Law 5 - Political Parties

[Culture of Life]

LAW 5 - POLITICAL PARTIES
Enacted November 18, 2012

SECTION 1. Only regional citizens are allowed to join and form regional political parties. At its formation, every party shall have at least three members; and, to maintain its official status, every party shall have at least two members, including one leader.

SECTION 2. Every party must be formed on the basis of a political ideology or group of political ideologies, every party must be ideologically coherent, and no party shall be ideologically extreme.

SECTION 3. In accordance with the Constitution and regional laws enacted under the authority of the Senate, the Founder shall have the power to make and enforce additional regulations on parties.

SECTION 4. Any decision by the Founder to reject an application to form a regional political party may be overridden by an absolute majority vote of the regional Senate.

SECTION 5. No individual shall be legally bound in any way to a political party in which he does not hold membership without explicit written consent by the individual, regardless of party rules or regulations. This section shall apply to all past and future party-member agreements.

SECTION 6. No party shall deny membership to a citizen otherwise qualified for membership based on his age, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, sex, or status as a regional employee.

SECTION 7. At any time, but not more often than once every three months, the members of a party, numbering at least one-third, may petition the regional government to hold a party leadership election on their behalf. A leadership election held under this section shall be conducted according to the following procedures, notwithstanding any party rules or regulations to the contrary.

a. After the petition is filed, no party members shall be admitted or ejected. Party membership shall stay the same for the duration of the leadership election held under this section.
b. There shall be three days of nominations during which any party member may declare his candidacy.
c. There shall be three days of voting under the instant runoff system (alternative vote). Every party member shall have the right to vote; and every voter shall cast a ballot with a full list of preferences, ranking the leadership candidates from first place to last place.
d. Any ties occurring under subsection (c) shall be resolved in favor of the incumbent party leader. If the incumbent party leader is not involved in the tie, the candidate ranked lower on a greater number of ballots shall be eliminated. If this procedure does not resolve the tie, a traditional Borda count shall be used. Otherwise, a coin toss or another random method of selection (with equal odds for every candidate involved in the tie) shall be the last resort.

The Founder or his designee shall be responsible for the impartial administration of this section.

Amended December 21, 2015
Amended August 15, 2017