ZAAKISTAN

n

The Constitution of

ZAAKISTAN

In effect the First day

of the First Month

of the year Nineteen

Hundred and Ninety-Eight

Zaakistan is a new country emerging from a ravaging, bloody civil war. General Zaak Robichaud led in the conciliation of the two warring sides. His astounding compromises caused the people of the nation to unanimously crown him King and commission him to formulate a constitution. Zaakistan currently has a population of 3,209,756 people.

        I.            The Sovereign Ruler and Head of State of Zaakistan shall be King Zaak, who shall, by his appointment of successors, and their subsequent appointees, continue to rule the nation of Zaakistan.

                             A.            King Zaak claims the indisputable right to Head of State. King Zaak, and all subsequent Monarchs, holds the right to appoint and crown the heir of his or her choice to the throne anytime during his or her reign. Monarchs following a rule of a Zaakistan Monarch may not be of any blood relation to the previous two Monarchs. Any claim to the throne outside of the official appointment of the king or queen is null and void.

                             B.            Zaakistan Monarchs may reign for a maximum of ten years less one day. If the Monarch dies, the replacing Monarch may rule ten years less a day from that day on.

                             C.            Monarchs must be married on their day of appointment and remain married throughout their reign, with exception of the death of the spouse during the Monarch’s reign. Should the spouse of the Monarch die, the Monarch may not remarry during his reign.

                             D.            In case of a Zaakistan Monarch’s death, the pending appointee shall assume the throne and be crowned by the Prime Minister. If the pending appointee is suspect of foul play linked with the Monarch’s death, a combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan may remove the pending appointee from the throne with a vote of two thirds or more. In this case, the Monarch’s spouse may choose a successor who shall assume the throne and be crowned by the Prime Minister. If the spouse is deceased, the late Monarch’s adjutant shall do the appointing in case of the Monarch’s death.

                              E.            The previous Monarch shall crown all following Monarchs. Should the Monarch be absent due to death, the Prime Minister should perform the act of investiture, but has no say in deciding whom the Monarch is. The Monarch alone can decide who his heir to the throne shall be with the exceptions stated in section I. D.

                              F.            A Monarch must always have a publicly known person known as his pending appointee. This position may fluctuate between several individuals throughout the reign and does not ensure the pending appointee accession to the throne on the day of appointment in the Monarch’s tenth year of reign. The Monarch has full liberties as to his choice. The pending appointee may only accede to the throne if these circumstances arise

                                                      1.            The Monarch dies during his or her reign.

                                                      2.            The Monarch crowns the pending appointee himself or herself.

                             G.            As previously mentioned, a Monarch must be married to be eligible for kingship or queenship. The appointee must be a natural-born citizen of Zaakistan. The appointee must be a minimum of thirty-five years old.

                             H.            The Monarch of Zaakistan holds the power to execute bills passed by Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan with his or her signature. The Monarch may not introduce legislation nor can the Monarch sign bills that are not passed by Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan.

                                I.            The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered to direct the Armed Forces of Zaakistan or to appoint a subordinate to direct the Armed Forces of Zaakistan in his place. The Monarch or his appointed director of the Armed Forces of Zaakistan may not mobilize these forces without consent of a majority vote of the Prime Minister and his full Cabinet.

                               J.            The Monarch may not leave Zaakistan without consent of a majority vote of the Prime Minister and his full Cabinet.

                            K.            The pending appointee holds no powers in this position. The pending appointee may be a member of the government or judiciary, but must forego these positions and all other duties upon his or her appointment as Monarch and accept the duties of the Monarch solely.

                              L.            The Monarch does, by the denial of his signature, have the power to deny the execution of legislation. This veto may be over-ridden by

                                                      1.            A two-thirds majority in the combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan. Once a two-thirds majority in this assembly passes the legislation, it becomes law and enforceable according to date of enforceability in the legislation.

                                                      2.            A popular referendum organized by the Prime Minister in which two-thirds of the electorate must be present and fifty percent plus one of the ballots cast are in favor of the legislation.

                           M.            The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered with the power to appoint and dismiss the ministers of the various Maisons and the Prime Minister. The Monarch may also appoint and dismiss the executive bureaucracy.

                            N.            The Monarch of Zaakistan is empowered to sign foreign treaties and international agreements. The treaties and agreements are subject to ratification by the combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan.

                            O.            The Monarch is empowered to grant full pardons or diminish a sentence to any individuals or groups within his or her kingdom who may have incurred sentences. The Monarch is required to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment. Individuals who have incurred a death sentence are indebted to the Monarch for the Monarch’s mercy.

                              P.            The Monarch may call any part of, or the whole Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan into session. The Monarch may not block any part of, or whole Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan from assemblage into session.

     II.            Zaakistan is to be a non-nuclear nation. No individual, no group of individuals, and no party of any kind may involve themselves nor any one else in the proliferation, the stockpiling, the using, the designing, nor the production of nuclear weapons.

   III.            There shall be no divisions into territories or provinces. There shall be no governments besides the municipal and the federal. The municipal governments shall be given powers by the federal government. No municipality shall have advantage over another nor greater than another in terms of governmental power.

  IV.            The Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan embodies the various federal Maisons. Several Maisons representing several areas of government, each with a minister whom together with the Prime Minister form the Cabinet. The combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan is a temporary union of all the national Maisons for certain issues discussed in section III.A. Every member has an equal vote.

                             A.            The combined Legislative Assembly of Zaakistan is called at the request of the Prime Minister to vote collectively on important legislation decided upon by the Prime Minister, to amend the Constitution, matters concerning the Monarch, to declare war, to ratify foreign treaties and international agreements, and to override the Monarch’s veto.

                             B.            All legislation excepting those mentioned in section III.A. must pass the Maison Paramount. The Prime Minister acts as head of the Maison Paramount.

                             C.            There can be no more than ten Maisons, besides the Maison Paramount. When new areas arise that need to be added or when areas need to be moved from one Maison to another to even out the workload of the Maisons, the Monarch and the Cabinet decide in conjunction with each other what Maisons are empowered over what areas. All votes in this council are counted equal. All Maisons are to have equal numbers of members. No Maison may infringe upon the jurisdiction of another Maison, although Maisons may work together in conjunction with each other on certain pieces of Legislation decided by the Prime Minister. To launch the new government, these are the Maisons that shall exist and the areas they shall have sovereignty over.

                                                      1.            The Maison Paramount

                                                      2.            The Maison of Justice and Criminal Law

                                                      3.            The Maison of Foreign Affairs and Commerce

                                                      4.            The Maison of Tourism, Arts, and Leisure

                                                      5.            The Maison of Communication and Transportation

                                                      6.            The Maison of Industry and Technology

                                                      7.            The Maison of Internal Affairs and Defense

                                                      8.            The Maison of Natural Resources and Employment

                                                      9.            The Maison of Education and Health

                                                  10.            The Maison of Finance

                             D.            All Maisons shall elect a chairman at the first session of each year. The chairman may not be the minister of the Maison. Chairmen must be members of the Maison they chair. Chairmen maintain the right to vote in the Maison.

                              E.            Both the monarch and the Prime Minister have the power to call Maisons into special session. A single Maison may be called into special session. All the Maisons must be called to mandatory sessions twice for a minimum of 20 working days each session. All the Maisons must meet during mandatory sessions. Each of these mandatory sessions are called by the Prime Minister. The first of these mandatory sessions must occur between January 30 and June 1. The second of these mandatory sessions must occur between July 31 and December 1.

                              F.            Members of the Maisons are to be elected by citizens of Zaakistan who are eighteen years of age and older. Persons taking part in national referendums must be citizens of Zaakistan who are eighteen years of age and older.

                             G.            All members of the Maisons are to be eighteen years of age and older. All members of the Maisons are to be citizens of Zaakistan.

                             H.            Elections for all the Maisons are to be called on a minimum of every five years. The Prime Minister has the power to call such elections. A separate Maison may be dissolved by a majority vote in that Maison, on which occasion an election for this particular Maison is to be held in no more than two months following the dissolution of that Maison. The Maison Paramount takes on the responsibilities of the dissolved Maison until a new one is formed by popular vote.

                                I.            Elections of the members of the Maisons shall proceed as follows

                                                      1.            A member in each Maison shall represent a population of approximately 1,250,000 people. This number of people is used only to determine the number of members in each house.

                                                      2.            All federal votes are cast on identical ballots throughout Zaakistan. Polling stations are to be made accessible to all citizens in Zaakistan.

                                                      3.            Each voting individual is to vote once under each Maison Heading on the ballot. Each Maison heading shall have any number of political parties listed below it on the ballot. Parties may vary from one Maison to another.

                                                      4.            Political parties are to submit a list of the names of candidates equal in number to the amount of seats in the Maison they are running for. The list should display the rank of the candidates in the party. The first name on the list would get that first party seat in the Maison; the second name would get the second seat for that party etc… Polling stations are to post these lists of candidates for each party and for each Maison.

                                                      5.            Political parties are responsible for the ranking of their candidates. They may however seek their own form of democratic method for the ranking.

                                                      6.            Votes are to be separated by Maison when they are counted. The temporary number of seats available are equal in all the Maisons and determined by dividing the population of Zaakistan of the most recent official government census by 1,250,000. This resulting figure is to be rounded up to the nearest whole number and increased by three.

                                                      7.            Party votes are counted in individual Maisons only. A party may not add votes from one Maison to another to ensure a number of seats in a Maison.

                                                      8.            The party votes in each Maison are then divided into the total amount of votes. A party must receive at least 4% of the total votes to be eligible for a seat in the Maison. To determine the amount of seats a party receives in a Maison, the party’s Maison percentage is multiplied by the resultant number in section IV.I.6. The resultant number is rounded down unless the numbers following the decimal point are greater or equal to 75, in which case the number may be rounded up. This determines how many seats a party gets. The Maison or Maisons who receives the greatest number seats, sets the trend for all other Maisons in relation to their number of seats. To equate the Maisons with fewer seats, the party with the most seats is assigned all the extra seats up to the number of seats in the Maison or Maison who received the greatest number in the calculations.

                               J.            The Maison of Finance has exclusive rights over the distribution and collection of government funds. Funds are to be disbursed to the various Maisons during the first mandatory session. The Maison of Finance is empowered to determine the Monarch’s wage and tax the Monarch.

                            K.            The Maison Paramount may originate legislation. This legislation must then pass the Maison who has exclusive jurisdiction over it. The Maison Paramount may only originate legislation twelve times each year and can only be introduced by consent of the Prime Minister.

                              L.            The Maisons are authorized to carry out the following duties in their own fields:

                                                      1.            Printing money and minting coins.

                                                      2.            Build up armed forces.

                                                      3.            Charter banks.

                                                      4.            Conduct investigations.

                                                      5.            Pass legislation on to the Maison Paramount.

                                                      6.            Removal and appointment of all Judges.

     V.            The High Judiciary is composed collectively of the Maison of Justice and a panel of Supreme Court Judges who are appointed by the Cabinet on recommendation of the Maison of Justice.

                             A.            The Monarch invests the Supreme Court Judges with the following powers, when they are as a collective unit called the Supreme Court of Zaakistan, within a month of their appointment by the Cabinet:

                                                      1.            To declare legislation unconstitutional making them null and void.

                                                      2.            To hear appeals from lower courts.

                                                      3.            To add meaning to the Constitution by its rulings. These rulings set precedent for the interpretation of the Constitution.

                             B.            Supreme Court Judges are to serve no more than twenty-five years. Supreme Court Judges need to have served as a subordinate to a Supreme Court Judge for a minimum of five years. The Cabinet upon recommendation of the Maison of Justice appoints subordinates to Supreme Court Judges. Subordinates number two for every Supreme Court Judge. Subordinates serve as consultants to the Supreme Court Judges but resign the power to act as a judge until their possible appointment as a Supreme Court Judge. Subordinates are required to have served as a judge in a lower court for at least five years. Judges in lower courts need to have served as a prosecutor or a public defender for the state for a minimum of eight years.

                             C.            The High Judiciary tries all cases of treason, all cases dealing with the Monarch as a defendant, all cases of terrorism, all cases where a representative in a Maison may be dismissed, and all cases dealing with possible dismissal of high officers in the armed forces or judges.

                             D.            Causes for removal of a Supreme Court Judge may be any one or several of the following:

                                                      1.            Failure to execute office.

                                                      2.            Gross misconduct.

                                                      3.            Incapacity to fulfill his or her duties.

                                                      4.            Having committed a crime that may be penalized with more than six months in prison or a fine of more than $5,000.

                             E.            The Supreme Court of Zaakistan may have no more than nine judges. When making a ruling, no less than five judges may be present.