A GDA announcement

[sippyjuice]

[center][img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/1222/gda1wavynewcopy.jpg[/img][/center]

Times change and alliances change. With that in mind, GDA recently undertook the monumental task of rewriting its constitution. Among the main changes made was expanding our senate into a General Assembly, allowing any member to have a voice in legislative tasks. We are looking forward to the increased input these changes give to our membership. Please see the spoiler to check out our new Constitution in more detail.

[spoiler][center][size="6"]The Constitution of The Global Democratic Alliance[/size][/center]

[b][size="2"]Preamble[/size][/b]
This document is hereby created to protect the rights and freedoms of the sovereign nations of the Global Democratic Alliance. In order to promote justice, liberty, democracy and equality, the nations of the Global Democratic Alliance pledge to uphold this Constitution.

[b][size="2"]Article I. Code of the Global Democratic Alliance.[/size][/b]

1) No member of the Global Democratic Alliance will show excessive disrespect to any member of the Global Democratic Alliance or any other alliance, in the opinion of the Minister of Internal Affairs. If the Minister of Internal Affairs is of the opinion that a member is being excessively disrespectful, they will issue not less than two explicit warnings before taking action (said action not to exceed a one week suspension from the forums). After action has been taken twice, the Minister of Internal Affairs may request a formal trial for the member, to be approved by a 60% or greater majority of the current Ministers, and with a resulting punishment not to exceed permanent expulsion from the Global Democratic Alliance.

2) No member of the Global Democratic Alliance will attack another member of the Global Democratic Alliance, nor any member of another alliance, nor any member residing on the Blue or Red Team without the express consent of a Minister or the President. An alliance consists of two or more members bearing the same alliance affiliation.

3) Every member of the Global Democratic Alliance will comply with all orders given by Ministers or the President. The Ministers and President will only issue necessary and appropriate orders.

4) Any member of the Global Democratic Alliance found trying to sway votes through private messages will be penalized. If they are currently running for office, they will be disqualified from the election. In addition, they will be banned from the forum for a duration lasting at minimum four days but not to exceed ten days, as determined by the Minister of Internal Affairs and based on the number and content of messages.

5.1) In order to assure the balance of government powers, no member of the Global Democratic Alliance may hold more than one of the following positions at one time:
President
Supreme Court Justice
Minister

5.2) Supreme Court Justices may be appointed as Ministers.

6) An elected government member may be deemed inactive if they have not logged into the forums for seven or more days. An inactive government member may be removed from office by a vote of 2/3 of the current Ministers. If the member in question is the president, an election for their replacement will begin immediately; a presidential election in this manner will consist of a standard interim election: 2 days of nominations, 3 days of debates, and 2 days of elections.

7) All treaties, wars through optional clauses of treaties (by agreeing to a mandatory defense or aggression treaty the members have agreed to aid that ally at any time) and legislative actions must be approved by the general assembly by a majority vote, a majority defined as 50% or more of the members who respond approving of the action.
a) This vote will take place in a pinned topic in the Assembly Lobby.
b ) The government of the Global Democratic Alliance is required to inform all members that a vote is occurring via an In Game message.
c) The length of time these votes will be open are measured from the time the members are notified about the vote
i) Votes on wars shall last one day
ii) Votes on treaties shall last two days
iii) Votes on legislative changes shall last four days
d) The amount of members voting must be equal to or exceed 15% (except in the case of a war vote) in order for said vote to be binding and the vote will continue until said percentage has been met.

[b][size="2"]Article II. Elections.[/size][/b]

1) The elected official of the Global Democratic Alliance is the President.

2) Every member of the Global Democratic Alliance will have the right to vote in any elections unless they have had their voting rights stripped as part of an agreed-upon punishment for actions taken.

3) The election process will occur once every two months.

4) Elections will be decided by a plurality of votes. In the case of a Presidential election, the one candidate receiving the most votes will take office.

5) When running for an elected office within the Global Democratic Alliance, any candidate who does not post in the debates will be disqualified from the election unless they are unable to post and have notified the Minister of Internal Affairs and the President before the debates begin.

6) The election process will start ten days before the first of the month during which the elected officials will take office. Nominations for the office will last two days and will take place in a pinned topic in the Assembly Lobby. Debates will last five days and will take place in a pinned topic in the Hall of Debate. Elections will last three days and will take place in a pinned topic in the Elections forum.

7) Nominations, elections and debates will be started, ended and moderated by the Minister of Internal Affairs. In the case that the Minister of Internal Affairs is a candidate, they will appoint a member of the Global Democratic Alliance who is not a candidate to take on these duties.

8) In the event that two or more candidates receive the same number of votes a run-off election will be held for two more days, starting immediately after the end of the first election, in which all members may vote between the candidates who were tied for the position. In the event that this election fails to decide a winner, the Supreme Court will choose a winner by a 2/3 majority vote between the top two vote-receiving candidates in the run-off election.


10) To run for President, a member must have attained three months’ continuous service within the Global Democratic Alliance, must have been a member of the Global Democratic Alliance for the previous thirty days, and must have previously or currently held the position of Minister, President, Supreme Court Justice or have been a Deputy Minister for at least four months with the recommendation of the Minister in charge of said Deputy.

[b][size="2"]Article III. Executive Branch.[/size][/b]

1) The Cabinet is the executive body of the Global Democratic Alliance. It is charged with the duties of Economics, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Defense, and Recruitment, as well as to protect the members and rights of the Global Democratic Alliance. It consists of the President and five Ministers, one for each of the aforementioned fields.

2.1) The President shall be the Commander in Chief of the Army of the Global Democratic Alliance. The Commander in Chief has the authority to order any and all troops on a specific target and in conjunction with the Minister of Defense is tasked with the duty or organizing attack groups in the event of an alliance war. Additionally, the President is the overseer of his/her ministers and is tasked with the responsibility of making sure that their job is dutifully executed.

2.2) The President and any Minister will have the power to propose treaties. Any treaty must be signed by:
- The President.
- 3/5 Ministers. In the absence of one or more Ministers, a 60% or greater majority will be required. In the absence of three or more Ministers, the Supreme Court Justices will substitute for the missing Ministers. One of the signatures must be by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, unless they are absent.

2.3) A treaty is defined in Article III.2.2 and otherwise as a perpetual agreement for mutual or optional aggression and/or defense, or any other agreement for cooperation or aid. Peace terms following a war are not treaties and must only be signed by a minimum of the President and any three Ministers.

2.4) The President will notify the Ministers and Supreme Court of all foreign negotiations.

2.5) All official documents must be signed by the President. If the President refuses to sign an official document, this can be overturned by a 2/3 or greater majority of the General Assembly, Ministers and Supreme Court.

2.6) As the President takes office, they must take the following oath of office:
I, [name], do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the Global Democratic Alliance, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and members of the Global Democratic Alliance.

2.7) To be eligible for the office of President of the Global Democratic Alliance, a member must have attained three months of consecutive service within the Global Democratic Alliance, and must have previously held or be currently holding one of the following offices: President, Minister, Supreme Court Justice or have been a Deputy Minister for at least four months with the recommendation of the Minister in charge of said Deputy.

2.8) The President will have power to take executive action if they deem it necessary. Executive action may consist of signing of peace terms during a war, removal of any member from office, or of removal of some or all of the forum privileges of a member. The President must post a public announcement explaining said action and the action must be reviewed by the Supreme Court and General Assembly no less than forty eight hours from the time of the action. Any Supreme Court Justice in conjunction with ⅔ of the General Assembly may impeach the President and call for a trial. The punishment for misuse of executive action will not be less than removal of voting rights and the ability to hold any official office for a minimum of six months.

3.1) The Minister of Economics is charged with maintaining the economy of the Global Democratic Alliance. They will manage the Bank and coordinate technology trades, resource trades, aid and loans.

3.2) The Minister of Foreign Affairs is charged with the foreign relations of the Global Democratic Alliance. They will be the leader of diplomats to all other alliances, will be in charge of bringing new treaties to the rest of the government, and will handle any unsanctioned wars involving the Global Democratic Alliance.

3.3) The Minister of Internal Affairs is charged with the internal functions of the Global Democratic Alliance. They will manage an alliance-wide newsletter to be published not less than once every two weeks, will update mailing lists, and will manage and update information and guides that are relevant to the alliance. They will be the leading justice at any trial, unless they are the defendant in the trial, in which case the President will take their place as leading justice.

3.4) The Minister of Defense is charged with the command of the military of the Global Democratic Alliance. They will organize and command the military, and will work with the Minister of Economics to coordinate banking nations and aid in a time of war.

3.5) The Minister of Recruitment is charged with recruiting new nations to the Global Democratic Alliance and with managing recruiters. They will, in cooperation with the Minister of Economics, manage joining aid programs and reward programs for recruiters.

3.6) Every Minister may appoint at most three deputies to assist them with their duties. Deputies may not officially represent the Global Democratic Alliance unless given explicit consent by their presiding Minister and by the President.

3.7) Any Minister(s) or Deputy Minister(s) may be removed from their position immediately if their immediate superior feels the need to do so.

3.8) The President or any Minister may be impeached at any time. Upon impeachment, they will be immediately removed from office and face a trial, presided over by the Supreme Court, to be held not more than two weeks from the date of impeachment. An impeachment order for the President must be signed by a 2/3 or greater majority of the current Ministers or General Assembly Members, and their position will be filled by a governing council consisting of all 5 Ministers, who can make decisions during this time with a 3/5 majority. An impeachment order for a Minister must be signed by the President and a 2/3 or greater majority of the General Assembly Members, and a replacement will be appointed by the President in not more than two days from the date of impeachment.

4) The President and Cabinet will review bills passed to them by the General Assembly. To become law, the President must sign the bill (unless an exception is made as stated in Article III.2.6), after 4/5 of the current Ministers have approved the bill. If the signature requirement for the bill is not met, it may either be amended in conference with the current Ministers until it achieves the 4/5 vote, or may be removed from discussion by a vote of 5/5 of the current Ministers.

[b][size="2"]Article V. Supreme Court.[/size][/b]

1) The Supreme Court will consist of past Presidents who have been approved by a ⅔ majority vote by all active members.
1.1) The vote shall last for 1 week starting when the term of said President has ended.

2) Supreme Court justices will serve until they resign or until they are removed from their position by unanimous consent of the Ministers and President, or by an 80% or greater majority of the Ministers in conjunction with a 50% or greater majority of the active general assembly.

3) The Supreme Court may impeach any government official with a unanimous vote, unless the impeachment is contradicted by an 80% or greater majority of the current Ministers and President, or a 2/3 or greater majority of the current Ministers and President in conjunction with a 50% or greater majority of the active general assembly# (as defined in Article V.4). Reasons for the impeachment must be given at the time of the impeachment. 48 hours will be given for a vote to contradict the impeachment. If the vote requirement is met, the official in question will be restored to office.

4) "Active" is defined as having made more than two posts on the forums within the last two weeks at the time of the start of the pending issue or vote.

[b][size="2"]Article VI. Trials and Expulsions.[/size][/b]

1.1) Any member may be placed on trial for any repeated and/or serious violation of the Constitution or any other official document. To bring a member to trial, a unanimous vote of the Supreme Court, or a 2/3 or greater vote of the current Ministers, or a 60% or greater vote of the active general assembly (as defined in Article V.4) is required.

1.2) If a member is brought up on trial a meeting will occur between the accused, the accuser with all of the Ministers, the President and the Supreme Court (hereafter known as the Government) as soon as possible.

1.3) During this meeting the accused and the accuser will bring up any evidence they wish to present on their behalf.

1.4) When all evidence has been presented the Government shall by a 2/3 majority vote determine the verdict and any punishment if applicable.

1.5) Should either the accused or the accuser not show up at the agreed upon time they shall not be able to present their evidence and must accept the verdict.

1.10) A verdict will be reached by a majority of votes as stated in Article VI.1.9. If a guilty verdict is reached, a sentence will be decided by a majority vote of the Supreme Court. The verdict and sentence will be publicly delivered on the Global Democratic Alliance forums (and, in case of a punishment of expulsion or greater, on the official Cyber Nations forums) by the acting President no more than four days after the trial, and will be executed by the Minister of Internal Affairs (and, if necessary, the Minister of Defense).

2.1) The Global Democratic Alliance condemns the use of Eternal Zero Infrastructure (Eternal ZI) as a punishment for any crimes. No sentence given will ever include Eternal ZI as a punishment.

2.2) Zero Infrastructure (ZI) and Permanent Zero Infrastructure (Permanent ZI) will only be used as punishments in the most extreme cases. Any sentence including them will only be given to traitors to the Global Democratic Alliance.

2.3) Suggested punishments for minor to moderate crimes include fines to be paid in technology (preferably through deals with lower-strength nations and possibly at a rate of $3 million/50 tech), expulsion for a period of 30-90 days, and, in extreme cases, permanent expulsion. This list is not all-inclusive but is only to be used as a guide.

2.4) Should a nation sentenced to Permanent ZI wish to delete and recreate their nation, they must have no outstanding aid offers or aggressive wars. If these requirements are met, they may submit a request to the President and Minister of Defense, who will decide if an order that all wars with the offending nation to be ended is fitting. The offending nation will be given three days after the end of the wars to delete their nation, after which wars will resume and another request to delete their nation may not be made for a minimum of two weeks. If the offending nation enters peace mode during the duration of the three days, they will not be allowed to submit a request to delete their nation until they are at zero infrastructure, until they exit peace mode, or for a duration of ninety days, whichever is longest.

2.5) If a member of the Global Democratic Alliance is found to have multiple nations, or to have been permanently expelled from the Global Democratic Alliance under a different name, they will be permanently expelled from the Global Democratic Alliance without a trial. If any Supreme Court member in conjunction with the accused member request a trial, a trial will be held.

[b][size="2"]Article VII. Applications and Resignations.[/size][/b]

1.1) Any nation ruler may apply to join the Global Democratic Alliance, provided they are not currently expelled from the Global Democratic Alliance, or on a ZI, Permanent ZI or Eternal ZI list of another alliance.

1.2) New members must recite the following oath upon applying to the Global Democratic Alliance:
I, [Ruler Name], hereby declare my nation on this day a nation of the Global Democratic Alliance. I vow to obey the Constitution and rules of Global Democratic Alliance, and agree to fulfill my duties, as I grow with my new found brotherhood.
I pledge not to attack any nation that is a member of this or any other alliance or attack any red or blue nations unless under direct order by the government or military leaders of the Global Democratic Alliance.

1.3) The Minister of Recruitment will either approve or deny the application as they see fit. They may also put an application on hold if the applicant has currently outstanding offensive wars or if there are special circumstances which need consideration.

1.4) Applicants will change their alliance affiliation to “GDA Applicant” upon posting an application. They will hold this affiliation until they are promoted to a full member, which will be four days after their application is accepted, with the exception of former members, who may be immediately promoted to full members at the discretion of the Minister of Recruitment.

1.5) Any nation ruler bearing the alliance affiliation of “GDA Applicant” or “Global Democratic Alliance” who is not currently listed on the member rolls of the Global Democratic Alliance will be considered to ghosting the alliance affiliation and will be given seven days’ warning to either apply as a member or leave the alliance affiliation. If they do neither within seven days after having read the ingame message, the Minister of Defense may order military force to be used to force the ruler to leave the alliance affiliation. If they have collected taxes but not read the message seven days after the message was sent, they will be considered to have ignored the message.

2.1) During peacetime, any general assembly member may resign from the Global Democratic Alliance at any time. A resignation thread must be posted in the appropriate forum. Any member who has received joining aid within the last sixty days must have their resignation approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs before the member changes their alliance affiliation. If their resignation is denied and the member changes their alliance affiliation, military force may be used at the discretion of the Minister of Defense for two weeks or until sixty days after the aid was received, whichever comes first.

2.2) During wartime, any resignations must be approved by the acting President. Any member whose resignation is denied during wartime and who changes their alliance affiliation in spite of this will be subjected to a maximum of four weeks of wars at the discretion of the acting President, not to be executed until after the period of war is over.

2.3) Any member holding an elected office must publicly give seven days’ notice prior to a resignation, to allow for a new election for a replacement, consisting of nominations of two days, debates of three days, and elections of two days, subject to the conditions in Articles II.5, II.7 and II.8.

2.4) Any member holding an appointed office must give their immediate superior three days’ notice prior to a resignation, in order to give them time to find a replacement. Their immediate superior may waive the remainder of this period at any time if a replacement has been found, or in the case of Deputy Ministers, is deemed unnecessary.

[b][size="2"]Article VIII. Amendments.[/size][/b]

This document may be amended at any time as stated in Article III.4.

/s/
PopCap, President
darkhjustice, Minister of Recruitment
LegoKid, Minister of Economics
Shadowkiller, Minister of Defense
SCUDSanta, Minister of Recruitment
Sippyjuice, Minister of Foreign Affairs[/spoiler]

[Judge X]

Nice.

o/ SippyJuice!
o/ GDA

Edited March 11, 2011 by Judge X

[keeology]

looking good GDA

[Lord Brendan]

[quote]4) Any member of the Global Democratic Alliance found trying to sway votes through private messages will be penalized. If they are currently running for office, they will be disqualified from the election. In addition, they will be banned from the forum for a duration lasting at minimum four days but not to exceed ten days, as determined by the Minister of Internal Affairs and based on the number and content of messages.[/quote]

Is this new, or did it exist in previous constitutions? Seems somewhat unusual, I don't see the harm in seeking out individual votes unless it is threatening.

[Beauty]

Nice new structure, GDA.

[sippyjuice]

[quote name='Lord Brendan' timestamp='1299822218' post='2659627']
Is this new, or did it exist in previous constitutions? Seems somewhat unusual, I don't see the harm in seeking out individual votes unless it is threatening.
[/quote]
That's been there for some time. We had an incident with a dishonest candidate quite some time before I came around. It helps us keep people honest.

[CombatPope]

Looking good!

O/ GDA

[Wu Tang Clan]

I like it a lot. Good luck GDA! I will always have a soft spot for you.

[Thrash]

Looks good.

How long did this take to get done?

[Holy Ruler]

[quote name='Thrash' timestamp='1299864191' post='2660013']
Looks good.

How long did this take to get done?
[/quote]
Maybe a quadrillion years? In all seriousness, nice read there.

[mdnss69]

It looks long... I trust you have all in order so congratuliminations very much

[King Xander the Only]

Good luck with your new charter.

[d3filed]

Congratulations on the constitution.

[PopCap]

[quote name='Holy Ruler' timestamp='1299868232' post='2660072']
Maybe a quadrillion years? In all seriousness, nice read there.
[/quote]

It actually took ~4-5 hours.

[890765]

Nice new charter guys, good luck!

[Zoomzoomzoom]

Congratulations on the constitution.

[CheeKy]

[quote name='PopCap' timestamp='1299871991' post='2660150']
It actually took ~4-5 hours.
[/quote]
Did you start from scratch or did you just change things from the old one?

[Claude]

congrats with your new charter.

[Dibbun]

I oppose the Global Democratic Alliance taking steps to become more democratic. Son, I am disappoint.

o/ GDA

[The Reccesion]

Hope this serves our freinds in GDA well.

o/GDA