Chapter 1: Responsible Officials

Chapter 2: Electoral Procedure

Chapter 4: Elections for the Houses of Parlamînt

Chapter 5: Referendums

Chapter 7. The Preferential Voting System for the Presidency and the Senäts
 

Chapter 1: Responsible Officials

1. The Secretary of State shall be responsible for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
2. The Secretary of State may appoint other officials to assist him or her in his duties.

Chapter 2: Electoral Procedure

1. a) This section shall apply equally to elections to Parlamînt, for the Presidency and to referendums.

b) In this Act, the phrase "ballot paper" shall be taken to mean a physical ballot paper, the visual interface of an online voting system, or any other means which the Secretary of State might design under the provisions of this section. "Electors" shall signify all citizens of the Republic eligible to vote.

2. a) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Secretary of State shall establish a system of anonymous voting, whereby each voter's identity is recorded as having voted, but it is not possible to connect any voter with any particular vote. This system may involve online voting, paper ballots, or any other method of recording votes consistent with this Act and with the Constitution.

b) The voting system shall enable all citizens willing and eligible to vote to do so. The system shall also allow, according to the demands of voters, as many different methods of voting are as practicable consistent with the integrity and security of the secret ballot.

3. The voting period for all votes shall be fourteen days, beginning once the ballot paper has been made available to all electors. The Secretary of State may, if in the circumstances it seems expedient to the creation of fairer elections, extend the deadline for voting.
4. The ballot paper shall be designed as provided elsewhere in this Act. It may also contain other impartial information, including instructions on how to cast a valid vote. The Secretary of State shall not publish any information that can reasonably be seen to create an advantage for any party to the vote.
5. The Secretary of State shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that all electors have been informed of the vote before the beginning of the voting period.
6. All vote totals and count details, except those which might undermine the secrecy of the ballot, shall be published by the Secretary of State after the election is completed, to ensure the transparency of the system. No details of votes or counts shall be published before the election is completed.
    

1. The Secretary of State shall call for nominations for President of the Republic, twenty-eight days before that office is due to become vacant.
2. Nominations for President shall be communicated to the Secretary of State, no more than seven days after the opening of nominations. The Secretary of State may, if in the circumstances it seems expedient to the creation of fairer elections, extend the deadline for nomination.
3. Upon the day following the close of nominations, the Secretary of State shall make the ballot paper available to all electors as outlined in the subsequent sections of this Chapter and in Chapter 7.
4. At the close of the voting period, the Secretary of State shall count the votes in accordance with Chapter 7 of this Act. Unless the election is void, the Secretary shall then declare the successful candidate to be President of the Republic.

Chapter 4: Elections for the Houses of Parliament

1. All provisions of this Chapter shall apply equally to elections to fill vacancies in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senäts, and the term "the House" shall apply to that house in which a vacancy or vacancies are to be filled.
2. The Secretary of State shall call for nominations for members of the House to be elected, no earlier than twenty-eight days before the dissolution of that House.
3. Nominations shall be received for candidates in the election as provided in Chapters 6 and 7 of this Act, no more than seven days after the opening of nominations. The Secretary of State may, if in the circumstances it seems expedient to the creation of fairer elections, extend the deadline for nomination.
4. Upon the day following the close of nominations, the Secretary of State shall make the ballot paper available to all electors as outlined in the subsequent sections of this Chapter and in Chapters 6 and 7.
5. At the close of the voting period, the Secretary of State shall count the votes in accordance with Chapters 6 and 7 of this Act. Unless the election is void, the Secretary shall announce the successful candidates and provide the list of successful candidates to the President to be officially summoned as Deputies or Senators.
6. Where Parliament has increased the number of seats constituting one or both of its Houses, none of these new seats shall be filled until the next election where all seats are to be filled.

Chapter 5: Referendums

1. When a matter is submitted to the electors as provided in the Constitution or other legislation, the Secretary of State shall announce a referendum specifying the matter to be submitted to the electors and make the ballot paper available to all electors as soon as possible.
2. In the case of an amendment of the Constitution, or for the resolution of a legislative deadlock, the question for the referendum shall be as follows: "Do you support the passing into law of [name and designation of bill]?"
3. Subject to s.2 of Chapter 2 of this Act, the ballot paper shall present the question to be decided, followed by three options of equal prominence, labelled "për", "contrâ" and "austenéu".
4. The Secretary of State shall officially announce the result of the referendum as soon as possible after the close of the voting period. If more 'për' votes have been received than 'contrâ' votes, then the referendum shall be deemed to have passed; otherwise, it shall be deemed to have failed.

Chapter 6. The Modified Sainte-Laguë Voting System for the Chamber of Deputies 

1. Any party which wishes to stand a list of candidates for elections to the Chamber of Deputies shall present to the Secretary of State:

a) a ranked list of candidates, as well as

b) a statement, no longer than fifty words, of the party's aims and objectives

to the Secretary of State no more than seven days after the dissolution of the Chamber. The Secretary of State may, if in the circumstances it seems expedient to the creation of fairer elections, extend the deadline for nomination.

2. Upon the receipt of the nomination, if all the party's candidates are qualified to sit in the Chamber and its fifty-word statement is in order, the Secretary of State shall confirm to the party that its nomination has been accepted. Otherwise, the Secretary may ask the party to alter its list and/or statement.
3. Upon the close of nominations, the Secretary shall publish the name of every party which has nominated a list, its fifty-word statement and its list of candidates.

1. The ballot paper for a Chamber election shall be prepared as follows:

a) the name of the parties shall appear on the ballot paper in a random order. Each party's name shall be followed by the surnames (in numerical order as specified by the party) of its candidates;

(b) each ballot paper shall have an "abstain" option listed last on the ballot paper after the names of all the parties; and

(c) a box shall appear to the left of each party name and the "abstain" option in which electors will fill out their preferences.

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.
3. To determine the successful candidates, the number of votes recorded for each party shall first be counted, and their totals recorded.
4. If more than half of the ballots indicate the "abstain" option, then the election shall be void and the Secretary shall restart the election by calling for fresh nominations.

Otherwise, the Secretary of State shall then proceed to divide each of the vote totals successively by a series of numbers beginning with 1.4, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and thereafter by every odd number as may be necessary to ensure that the number of seats required to be filled in the Chamber are filled.

5. The quotient of each successive division shall be recorded in a table of the following form, extending to as many rows as necessary.

Vote divided by...	PARTY A	PARTY B	PARTY C	PARTY D
1.4	(insert quotients here)
3
5
7
9

 

6. The Secretary of State shall then mark on the table above the highest seven quotients, or such other number as may be decided by Parlamînt as the size of the Chamber
7. In any case where the lowest quotient to be marked constitutes two or more numbers in different columns which are of exactly the same value, the Secretary of State shall mark all of these numbers.
8. The Secretary of State shall then calculate the number of seats in the Chamber to which each party is entitled by adding the number of marks in the column of numbers under the name of that party.
9. The Secretary of State shall determine which are the succesful candidates by selecting those candidates on the list of each party, beginning with the first candidate on the list and ending with the lowest ranking candidate, which are equal in number to the number of seats to which that party is entitled to have allocated from its list.
10. If a party wins more seats than it has named candidates, then those extra seats shall stand vacant until the next general election or by-election.

Where a seat becomes vacant between general elections or by-elections, the candidate to fill the vacancy shall be the next-ranking candidate on the list of the party which vacated the seat, and the Secretary of State shall inform the Túischac'h in writing of the successful candidate. If there is no such candidate, then that seat shall remain vacant until the next general election or by-election.

Chapter 7. The Preferential Voting System for the Presidency and for the Senäts

1. Nominations for the Presidency or the Senäts shall be submitted as provided in Chapters 3 and 4 of this Constitution. Upon the receipt of the nomination, if the nominee is qualified for the office for which they have been nominated, the Secretary of State shall confirm to the candidate that their nomination has been accepted..
2. Upon the close of nomination, the Secretary shall publish the name of each candidate, their party affiliation (if any), and, in the case of a Senäts election, the province in which they seek to be elected.

1. In this Chapter, unless the contrary intention appears-

"quota" means the number of votes sufficient to elect a candidate at an election, being the first whole number which is greater than half of the total number of votes received;

"second preference recorded for a candidate" means the recording on a ballot-paper of the number "2" in the square opposite the name of a person whose name appears on the ballot paper as a candidate;

2. The ballot paper for a Senäts or Presidential election shall be prepared as follows:

a) the names of the candidates, in the form of the candidate's surname followed by his or her initials, shall appear on the ballot paper in a random order;

(b) each ballot paper shall have an "abstain" option listed last on the ballot paper after the names of all the candidates; and

(c) a box shall appear to the left of each name and the "abstain" option in which electors will fill out their preferences.

3. Each voter shall then place a number in the box next to the name of each candidate they wish to vote for in order of preference, with "1" being the first preference, "2" being the second preference and so on. If the elector does not wish to vote for any candidate, they shall place a number "1" in the box next to the "abstain" option, and their vote shall not be counted towards any candidate, and shall not be used in determining the quota. Any preferences expressed after the "abstain" option shall be of no effect.
4. a) If more than half of the ballots for the Presidency indicate the "abstain" option, then that election shall be void and the Secretary shall restart the election by calling for fresh nominations.

b) If more than half of the ballots for the Senatorial election in any province indicate the "abstain" option, then that election shall be void and the Secretary shall call for a by-election in that province or provinces.

5. To determine the successful candidate, the number of first preferences recorded for each candidate shall first be counted.
6. A candidate who has, after the first preferences have been counted, a number of such preferences equal to or greater than the quota shall be declared elected.
7. (a) Where after the first preferences have been counted no candidate has obtained the quota, the candidate who, at that time, has the least number of first preference votes transferred to him/her as provided by this Chapter, shall be excluded, and all the votes obtained by him/her shall be transferred to the candidates next in order of the electors' respective preferences.

(b) The ballot-papers obtained by an excluded candidate which indicate no further valid preferences shall be declared "exhausted", and set aside as finally dealt with.

8. The process of excluding the candidate who has polled the next lowest number of votes at the election and transferring to other candidates his/her votes shall be repeated until the total number of exhausted votes is greater than the amount of votes required to enable all unexcluded candidates to reach a quota. The candidate with the most votes shall then be declared elected.
9. Where at any time it becomes necessary to exclude a candidate, and 2 or more candidates having the same number of votes, have at that time, the least number of first preference votes transferred to them as provided by this Chapter, then whichever of those candidates was recorded as having the lowest number of votes at the last count or transfer at which they had an unequal number of votes shall be first excluded. If those candidates have had an equal number of votes at all preceding counts or transfers, the Secretary of State shall decide which of those candidates shall be first excluded.
10. In determining which candidate is next in the order of an elector's preference, any candidates who have been declared elected or who have been excluded shall not be considered, and the order of the elector's preference shall be determined as if the names of those candidates had not been on the ballot-paper.
11. Where on a transfer it is found that on any ballot-paper to be transferred there is no candidate opposite whose name a number is placed, other than a candidate whose name has already been either declared elected or excluded, those ballot-papers and their votes shall be set aside as exhausted.

PART THREE: METHOD OF FILLING VACANCIES IN THE SENÄTS

1. Where a seat becomes vacant between elections for all seats in the Senäts, the candidate to fill the vacancy shall be chosen in accordance with this Part, and the Secretary of State shall inform the Mençéi in writing of the successful candidate.
2. In this Part -

(a) "consenting candidate" means a person who unsuccessfully stood for election to the Senäts at the relevant election and who nominates him/herself for the vacant seat;

(b) "the relevant election" is the last election held in which electors voted to fill the seat;

(c) "the vacating member" is the member whose seat in the Senäts has become vacant; and

(d) "the vacant seat" means the seat of the vacating member.

3. The Secretary of State shall call for nominations from consenting candidates. Any consenting candidate shall nominate him/herself to the Secretary of State no more than seven days after the call for nominations. The Secretary of State may, if in the circumstances it seems expedient to the creation of fairer elections, extend the deadline for nomination.
4. If there is only one consenting candidate, the Secretary of State shall immediately declare the candidate to be duly elected as a member of the Senäts to fill the vacant seat.
5. If there are 2 or more consenting candidates, the Secretary of State shall, within 7 days after the date fixed for the receipt of nominations, recount the completed ballot-papers counted at the relevant election for the member whose seat has become vacant, and so determine, which of the consenting candidates is to be elected to fill the vacant seat. The count shall proceed by the same rules as for an election for the whole Senäts.
6. Where a seat becomes vacant and the vacating member was himself elected under the provisions of this Chapter, the Secretary of State shall, for the purpose of filling the vacancy, examine the ballot-papers that, at the relevant election, were counted for the member in whose place the vacating member was elected (including voting-papers representing votes transferred to the last-mentioned member); and the count shall otherwise proceed according to s. 5 of this chapter.
7. Where no consenting candidate exists, the Secretary shall call a by-election for that seat alone.