Riombara/Elections and Voting

The republic of Riombara has always relied upon the votes of its nobles, rather than the whim of its ruler, in deciding important issues of the realm. The foremost of these issues is the selection of worthy nobles as Lords for Riombara's regions and as members of its High Council, all of which are always decided by a vote by the entire realm. Other decisions of major impact are also voted upon by the whole realm, such as going to war, signing a peace treaty or entering a full alliance.

High Council Positions

As a Republic, Riombara's Prime Minister and Grand Justiciar are always voted upon every month by the entire realm. The positions of Minister of Finances, Minister of Defense and Advisory Minister should be up for a vote after a time of roughly 3-5 months. The Dukes are voted upon whenever a ducal position is vacant. Each position may be voted upon if a noble requests a vote to be held and has 5 supporters.

High Council seats:

Prime Minister
Judge
Banker
General
Each Duke
Advisory Minister

Voting

All realmwide votes are sent privately to the Judge. If a noble chooses, he can make his (and only his) vote public, but only votes (also) sent to the Judge are counted. All councilvotes are made public after being finished.

Regional Commands + Council Positions

Whenever a regional command or council seat becomes available, it will be open to all and voted upon by the entire realm.

Exceptions: 1) the previous regionlord lost his position due to wounds or imprisonment - in this case he is reinstated

2) The Advisory Minister is elected into a different council position. In this case the other councillor becomes the new Advisory Minister

3) Only regionlords and councilmembers may run for a ducal vote.

The procedure is as follows (this applies to all elections except Prime Minister and Grand Justiciar):

Election Procedure

The Grand Justiciar or the Prime Minister will issue a call for candidates. Anyone wishing to run for the position will send their name, privately, to the Grand Justiciar, during a period defined by him. During that period, candidates are discouraged from campaigning, in order to avoid confusion. At the end of that period, he will announce to the realm the list of candidates and the period of voting. During the period of voting, all candidates are encouraged to campaign as much as they wish, and all nobles are strongly encouraged to vote, whether publicly or privately. Once the period ends, the Grand Justiciar will count the votes and announce the winner. Then the Prime Minister, if available, or the Duke of the appropriate Duchy, if applicable, will appoint the winner to the position.

Election Rules

• Anyone may run for regionlord or councilmember, provided they do not already have a position or a family member in a position.
  • Ducal Elections are an exception to the above: Currently only region lords or councilmembers may run (though there is a motion before the council to include either all members of the Military Council or 'only' the marshals in that number as well)
  • If someone who already holds a position is elected to a new position, he or she must step down from the old position first.
  • Marshal positions are an exception: they are appointed directly by armysponsors, as they must be more flexible than most in times of war, and in times of peace they are essentially meaningless.
• Anyone may vote for any listed candidate, including themselves.
• The Grand Justiciar does not vote except in cases of a tie, in which case he will cast the tie-breaking vote.

Other Issues

Realm-wide voting has not been used except for region command and High Council elections since before the Second Invasion, but the procedures remain. A full-realm vote is required to initiate or end a war or break an alliance, and a vote of the Advisory Council for other relationship changes.

Recall and Initiative

Though it is rarely used, any noble can call for any position-holder to be re-elected, as long as he or she can find sufficient seconds (the statute currently calls for 5). In such a case, the normal procedure for an election is followed.

Another portion of Riombaran law is the ability for any noble to call for a similar vote on essentially any issue, again, with 4 seconds. Depending on the issue, either a realm-wide vote or a council vote does decide upon said call.

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Last updated by General Herkan d'Serrai, 06 of June 1007