SO 2017-5 Partisan Campaigning Act Voting

Article I: Introduction

Believing that the Regional Message Board should not bear the brunt of campaign statements during elections, and yet acknowledging that many voting members of the Union do not have accounts on the forum and therefore cannot observe all of the campaigning therein, we, the Parliament of the Union, propose the following guidelines of moderation to the conduct of partisan campaigning in regional elections.

Article II: Definitions and Application

Section A: Definitions

An "announced (independent) candidate" is a candidate for President, Prime Minister, or Senate/Parliament who has declared and cleared their candidacy with the Founder. Similarly, an announced party list is a party list for Senate/Parliament which has declared and cleared its candidacy with the Founder.

A "campaign message" is a message designed to influence the electorate in favor or against a particular candidate or candidates in an election.

Section B: Application

The rules and regulations set forth in this Act apply only to Presidential, Prime Ministerial, and Senatorial/Parliamentary elections.

Article III: Campaigning on the Forums

Upon the passage of this Act, the Founder will create a subforum in the Citizen’s Forum entitled “Campaigns”, where, at the beginning of each electoral cycle, he will post a topic with the dates of the campaign and the type of election in question.

Point a: In a campaign topic in the “Campaigns” subforum, announced candidates may post as many campaign messages as they choose, all while attempting to maintain a productive discussion.

Point b: Abuse and offensive language is, of course, prohibited as in all public situations in the Union.

Article IV: Campaigning on the Regional Message Board

In the case of Presidential and Prime Ministerial elections, each announced candidate may post a maximum of two campaign messages on the Regional Message Board, while in the case Senatorial/Parliamentary elections, each announced party list or announced independent candidate may post a maximum of two campaign messages on the Regional Message Board.

Article V: Official Summary of Campaign Statements

One week prior to the election, the Minister of Communications will create a dispatch containing a compilation of campaign messages from each announced (independent) candidate/party list. The Prime Minister will then pin this dispatch to the World Factbook Entry of the region. On the day scheduled for the beginning of the election, the Minister of Communications will send a mass telegram, containing the compiled campaign messages, to all the nations residing in the region.

Point a: Each announced (independent) candidate/party list has a maximum of 50 words in their section of the compilation of campaign messages.

Point b: The Minister of Communications will contact each announced (independent) candidate/party list so that they may send him their section of the compilation of campaign messages.

Point c: If the Minister of Communications is unable to obtain an acceptable text for an announced (independent) candidate/party list’s section of the compilation of campaign messages, he may improvise that section basing himself on their other campaign messages. If there are none, the relevant section of the compilation of campaign messages is left blank.

Article VI: Conclusion

We, the Parliament of the Union, enact this document and its provisions as law.

January 8, 2017
Abdoa, Senator
Libertarian Democracy, Senator
Hashkin, Senator

The vote will be open until Sunday February 5, 2017.

Abdoa votes in favour.

The DSH votes in favor

Sirius Knight votes in favor

LibDem votes in favor

Nassau-Windsor votes in favour of this Bill.

Libertarian Republic of Freedom votes in negation of this bill

The Armenian States votes in favor.

The vote is closed and the results as follows:

Voting: 7
Majority: 5
In Favor: 6
In Opposition: 1
In Abstention: 0

The bill is PASSED and sent to the President for assent or veto.