Once again we citizens of the CDS are holding an election of Representatives to our Representative Assembly. It is a privilege that those of us who live in RL democracies, and in the SL CDS cherish. Over the years many of our good neighbors have offered their services to our community providing us all with a responsible, stable government. Each RA Term is for approximately 6 months duration. In the past, it was required that candidates for RA be a member of a Faction. This is no longer the case. Although citizens may be Faction members if they wish, the candidate and election process is now open to any citizen who wishes to put himself or herself forth.
If you are a citizen in good standing (i.e. not in arrears in monthly payments) and would like to stand for election for the 13th term of the RA, please declare your candidacy by notecard (not IM as they may be capped) to Delia Lake, SC Dean, not later than midnight SLT, April 30. You are also encouraged to post your announcement in this Forum. Candidates are also encouraged to host gatherings where they can present their views and reasons for running to interested citizenry previous to the opening of the Polls.
The Polls will open on May 15, and the 13th RA is scheduled to take office on June 1.
From the Constitution
Article I - The Representative Branch
Section 1 - The Representative Assembly
The Representative Assembly (RA) is a body of democratically elected legislators which represent the views of CDS citizens. Its governmental role is to pass laws and its service role is to promote the city and perform long-term planning.
Section 2 - The Representative Assembly Body
Representative seats are chosen by popular election, from among those candidates who qualify under the rules set forth here. Any citizen who is eligible to vote, at the time of nomination, may become a candidate by declaring themselves by a message to the Dean of the Scientific Council, within the time set by the Scientific Council for such nominations.
The number of representative seats in the RA is equal to the odd whole number nearest to 10% of the population, rounded down, with a minimum of five seats and a maximum of forty seats.
In each RA election, voters shall select from among the candidates using Single Transferable Voting (a ranked voting method).
Vacancies in RA positions will be filled by by-election administered on a schedule set by the Scientific Council consistent with other applicable CDS law.
The Representative Assembly shall serve for a term of six months. New RAs shall take office on 1 December* and 1 June.* Elections shall be held over a 168 hour period beginning at noon SLT on the Saturday before the 16th of the month prior to the new RAs taking office. In the event of a server outage which prevents citizens from casting ballots and which lasts more than 12 hours, the Dean of the SC has the authority to adjust or extend the election schedule.
* Dates recently changed by RA, and these take effect after the next general election. The first RA elections where candidates are not required to be a member of any faction will be for the term starting June 1, 2010.
The full posting of the current Constitution may be found at http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php? ... 029#p14125
