until the next Convention, or to expel the member. A recommendation to lift suspension shall be effected immediately. A recommendation to continue suspension or to expel shall take effect after 5 days, unless the suspended member addresses the Convention requesting a hearing.

d) A hearing shall be held in closed session and shall be chaired by a Talossan citizen agreed to by both the suspended member and the Party leadership. The Party Leadership shall make the case for continued suspension or expulsion, and the suspended member may make a case against this decision. Debate shall then ensue, in which other party members may make their own arguments or statements, moderated by the chair of the hearing. After no fewer than five days, the chair of the hearing shall call for a vote as to whether to accept or reject the Party Leadership's recommendation. A quorum of no less than 1/2 of current membership shall be required to endorse a motion to continue suspension or to expel. If the vote fails, the member's suspension shall be immediately lifted. The outcome of the hearing shall be immediately publicly announced.

e) An expelled member shall be eligible to rejoin the Free Democrats after two General Elections following the expulsion.

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

Preamble

Free Democrats put liberty and democracy first in Talossa. This means that every citizen should be able to:

•   Get involved in politics without having skills, experience or training in politics or law;

•   Work for the Kingdom without getting involved in politics;

•   "Do Talossa" without getting involved in politics or working for the Kingdom.

•   Participate in Talossa without their fun being ruined by bullying, harassment, or political interference.

A. Our Constitution

1) Basic Principle

Talossa's institutions are made for its people, not the other way around. If the people do not fit the institutions, it is the latter which must change. Free Democrats always support reforms to our Organic and Statute Law to promote liberty, democracy, and the flourishing of Talossanity.

2) Monarchist/Republican Compromise

Free Democrats include both monarchists and republicans. We support to a Talossan Head of State who is continually active, puts the interests of the Nation above defending their own interests and prestige, and acts as the servant rather than the owner of the State. We support a constitution that ensures that our Head of State continues to operate in this way.

3) Federalism Reform

Provincial governments in Talossa only function intermittently; by and large the provinces only act as electoral districts for Senators. We support reforms to the Senäts and other Organic provisions to provide incentives for provincial governments to be more active, or to create new provinces, either by splitting or merging.

B. Politics For Everyone, Civil Service For Skilled Workers

For Talossa to really be democratic, Talossan politics and law must be simple enough that average people can always run for the Ziu, serve in Government, and navigate the Corts. On the other hand, any job that requires technical or legal skills should be part of the non-political Royal Civil Service, which helps elected politicians carry out their plans.

• No Cabinet or political office should require technical or legal skills to fill; any technical aspect of government should have a Civil Servant to help, including preparing legal drafts or budgets, administering websites or social media accounts.
• All Civil Service roles should be fully documented, to make it easy for new people to take over.
• The Honours System should encourage effort and achievement in the Civil Service.
• For those who wish to be both politicians and civil servants, there should be clear rules to prevent the two roles interfering.

C. Culture

1) Ár Glheþ

'N naziun sanc glheþ, c'è 'n naziun sanc coraziun. The Talossan language is not only one of our highest cultural treasures but something which separates our state from all other nations and nation-building projects. Our vision is that all Talossans will learn and use the national language to some extent, and the Government should encourage learning materials to enable this.

2) A Talossan Civil Society

Liberty in Talossa should mean that Talossan culture should always be independent from the Kingdom authorities. The Ministry of Culture should work with ordinary citizens, non-governmental organisations and provincial governments to build Talossa's "civil society" - ways to be Talossan outside of politics or government. This may include State funding, through contestable grants or prizes for competitions, but must never make culture reliant on government approval.

3) A Polite Talossa

One of the major ways in which people are excluded from participating in Talossa is rudeness and discourtesy from other Talossans. We cannot and should not try to make rudeness and bullying illegal. But moderators on Wittenberg should be empowered to uphold standards of courtesy ("Wittiquette"), without fear of being bullied by either State authorities or private citizens.

External links

• Free Democrats party forum