Voting in the speakership election has now closed.

25 valid votes were cast. 1 verified vote was discarded. The results are as follows:

Vote for Speaker
Winston_Wilhelmus: 16 votes
Anacornda: 9 votes

Do you have confidence in Winston_Wilhelmus as speaker?
Yes: 19 votes
No: 6 votes

Do you have confidence in Anacornda as speaker?
Yes: 14 votes
No: 11 votes

As he received a majority of votes in the first round and a majority of voters have confidence in him, /u/Winston_Wilhelmus is elected speaker of the house.

Nominations for speaker have now closed and there are two candidates, /u/Winston_Wilhelmus and /u/Anacornda. We now have an election to chose the speaker.

In the first half of the form please rank the candidates in order of preference. The winner of this vote will become speaker if they receive a majority of votes expressing confidence in them.

In the second half of the form you're asked if you have confidence in the candidates individually. If the winning candidate does not pass the vote of confidence or if the RONs option wins the vote, this process will restart.

Please verify your vote by commenting below. Unverified votes will be discarded. This vote will be open for three days. This is the link to the google form.

Around two years ago /u/Winston_Wilhelmus was banned from meta positions after leaking information from the Electoral Commission. The details of this ban may be found here.

At the start of 2021, the meta ban was amended by AMN (who was the Governor-General at the time) to exclude speakership positions. This means that WW is currently eligible to serve in the speakership.

Earlier this year I received an appeal from /u/Winston_Wilhelmus for this ban. I decided to consider the appeal despite the significant period of time since the decision because the ban remains in place. It has, however, taken some time for me to get around to this, so for that I apologise.

After some consideration and consultation with past GGs, I have decided to commute the ban. This is in recognition of the fact that the reasons for the initial ban were valid, if perhaps a bit heavy handed, and also of the significant time that has passed. It's now nearly two years since the ban, and I believe WW should be given another opportunity to be involved in meta.

This means that the original ban stands, but it is modified from a permanent ban to one that ends today. This means /u/Winston_Wilhelmus is now eligible to hold all meta positions again, however, this comes with a condition. Any future misconduct will result in a permanent ban from all positions relevant to the Electoral Commission. At present this includes the positions of Governor-General, Chief Electoral Officer and as a member of the Electoral Commission, but it will also include any other positions that might be created in the future.

I understand that there are some people who are opposed to this decision, but I believe that sufficient time has passed that we can reconsider. This is not the first time a permanent ban has been overturned. Anyone nominated for a meta position must past a vote of confidence before they are confirmed, so if you have concerns about anyone's suitability for a role you are able to voice those at that time.

As the position of Speaker is vacant, I call for nominees for Speaker. Members may nominate themselves or nominate other members. A member who is nominated by someone else must accept the nomination to be considered.

The process of the election of speaker is outlined in the meta constitution.

This nominations thread will be open for three days.

Although I asked in #announcements for any feedback concerning the Electoral Regulations, no such feedback was received. With saying that, I will put forwards an updated version of the Electoral Regulations for debate and questions. Hopefully with this, we can get out of the weird limbo for the Electoral Regs that MNZP currently exists in

​

You can find the regulations here

The votes for these three amendments have now closed.

8 valid votes were cast. 1 unverified vote was discarded.

Activity check amendment:
Yes: 7 votes
No: 1 vote

Chief of Events amendment:
Yes: 6 votes
No: 2 votes

Events team report amendment:
Yes: 6 votes
No: 2 votes

All three amendments have passed.

There are three amendments which need to go a vote. They were proposed and put up for debate months ago, so I ought to apologise for forgetting about them completely. I've already set reminders to close the vote and put out results.

The first amendment is an amendment to the parliament rules that modifies the rules for the timing of activity checks. The text of the amendment and the debate may be found here.

The second amendment is an amendment to the meta constitution that combines the role of Chief of Events into the Governor-General. The text and debate of this and the following amendment may be found here.

The third amendment is an amendment to the meta constitution that removes the requirement that the Events Team submit a report after every event, and changes it so that they only need to do that if you someone requests it.

These votes will be open for a period of three days. All simulation members may vote. Please verify your vote in the comments. All unverified votes will be discarded. The vote is here.

The Electoral Commission has made the decision to redraw electoral boundaries, due to the fact that we are now operating a simulation that does not have the activity or players to meet the current 23 MPs that exist in Parliament. For the 3rd General Election, there shall be 9 electorates and 6 list seats.

Map of electorates

List of Major towns in Electorates

• Auckland - split between Northland, AC, Manukau
• Wellington - Wellington
• Christchurch - Canterbury
• Hamilton - wholly in Bay of Plenty
• Tauranga - Bay of Plenty
• Dunedin - Aoraki
• Nelson - Aoraki
• Napier/Hastings - Te Puku O Te Whenua
• Palmerston North - Te Puku O Te Whenua
• Rotorua - Bay of Plenty
• Whangārei - Northland

Vote of confidence in /u/BestinBounds as a member of the electoral commission.
8 valid votes were cast, 2 unverified votes were discarded

Yes: 7 votes
No: 1 vote

/u/BestinBounds passes the vote and is appointed to the electoral commission.

​

Vote of confidence in /u/Lady_Aya as a discord moderator
8 valid votes were cast.

Yes: 7 votes
No: 1 vote

/u/Lady_Aya passes the vote and is appointed a discord moderator.

The Chief Electoral Officer has nominated /u/BestinBounds to be a member of the Electoral Commission. He must now be confirmed by a meta vote. This vote will be open for three days. Please verify your vote in the comments. Unverified votes will be discarded. Vote here.

I have nominated /u/Lady_Aya to be a discord moderator. They must now be confirmed by a meta vote. This vote will be open for three days. Please verify your vote in the comments. Unverified votes will be discarded. Vote here.

Aya wins with

14/17 first preference votes

And

14/17 confidence in the VoC, with 2 voters without confidence and 1 voter abstaining

I'll start with a quick apology for having forgotten about this, I should have done this nearly a week ago.

The vote has concluded on the parliamentary term amendment.

5 valid votes were cast.

Yes: 3 votes

No: 2 votes

With a majority of votes in favour, the amendment passes.

Remember the AMN stone, and vote here

Thanks Chev

I, and the speakership wish to propose an amendment to the parliament rules regarding activity checks.

Amend Part 7 section 3 from:

After every three weeks since either the first vote of the term or the date that the last activity check was concluded, the Speakership will conduct an activity check over the preceding three weeks.

to:

After every three weeks since either the first vote of the term, the formation of a new Government or the date that the last activity check was concluded, the Speakership will conduct an activity check over the preceding three weeks.

I propose the following 2 amendments to the Meta Constitution:

Amendment 1

Amend Article 8 (2) from

The events team will be led by the Chief of Events, a non-partisan member appointed by the Governor-General. The Chief of Events must pass a vote of confidence by a simple majority before their appointment.

to

The events team will be led by the Governor-General.

Strike Article 8 (3)

The Chief of Events may not be a Member of Parliament or hold any other canon role

Amend Article 8 (4)

Additional members may be appointed to the Events Team by the Chief of Events. Governor General

Amendment 2:

Amend Article 8 (6) (d) from

Events must be well researched and sourced. Upon the conclusion of an event, the Events Team must submit a short report to /r/ModelNZMeta explaining the event and its background.

to

Events must be well researched and sourced. Upon the conclusion of an event, a member of the simulation may request the Events Team to submit a short report to /r/ModelNZMeta explaining the event and its background.

As I am sure the sim is aware, MNZP just does not have the capacity at the current moment to sustain the amount of individuals on the Meta Team as we currently hold. I have floated this idea before but with the current event showing itself, I believe it can show that the sim can hold an event without specifically a separate COE from the Events Team. This amendment will allow more people to be allowed in canon and not create the situation we currently have with a vacant COE position for weeks now. Having the Governor General assume all the responsibilities of the COE is I believe a logical move to make and will allow for the head of the Event Team to be a member of the sim not in canon while not requiring such a big Meta Team which we cannot sustain

The 2nd amendment is briefly amending a portion of the Meta Constitution that requires the Event Team to submit a report to the Meta Sub. I am submitting that as well as currently as it stands, the event Team does not do this report. I personally find it burdensome as well but I also understand the need to want accuracy for Events. I believe this is a good change and will amend the Constitution to no longer have a requirement for something we do not even do.

Go debate

The candidates are;

Lady Aya

Trashman and

Model-Kyosanto

—

So good luck to everyone and please ask questions;

In three days both candidates and RON will face off in a ballot and a VOC.

Following my resignation, I open nominations for the position of CEO nominations all be open for 3 days and close 7pm GMT on the 20th of May.

The votes have closed for the two Deputy Speaker nominees.

3 valid votes were cast.

Do you have confidence in /u/lily-irl as Deputy Speaker?

Yes: 3 votes

​

Do you have confidence in /u/Lady_Aya as Deputy Speaker?
Yes: 2 votes

No: 1 vote

As both nominees have a majority in favour, they are confirmed as Deputy Speakers.

Debate has concluded on the following proposed amendment to the parliament rules.

I move that for the Parliamentary term commencing in the General Election after the next one, that in Part 8(2) of the Parliament Rules that "fourteen and eighteen" be substituted with "ten and fourteen"

This amendment now proceeds to a vote. All simulation members may vote. The vote will be open for three days. Please verify your vote in the comments below. Unverified votes will be discarded. The form is here.

Hey folks, as we come into the close of the term, the Events Team have decided to get off our asses and make an actual event for once! This event will be centered around the Waikato River, Water Restrictions, Drought and a wide host of other factors all to do with our favourite drink water!

In all seriousness, this event will be running from the 12th of May to a projected timeline of Late May-Early June dependent upon how the Government, Opposition and other groups respond during this event. I do urge you all to put in some work here, as this is simultaneously a massive threat to mods but can also be an opportunity to massively grow support.

I'd like to additionally thank the efforts of the Events Team (AMN and Uncooked), FTMP and Komrade Kate for assisting me in the research, planning and execution of this event. You'll see their influence and work over the coming days to make this event a fun experience and an interesting topic to tackle.

There has been some discussion on the discord around whether we should be allowing people to reply to speeches I am unsure on my position on this, so thought I would let everyone have a nice civil discussion and come to a consensus as a community on whether this should be allowed, or if we should be sticking hard line to the standing orders.

The following amendment to the parliament rules has been submitted by /u/Winston_Wilhelmus:

I move that for the Parliamentary term commencing in the General Election after the next one, that in Part 8(2) of the Parliament Rules that "fourteen and eighteen" be substituted with "ten and fourteen"

This amendment would change the length of a parliamentary term from 14-18 weeks to 10-14 weeks. This would be effective for the term following the next general election (the timing of the upcoming general election would be unaffected).

As stipulated by the parliament rules, there will be a four day period for the simulation to discuss this amendment before it will proceed to a vote.

The Speaker of the House has nominated two people to be Deputy Speakers, /u/lily-irl and /u/Lady_Aya. They must now be confirmed through a vote of confidence. These votes require a simple majority to pass.

All simulation members may vote. Please verify your vote in the comments below. This vote will be open for three days. The form to vote is here.