Referendum December 2011 Opinion Poll - RESULTS

How do you intend to vote in the upcoming referendum on calling a General Assembly of Talossan citizens? The question on the ballot paper will be: "Do you agree that a General Assembly of all Talossan citizens should take over all the powers of the Republic from the currently elected officials; and have the power to suspend or rewrite the Constitution and Laws of the Republic?"

Referendum December 2011 Opinion Poll

An opinion poll for the referendum starting on Saturday 10th December has begun to gauge public opinion on the matter. Please note that there will be no exit poll for this referendum, so the result of this opinion poll could differ significantly from the final result. Please vote on the poll, thank you :)

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National Destiny Referendum to be on 10th December!

Citizens of the Talossan Republic will be presented with the question: "Do you agree that a General Assembly of all Talossan citizens should take over all the powers of the Republic from the currently elected officials; and have the power to suspend or rewrite the Constitution and Laws of the Republic?" next Saturday, in the second such national destiny referendum ever to be held in the republic.

The referendum comes days after the President sent a letter to King John of the Kingdom modestly proposing the idea, and receiving a positive response (which can be seen here) detailing how he welcomed the idea with open arms. The news has caused a frenzy of activity on the usually quiet Wittenberg as citizens were delighted by the notion of acceptance. The topic of conversation quickly turned to flags, titles and national holidays as citizens really grasp the reality of a re-united Talossa after 7 long years of seperation.

It is widely believed that if the citizens of the Republic were to join the Kingdom, the terms and conditions of our entry would strictly state that every single citizen must be accepted and not discriminated towards, while the mass exodus takes place ‘en bloc’. Should the Kingdom reject any citizen for any reason, the whole process would come to a stop.

In order for the referendum to pass, at least 8 citizens must vote ‘Yes’ and less than 8 citizens must vote ‘No’. If the referendum were to pass, a General Assembly of all citizens will be summoned to discuss the future of the Talossan republic.

The recently elected Defencist (PVZT) majority government has heavily endorsed the referendum and the Seneschal and the Pruma Citaxhien have given their full support for a yes vote. 

Modified Sainte-Laguë

After much speculation, the long awaited 'Electoral Reform Bill' has been presented to the Chamber of Deputites for consideration and amendments.

The bill includes a 7 day nomination period and a 7 day voting period, and a new voting system, the Modified Sainte-Laguë system, which is currently in use in Sweden, Nepal and Norway. Under the new system (if implemented), the total votes for each party will go through a set of divisors to determine how many seats are allocated to each party. The 'modified' system is slightly different to the normal Sainte-Laguë method, in that the first divisor is replaced by 1.4, instead of 1. The divisors are odd numbers in the following sequence: 1.4, 3, 5, 7... and so on until all seats are allocated.

Under this new system, the electorate can 'abstain' from voting by selecting an 'abstain' option after all the candidates names. Voters can no longer vote for or against a particular candidate, and accoring to the bill: (Section 6) 1c. 'means shall be provided for the voter to choose ONE and only ONE candidate of
their preference.'
'2. For a ballot to be valid, the elector must indicate one and one only party to which he or she
wishes to give his or her vote, or else indicate the "abstain" option.'

Two Deputies have so far indicated their support for the bill in the Chamber, with no ammendments, while one deputy has indicated he will probably support the bill, while another has yet to decide.

In order to help understand how the new method of voting will work, Citaxhien has used the results of the last general election to produce what would have happened under the system (although accuracy can be contested, since the 'no' and 'abstention' votes for each individual candiate cannot be taken into account - under the new system, electors can only abstain once, for the whole ballot paper). But here is what we think would have happened at the last general election had the new system been in place:

Yellow = First seat(s) won by parties
Green = Second seat(s) won by parties








As we can see, Dav Rôibeardét, Independent, would have won two seats, leaving an extra seat vacant, like under the old system.

And here is the votes to seats ratio:

Television Set to Hit Talossan Airwaves!

In an exciting development, after much speculation and even discussion amongst prominant Talossan politicians, it can be revealed that a Talossan television network is likely to be established. It is thought to be the first of it's kind in the republic.

'Citaxhien', which owns the digital newspaper you are reading now, has expressed an interest in establishing a television network for the republic, and is researching the feasability of such a scheme. Both the Seneschal and Pruma Citaxhien have given support for such a project.

There has been no opposition to the scheme so far, and there are no Talossan broadcasting regulation laws that such a network would have to follow. The President has made it clear that she doesn't want any regulations set up before the creation of the network, and would rather follow a 'we'll cross that bridge when we get there' idea. Her ideas could be reflecting some wise truth, however, with change for the sake of change becoming messy for the Parliamint.

Opposition could easily come from any source though, and let's not forget that the editor of such a news corporation would be the Distain, which could ruffle a few feathers. Would the Distain resign from his position to persue his interest in Talossan media? J. T. Tric'hardsëfiglheu released this statement: 

'I have no intention to resign in the foreseeable future, I am keen to continue in my job of Distain, however, if this causes upset in the Talossan republic, I may have to reconsider'.


Few details have yet emerged about the proposed network, except that it is likely to be free to use, not supported by government funding and possibly run on a commercial basis. The basis of programming is that most coverage will be pre-recorded with some limited live coverage, possibly during elections (if feasable).


Anybody with any comments or criticism to make about the proposal is invited to comment on this blog post, via PM to the editor or via Facebook/Twitter.

Opinion poll update:

Public support President and Coalition Government

Public opinion polls showed that 80% of the Talossan population is happy with the coalition government between the Defencist and Democratic Socialist parties, while an impressive 100% (5 votes to 0) are backing Miestra as president, after her win back in May.

A slightly belated polling report:

Not much movement in the polls this week, as support for the coalition parties holds steady. The Peculiarists are still failing to pick up support.

Latest Poll Update:

President’s Speech Summary

President Miestra recently released an audio visual speech to a joint session of parliament (Deputies and Senators) which is still taking place on Wittenberg. In her speech, the first of its kind to be released in that format, she highlighted the need for active citizens to respect less active citizens who still vote in elections. In order to keep activity going, she suggests that ‘there should always be something going on in the forums’, and that Deputies and Senators should accept responsibility to be more active than other citizens. Her words are inspiring and motivational but the vague aspect to her ambition might not ignite the flame of activity on the forums that she desires in her final year of Presidency.

The President also announced that she was happy to extend the coalition government in the Chamber of Deputies between the Defencist and Democratic Socialist parties, and that an ‘Electoral Reform’ bill will soon be presented to parliament, in which the ‘Open Party List’ electoral system will be proposed. The President also announced that as part of the electoral reform package, a week’s campaigning period will be set up between the close of nominations and the new one week voting period (proposed by the Democratic Socialist Party, and heavily criticised in the upper house).

Also, in a twist to her announcements, and probably in an effort to speed up getting things done, Miestra also proposed the formation of two new presidential commissions. A ‘Legislative Reform’ commission will sort out the federal code and executive orders by deleting and modifying them, and there will also be a commission on national web space. These commissions have, however, failed to materialise as of yet.

Joint Session Begins

 BREAKING NEWS!!!
The Joint Session has begun and the PC will give her speech shortly. Follow all the action here

Deputies and Senators Gather for Joint Session

Deputies and Senators are congregating today for President Miestra's State of the Republic address in a joint session to both houses of Parlamînt. After listening to her speech they will be expected to discuss and debate it. The Seneschál has started a 'roll call of sorts' for Deputies and Senators to proclaim their presence for the session.

Party Trackers Update

• Peculiarists fail to recover their poor performance
• Democratic Socialists rise to 50%, at par with the Defencists, who have fallen from the peak of Miestra's presidential re-election.

Party Trackers: Update

• The Defencist Party has seen a huge surge in support since the the re-election of President Miestra.
• Support for the Democratic Socialist Party has fallen slightly over the last week.
• Meanwhile, Peculiarist support has collapsed to 0%.

Analysis:

Why are the Defencists so high in the polls? They started off below the Peculiarist Party before and during the presidential election. Perhaps Miestra's win has sparked off more support from some veteran citizens.
It is still very unclear why the Peculiarist Party is doing so badly in the polls. Although the polls are very subjective to the people who vote on them during the week, the fall is incredibly significant.
The Democratic Socialists will also be very disappointed. After a long time of stable support, they are slowly falling at a steady pace, and must try to win back more and new support if the party is to survive.
Overall however, this chart should not be taken at face value, since it is only a reflection of two weeks of activity (occurred around the presidential election time). However, as the 'Party Trackers' poll continues, week by week, the reliability and accuracy will increase. That, and it pleases the editor's obsession with graphs and charts!

The Lady's Not For Turning!

BREAKING NEWS

She's done it again! Miestrâ dàl Midziuâ has won another term as President of the Repuclic of Talossa, and the Defencist will serve for another year. The full results of the election can be seen here.

In the first round, Miestra won 42.8% of 'First Preference' votes, while Dieter (Peculiarist candidate) was defeated in the first round with just 25% of first preference votes.

The second round was much more interesting with Godafrieu and Miestra both winning 50% of the vote. According to Talossan electoral law, since Miestra secured a higher vote in the last round, she is the winner.

The election has raised serious doubts on the campaigning strategies and platform of the Peculiarists, who were riding high in the polls and expecting much more success. 

Miestra has yet to release an official statement about her plans for the next year, and any changes she may or may not make to the government.