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Lazarus is a member of the FRA.

The Charter of the Founderless Regions Alliance

Preamble

The Founderless Regions Alliance is an organization founded upon the principles of sovereignty and freedom of all regions in NationStates. We endeavour to protect regions from the menace of aggression and imperialism and we pledge to work tirelessly to that end. The Founderless Regions Alliance was founded by the regions Jethnea, Global Right Alliance and North Pacific.

The Founderless Regions Alliance from this point onward shall be referred to as the “FRA”.

Article 1 - Membership

i) The FRA is an organization of regions and interest groups dedicated to the cause of “defending.”

ii) Any region in NationStates, or a special interest group therein, may be eligible for membership in the FRA provided they meet out the criteria in this article. Membership may be granted in the form of ‘Full Member’ status or ‘Protectorate’ status to former Full Members. (See SubArticle 1)

iii) Any region may apply to join the FRA. If a region is accepted into the Alliance they are automatically obliged to uphold the Charter of the FRA, and are hence onward to be referred to as signatories. By applying for membership in the FRA, the applicant region assumes understanding of their obligation to uphold the Charter.

iv) If a region wishes to join the FRA they must first submit an application to the serving Regional Liason Officer. They are then required to send no less than two (2) representatives to enter into discussions with the Regional Assembly that last no less than four (4) and no longer than seven (7) days regarding their application. The Regional Assembly are then required to vote on said application in the manner described in Article 5.

v) All signatories are obliged to defend member regions of the FRA via all available military means possible, should a member region become victim to unprovoked aggression.

vi) All signatories, in an act of solidarity, renounce their right to declare a state of war or take aggression against another member region or a region that the FRA is assisting through redevelopment or military assistance.

vii) Signatories can leave the FRA if one of their official Regional Assembly representatives announces their resignation from the FRA directly to the Regional Assembly. A signatory body may also be forced to leave the FRA if they are expelled by the Regional Assembly through majority agreement of Regional Assembly Representatives.

Sub Article 1- Protectorate Status

i) Previous Member Regions who no longer have the ability to fulfil the Charter, yet still wish to be members of the FRA, may apply for Protectorate status.

ii) A region may be granted protectorate status by both their two Regional Representatives declaring such intention in the Regional Assembly.

iii) A region may also be graded to Protectorate Status by passing legislation of such intent, via regulations expressed in Article 2.

iv) Protectorate regions are granted the same rights as Full Members. Protectorate Regions are also expected to follow all aspects of the Charter as if they were Full Members.

v) Protectorate Regions have the right to have 1 (one) representative on the Regional Assembly.

vi) Protectorate Regions may either leave the FRA fully or push for full membership status by their recognised representative announcing their intentions in the Regional Assembly; triggering the traditional protocol for a full regional application.

Article 2 - The Regional Assembly

i) The Regional Assembly is the supreme source of authority over issues concerning the FRA.

ii) All signatories are to select, in a manner of their own choosing, two eligible representatives. Protectorate Regions must chose one. These Representatives are the signatories' official liaisons to the organisation and can vote on issues brought up in the Regional Assembly.

iii) The Regional Assembly shall hold elections to select the government of the FRA, whereas defined as the Cabinet of the FRA and the Speaker of the Assembly. Only the Representatives may vote in the elections.

iv) The Regional Assembly shall decide whether to accept applications to the FRA or expel members from the FRA. Should the Regional Assembly choose to expel a member of the FRA, the Member Region must be informed at least five (5) days in advance before an expulsion vote may begin.

v) Any regional member may suggest a new bill or an amendment to the Charter; however it is the Speaker of the Assembly that is responsible for moderating the debate and bringing the matter in front of the Regional Assembly Representatives for vote. A proposal must go through a minimum of two (2) days of debate with the Regional Assembly before being brought forth to a vote. The Speaker is obliged to take any proposal which has the support of two Representatives or Cabinet members, or a combination thereof, to a vote, once the debate period has concluded. This does not include any proposals brought under Article 6, Clause iii.

vi. Representatives may only represent one region at a time.

Article 3 - The Cabinet

i) The FRA shall be led by an executive government collectively referred to as the Cabinet.

ii) There shall be 6 positions in the Cabinet; the Arch-Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor, the Chief of Defence, the Minister of Intelligence, the Regional Liason Officer, and the Speaker of the Assembly. No Cabinet member shall hold more than one (1) elected Cabinet position each term.

iii) If a Cabinet member is to be away from his or her duties for more than 3 weeks at any given time, he or she is obliged to step down and be replaced.

iv) Each Cabinet position has sole discretion over the staffing of its department.

v) Should a Cabinet member's activities be deemed dishonourable or unacceptable by an official Regional Assembly Representative, the Representative may bring an impeachment motion against the offending individual(s).

vi) The elected Cabinet members have the option of appointing one or more ministerial deputies if they deem that necessary for carrying out the duties of the Ministry concerned. They are entitled to delegate as many or as little of their powers to their deputy or deputies as they wish. Deputy Cabinet members must be members of an FRA member region. The Arch Chancellor is obliged to appoint a deputy. Should he/she fail to appoint one, then the Regional Assembly shall elect one for him.

vii) The role and responsibilities of the Cabinet are as follows:

(1) - The Arch-Chancellor
a ) The Arch Chancellor shall have oversight on the various departments and ensure the elected Cabinet are executing their duties with panache and responsibility.
b ) The Arch-Chancellor acts as the figurehead to outside regions and organizations.
c ) The Arch Chancellor shall be responsible for overseeing the elections procedures as outlined in Section 4.
d ) The Arch Chancellor has the power to remove members of the cabinet or an Official Regional Representative from their position with the majority approval of the other Official Regional Representatives.
e ) The Arch Chancellor has the power to appoint interim Cabinet members if a Cabinet member is unable to do his duties for a short amount of time.
f ) The Arch Chancellor has the power to request that a member's access to private areas of the forums be suspended or removed, if they are suspected of leaking private information. This suspension of access lasts until the relevant Cabinet minister makes a decision on their case.
g ) The Arch Chancellor has the power to call for a member to be banned from the forums, for either a set period of time, or indefinitely. This ban must be approved by a majority vote of the Official Representatives
h ) The Arch-Chancellor and Vice Chancellor(s) are collectively responsible for creating an organization update to be distributed to the members of the FRA, at least once a month.

(2) - The Vice Chancellor
a ) The Arch-Chancellor, within one week of taking office, shall appoint at least one, but no more than two Vice Chancellors.
b ) The primary duties of the Vice Chancellor(s) is to assist the Arch-Chancellor in his or her daily affairs. The Arch-Chancellor shall dictate upon their appointment which Vice Chancellor will take over temporarily as Arch-Chancellor should the Arch-Chancellor be away for a period longer than a week.
c ) The Vice Chancellor is responsible for acting as the main representative to the signatories of the FRA.
d ) The Vice Chancellor(s) are responsible for approving forum embassy requests with non-member regions on the FRA forum. Only one VC need approve this decision, and the decision may be overridden by the AC.
e ) The Arch-Chancellor and Vice Chancellor(s) are collectively responsible for creating an organization update to be distributed to the members of the FRA, at least once a month.

(3) - The Chief of Defence
a ) The Chief of Defence Force shall be in command of the FRA Rangers.
b ) The CDF shall be approving authority for all applications to join the FRA Rangers.
c ) The CDF has no power to send FRA Rangers into a region whose natives have specifically stated they do not wish to be defended.

(4) - The Minister of Intelligence
a ) The Minister of Intelligence shall work closely with the CDF to plan missions for the FRA Rangers.
b ) The Minister of Intelligence shall endeavour to collect information on any threats towards the FRA or its members.

(5) - The Regional Liason Officer
a ) The Regional Liason Officer shall be in charge of approaching regions who might be interested in joining the FRA as member regions, as well as serving as a point of contact between the FRA and her member regions to ensure a union between all members.
b ) Should the Regional Assembly not elect a Regional Liason Officer, the duties are transferred to the Vice Chancellor.

(6) - Speaker of the Assembly
a ) The Speaker of the Assembly shall be responsible for the moderation of discussion in the Regional Assembly
b ) The Speaker of the Assembly shall be responsible for bringing amendments to the Charter and other matters worth the attention of the Assembly to debate and vote in front of the Official Representatives.
c ) The Speaker of the Assembly shall be responsible for overseeing the acceptance and expulsion of regions into/from the FRA.
d ) The Speaker of the Assembly shall be responsible for maintaining activity within the Regional Assembly and recommending dismissal of inactive Official Representatives to the Arch Chancellor.
e) Only Official Representatives are eligible to run for this position.

Article 4 - Cabinet Elections

i) The Cabinet, with the exception of the Vice Chancellor(s), shall be elected by the Official Representatives of the Regional Assembly. Those elected to the Cabinet must serve a term of no longer than two (2) months before another election must be held.

ii) The Regional Assembly Official Representatives shall be directed under the supervision of the incumbent Arch-Chancellor to elect a Cabinet on the first days of every January, March, May, July, September and November.

iii) Nominations shall open on the first day of these months and remain open for a period of three (3) days. During this time, any member person(s) of a signatory of the FRA may nominate another member person(s) for a Cabinet position, as described in Article 3. This shall be followed by a 3 day period for campaigning via the posting of manifestos. To be on the ballot, nominations must be accepted during either the nomination or manifesto period.

iv) Two candidates confirmed for a single Cabinet Post may opt to form a Joint Ticket by declaring such publicly. A Joint Candidacy may NOT be nominated as such.

a.) An individual may only be part of one Joint Ticket each set of Cabinet Elections.

b.) A Joint Ticket can only be formed during either nomination or manifesto stage of the election process. Both candidates must agree, and either candidate can dissolve said Joint-Ticket at any time prior to voting stage.

c.) Forming a Joint Ticket removes the individual candidates as individual voting options.

d.) For all other purposes of the FRA, a Joint Ticket shall be treated as an individual.

v) Elections shall follow for a period of also three (3) days; ballots must be cast publicly in the appropriate area, although if they choose, a member of the Regional Assembly may submit his ballot privately to the incumbent Arch-Chancellor. At the end of this period, the incumbent Arch-Chancellor shall announce the newly elected Cabinet and step down from his or her position.

vi) In the event of a resignation or impeachment, the Arch-Chancellor will organise a snap election immediately in the same manner as a normal election.

vii)
a.) In these elections the terms "Abstain" and "Present" are equivalent.

b.) In an election where there are multiple candidates running, The only voting options that will count are one of the names of candidate. Voters can not submit "Abstain" or "Present" as a viable voting option.

c.) In an election where there is only one candidate running, voters can submit either the candidate's name or "Abstain" or "Present" as a viable voting option. In this case, the candidate must obtain a simple majority of votes in order to be declared the winner of said election.

viii) In the event of a tie, the candidates with equal number of votes shall first determine whether they shall serve as joint ministers in the office they were seeking, or if one of them shall concede the election. Should they choose not to do either of these, there will be a run-off election held three (3) days after the election results are in. The run-off election will be between only the candidates who received the equal number of votes in the original election. A simple majority will determine the winner of said cabinet position. Until the victor is named, the incumbent member will remain in power. Should one of the tied candidates be involved in a Joint Ticket during the preceding election for any position, regardless of the success of that candidacy, they may not choose to form a Joint Ticket in the tied election.

ix) In the event of a candidate being elected to multiple positions, the candidate shall resign his election to all but one position. The candidate with the second-most votes in each election shall assume the yielded position. Should no candidate assume the yielded position, the election process pursuant to procedures as described in Article 4 shall begin. Until a candidate is elected, the incumbent member shall remain in power.

x) Should the Arch-Chancellor resign, be impeached, or otherwise rendered incapable of carrying out these duties, the incumbent Vice Chancellor shall carry out his or her duties instead. Likewise, should the incumbent Vice Chancellor(s) be unable to carry out these duties, the incumbent Speaker of the Assembly shall carry out these duties instead.


Article 5 - Voting Requirements

i) All motions, not pertaining to those covered under Article 5 (ii) and (iii) that are up for vote in front of the Regional Assembly Official Representatives must achieve a simple majority to pass. Any tie shall be considered a failed motion. Exceptions may be made for certain decisions that require a higher degree of signatory consent. These votes shall be open for a period of three (3) days.

ii) Impeachment votes must have at least 60% of all votes cast and a quorum of at least one third of the total number of seated representatives votes in order to pass.

iii) All charter amendments must have at least two thirds of all votes cast and a quorum of at least one third of the total number of seated representatives votes in order to pass.

iv) In all cases other than unopposed Cabinet races, a vote of either "Present" or "Abstain" shall count towards the fulfilment of quorum, but shall NOT be counted mathematically for the purpose of determining passage or failure of a motion.


Article 6 - Forum Administration

i) The FRA Forum shall serve to coordinate efforts within the FRA and a place to foster camaraderie between members.

ii) The Forum Administrators shall act in an honest, upright, rational manner and to the ends of the FRA, failing which may result in the administrative powers being revoked and remonstrations deemed appropriate.

iii) The current forum Administrators are Big Killer Babys, The Merlion, Cocodian, Wopruthien, and Frattastan.

Additional administrators shall be nominated by the current team of administrators and approved by the Regional Assembly with two thirds of all votes cast in favour and a quorum of at least one third of the total number of seated representatives votes in order to pass.

Article 7 - Clarifications

i ) In all cases, a Cabinet Minister may delegate duties to his deputy at his discretion. They may also, at their discretion, assume or perform the duties assigned to their deputies in the Charter or other law.

Dyr Nasad

Feb 16 2016, 06:31 AM

Looking at the FRA forum + discussion (soon to be vote) proves you wrong.

Dyr Nasad

Feb 16 2016, 06:48 AM

(apply for masking) The regional assembly can be viewed by regional citizens. There was just an election, hence the vacancies (which won't matter either, given the discussion).

Dyr Nasad

Feb 16 2016, 07:39 AM

It is rather significant a lot of streamlining and focusing on what works, cutting the nonfunctioning elements, etc. I poked Kaz to take a look there/here - hopefully he can summarize it for you all