EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES,
I hereby forward the draft Electoral Code to be voted by the Imperial Diet, as requested to me by His Excellency the Palatine of the House of Peers. I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks for being chosen to receive the honor of working once again in the legal construction of the Empire.
The Electoral Code below was written in light of the principles enshrined in the Imperial Constitution and the political and juridical tradition hitherto existing in the Empire. Although this Code represents a very significant increase in the volume of electoral laws, it was also inspired by the earlier Electoral Code and micronational political mores in general, especially those preferred by our nation. The right can not be shaped by cyclical ruptures, but by continuous evolution and progress, and therefore this electoral bill aims not to contradict the past, but to refine it and improve its efficiency, always observing the democratic and representative principles that make this Empire a Rule of Law.
It is in this way that the conditions of eligibility and registration of political parties were not significantly altered; the Emperor's performance was guarded as an important factor of political harmony; and especially the fact that this bill did not specify the technical means by which the voting must be carried out, relegating to the decrees this task. This choice is based on the objective of making the law a durable instrument, adaptable to the various technological and social contexts that may arise, capable of receiving different types of innovations within its institutes.
One of the major concerns of this draft Code is to reconcile legal certainty with bureaucratic efficiency. For this reason, new requirements for political party formation and electoral enlistment were created, but only to the extent that they were necessary to ensure that parties and candidates comply with the constitutional mandates for the office and that national sovereignty is respected, protecting us of electoral fraud and foreigners conducting our policy. In this sense, it was also made the choice to list the fundamental requirements of the internal statute of the parties. Without disrespecting their autonomy of internal organization (expressly defended in the Code), these requirements fulfill a very important role of guiding the parties in matters of greater juridical relevance in their internal statutes, ensuring that no one is unfairly discriminated in their political activity, and that the General Assembly of its members acts as a watchdog of the statute rules.
Among the new choices for this law, it is necessary to mention the qualification of social media as a condition of political capacity of the parties. This measure, which is innovative in relation to the previous law, aims to encourage that the political parties actually comply with the constitutional mandate to reinforce citizenship, avoiding the accumulation in the official registers of inert parties that do not generate us active candidates. It is for this reason that inactivity was also instituted as a condition for extinguishing the party ex officio by the Ministry of Justice, whose procedure is detailed in the Code to avoid abuses.
The choice of the plurality voting and district system in the House of Representatives elections was also based on the interest of maintaining efficiency and fairness. With the district model, through the constituencies, it is possible to guarantee in the Imperial Diet a real representativeness of the population; and with the plurality system, the vote counting is greatly simplified.
It is necessary to insist on this same intention, because the Electoral Justice system created in the Code follows this principle. A another innovation, the Electoral Justice acts as a temporary and periodic institution that brings together the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Supreme Court, with the sole purpose of guiding, protecting, supervising and guaranteeing the electoral process. In this way, it is possible to distribute in a balanced way to sectors of the government the important function of guaranteeing democracy, thereby preventing the error of creating an autonomous and specialized bureaucratic structure, which is not efficient; or giving to just one person enough authority to manipulate the electoral process in a dubious way, which would be unfair.
The continuity of the democratic regime, as a fundamental guide in the drafting of this Code, inspired the title that deals with the procedural defects of the electoral process. In this sense, it was established the maintenance of the electoral process as a legal principle to be considered by the Electoral Justice in the judgment of elections nullity.
Finally, it was decided not to deal with electoral crimes in this Code, relegating its normalization to the Criminal Code. This choice, in addition to encouraging the reform of the criminal law (which is inevitable and urgent), is inspired by the spirit of transforming the legal system of the Empire into an organic and coherent whole, where each kind of law is in place, avoiding extravagances to the maximum.
As Your Excellency read the Code, you can still see innumerable other innovations and improvements, but none of them will deviate from the reasons stated above. Designed to be a dynamic and yet durable law that best meets all the needs of electoral law, this draft Electoral Code has the potential to contribute as an important tool of legal modernization of the Empire. I hope that Your Excellency will see it in this same way, and I respectfully ask your peers to vote for the approval of this project, so that it becomes the new Electoral Code of the Karno-Ruthenian Empire.
Respectfully,I hereby forward the draft Electoral Code to be voted by the Imperial Diet, as requested to me by His Excellency the Palatine of the House of Peers. I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks for being chosen to receive the honor of working once again in the legal construction of the Empire.
The Electoral Code below was written in light of the principles enshrined in the Imperial Constitution and the political and juridical tradition hitherto existing in the Empire. Although this Code represents a very significant increase in the volume of electoral laws, it was also inspired by the earlier Electoral Code and micronational political mores in general, especially those preferred by our nation. The right can not be shaped by cyclical ruptures, but by continuous evolution and progress, and therefore this electoral bill aims not to contradict the past, but to refine it and improve its efficiency, always observing the democratic and representative principles that make this Empire a Rule of Law.
It is in this way that the conditions of eligibility and registration of political parties were not significantly altered; the Emperor's performance was guarded as an important factor of political harmony; and especially the fact that this bill did not specify the technical means by which the voting must be carried out, relegating to the decrees this task. This choice is based on the objective of making the law a durable instrument, adaptable to the various technological and social contexts that may arise, capable of receiving different types of innovations within its institutes.
One of the major concerns of this draft Code is to reconcile legal certainty with bureaucratic efficiency. For this reason, new requirements for political party formation and electoral enlistment were created, but only to the extent that they were necessary to ensure that parties and candidates comply with the constitutional mandates for the office and that national sovereignty is respected, protecting us of electoral fraud and foreigners conducting our policy. In this sense, it was also made the choice to list the fundamental requirements of the internal statute of the parties. Without disrespecting their autonomy of internal organization (expressly defended in the Code), these requirements fulfill a very important role of guiding the parties in matters of greater juridical relevance in their internal statutes, ensuring that no one is unfairly discriminated in their political activity, and that the General Assembly of its members acts as a watchdog of the statute rules.
Among the new choices for this law, it is necessary to mention the qualification of social media as a condition of political capacity of the parties. This measure, which is innovative in relation to the previous law, aims to encourage that the political parties actually comply with the constitutional mandate to reinforce citizenship, avoiding the accumulation in the official registers of inert parties that do not generate us active candidates. It is for this reason that inactivity was also instituted as a condition for extinguishing the party ex officio by the Ministry of Justice, whose procedure is detailed in the Code to avoid abuses.
The choice of the plurality voting and district system in the House of Representatives elections was also based on the interest of maintaining efficiency and fairness. With the district model, through the constituencies, it is possible to guarantee in the Imperial Diet a real representativeness of the population; and with the plurality system, the vote counting is greatly simplified.
It is necessary to insist on this same intention, because the Electoral Justice system created in the Code follows this principle. A another innovation, the Electoral Justice acts as a temporary and periodic institution that brings together the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Supreme Court, with the sole purpose of guiding, protecting, supervising and guaranteeing the electoral process. In this way, it is possible to distribute in a balanced way to sectors of the government the important function of guaranteeing democracy, thereby preventing the error of creating an autonomous and specialized bureaucratic structure, which is not efficient; or giving to just one person enough authority to manipulate the electoral process in a dubious way, which would be unfair.
The continuity of the democratic regime, as a fundamental guide in the drafting of this Code, inspired the title that deals with the procedural defects of the electoral process. In this sense, it was established the maintenance of the electoral process as a legal principle to be considered by the Electoral Justice in the judgment of elections nullity.
Finally, it was decided not to deal with electoral crimes in this Code, relegating its normalization to the Criminal Code. This choice, in addition to encouraging the reform of the criminal law (which is inevitable and urgent), is inspired by the spirit of transforming the legal system of the Empire into an organic and coherent whole, where each kind of law is in place, avoiding extravagances to the maximum.
As Your Excellency read the Code, you can still see innumerable other innovations and improvements, but none of them will deviate from the reasons stated above. Designed to be a dynamic and yet durable law that best meets all the needs of electoral law, this draft Electoral Code has the potential to contribute as an important tool of legal modernization of the Empire. I hope that Your Excellency will see it in this same way, and I respectfully ask your peers to vote for the approval of this project, so that it becomes the new Electoral Code of the Karno-Ruthenian Empire.
WILHELM VON UND ZU HOCHBACH
Prinz of Wigmaransz
Margrave of Hochbach
Minister of Justice
Palatine of the Court of Justice