Vauleyo-Buryatia Constitutional Crisis?

[Imperator Azenquor]

BCNA Breaking news: Constitutional Crisis?

“Today, Vauleyo-Buryatia has entered a major political crisis between the Senate, the President and the Monarchy. The People’s Council of the Great Khural, led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) approved the ‘Nationalization of Educational Institutions’ bill and sent it to the Senate for final approval. The proposed bill would allow the government to take control of all private schools and colleges in Vauleo-Buryatia and would impose new minimum standards for teachers and students. The bill also contained a spending provision that would provide an additional B$3 billion to all schools nationwide in preparation for the nationalizations and to pay all outstanding salaries at educational institutions.

Although President Anyatevich’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) has an overwhelming majority in the People’s Council, they control less than half of the seats in the Senate. When the bill arrived at the Senate for a vote, a coalition of Independents and Unelected Senators voted against the bill forcing it back to the People’s Council for amendment. The Senate coalition, comprising just over half of the Senators, declared that the nationalization of schools ‘is an inappropriate move by the government and will not be approved’ and demanded that the bill be amended to permit some private educational institutions to remain in operation and that the standardization portions be removed.

The Leader of the People’s Council responded with a three hour long speech in which he outlined the need for standardization and nationalization of educational institutions and blasted the Senators for opposing the legislation. The Leader went on to declare that the People’s Council would approve the bill once again without making any changes, and would be prepared to vote down all other legislation until the Senate reverses its position.

After a marathon meeting with President Anyatevich, the People’s Council again approved the legislation and sent it to the Senate for approval. Before the Senate considered the bill for the second time an unelected Senator (appointed by the Monarch) put forward a motion that the Senate should ‘unanimously reject any national budget put forward by the SDP in order to force a vote of non-confidence in the People’s Council’ and that the Senate should ‘submit a formal request to the monarchy to temporarily suspend the People’s Council’.

-Vauleyo-Buryatian Senate

It is at this point that the crisis truly began. In response to the threat from the Senate, President Anyatevich threatened to use his powers to shut down the Senate, the Monarch threatened to intervene to dismiss the Parliament, and the Parliament threatened to have a recall vote on each of the 100 Senators. In response, the Senate has threatened to begin impeachment procedures against President Anyatevich and the President has threatened to dissolve the monarchy. The unprecedented situation has resulted in a major deadlock, as neither the Senate nor the People’s Council will approve legislation, thus bringing the work of the Grand Khural to a screeching halt.

While this is indeed a major development, it is not expected that the Parliamentary deadlock will begin to affect the population until a few weeks have passed and if the Khural fails to approve a budget. At this point, the President is in a closed door meeting with both the Monarch and the Leader of the Senate and is attempting to reach some form of solution to the impasse.

In other news, the Regional Legislatures in Sakha, East Ingushetia, Severnaya Zemlya and the Novaya Zemlya Autonomous Regions have all passed motions of support for the People’s Council’s nationalization plan and have condemned what they called ‘Senate obstructionism’. A Deputy in the Novaya Zemlyan Legislature put forward a proposal to put the Nationalization bill to a national referendum in order to solve the impasse, but it is unlikely that the Senate would agree to do so.”-Reporter

[Lynneth]

"This is ridiculous. A crisis like this should not be possible in a well-led and -governed nation.

It appears Vaulayo-Buryatia is in need of a reform or two."

[Amyante]

*** Private ***

"...And this is why Zargathia has an absolute monarchy."

*** Public ***

"Zargathia wishes Vauleo-Buryatia good fortune in finding a solution to this rather unfortunate political deadlock. However, we see little harm in maintaining national standards to education, and standardization would prevent potential abuse. We shall be watching this situation with interest."

[Imperator Azenquor]

BCNA: Update: Constitution Suspended

“It appears that the tension between the President and the Senate has reached a new high today. After a five hour meeting with the Senate, the Monarchy and Representatives from the Parliament, the President emerged without a concrete compromise solution. President Anyatevich then called a second conference with the Judiciary and the Monarch that was conducted behind closed doors at the Presidential Palace.

At this meeting several options were discussed and the need for urgent reform was agreed upon by all representatives present. Moments ago, the President emerged from the meeting and is now preparing to give a statement regarding the matters discussed at the meeting. We will now go live to the Presidential Palace for this statement”-Reporter

***Presidential Palace, Press Room***

President Anyatevich entered the Press Room and walked quickly up to the podium and began:

“Ladies and gentlemen, you know as well as I do the purpose of this press conference. The events yesterday in the Great People’s Khural illustrate clearly a pattern of obstructionism by members of the Senate. This is not the first time that the Senate has sought to obstruct legislation, but I guarantee you that it will be the last time. In the past eight years, the Senate has blocked 42 different bills and has used its influence to force concessions from the People’s Council at the expense of the people of the nation.

After meeting with the Supreme People’s Court, and the Office of the Sovereign, the decision was taken to begin urgent reform of the Legislature, beginning with Constitutional reform and a redistribution of powers. Naturally, such reforms would face a major roadblock as they would not be able to be enacted without the support of the very Senate that we are seeking to reform. After lengthy deliberations with the Leader of the Senate, it was reiterated that the Senate would not approve such a reform proposal.

Given the situation and the necessity of the institutions of government being able to discharge their duties as specified under the Constitution, I had to make a very difficult decision on how to resolve the situation. I wish to assure the nation that I did not take this decision lightly.

With the approval of the Judiciary and the support of the Sovereign, I hereby suspend the Constitution of the Socialist Union of Vauleyo-Buryatia until further notice. The suspension of the Constitution will take effect in exactly one hour from now and will be verified by the Supreme People’s Court. Within 24 hours of the suspension, the Supreme People’s Court, in conjunction with my office, will draft and enact a Temporary Constitutional Order (TCO) which will serve as the Constitution for the duration of the suspension.

Upon the suspension of the Constitution, all branches of government with the exception of the Presidency, the Judiciary, and the Monarchy have been dissolved. Regional Parliaments have also been dissolved, however all Regional Governors will remain in office with full authority. All powers previously accorded to the Legislature shall reside with the Office of the President. All powers accorded to the Judiciary, including government oversight shall remain. Habeas Corpus, and all rights of citizens of Vauleyo-Buryatia shall not be infringed upon.

I would also like to reiterate that the nation is not under a State of Emergency, nor has Martial Law been declared. The only thing that has changed is the division of power within the government. I also pledge that the Temporary Constitutional Order (TCO) will be rescinded once a new Constitution is drafted and approved by a national referendum. This new Constitution will devolve Legislative power to a single unicameral body whose membership is entirely elected by the populace.

Any citizen with questions, comments or concerns may contact my office if they wish to do so. Thank you for your time.”-President Anyatevich