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In volume 4 I covered two out of the three regular sections of the constitution. In this volume I will be finishing this interpretation by working through “Part III Voting and Nominations” and then I will lay out some of my conclusions.



Let's jump right in. Like in the last volume I'll begin by explaining what voting and elections here have looked like over the past few years.



Here is what a term looks like by order of its elections:

1. Party Presidential Election
2. Revolutionary Committee Election
3. Congress Election
4. Country President Election



Generally, the Secretary-General of the party is the one who takes care of the Revolutionary Committee Election and the Congressional Election. In any case, they are there to do the vote count. But they also check to make sure that the congress roster has been set in the right order by the Party President.



The Party Presidential Election is usually handled by the game and there haven’t been primaries run by the party for party president in my time here.



The Party President handles the Country President Election and it is closely monitored by the Revolutionary Committee and Secretary-General to ensure that the nomination in-game is the same person the party voted for in the CP Primary.



During the RevCom election and Congress election, each party member has 5 votes and can vote for 5 people not including themselves. After these elections run for 2-3 days the votes are tallied and the candidates are ranked. They are then given RevCom status or are set in order on the roster in-game on the party page.



In the lead up to the Party Presidential election, the party usually looks for a few people to ask to run if no one has declared and then those candidates publish articles outlining their plans for the term which can include anything from a potential Country Presidential Run to the promise of new programs.



On election night we all vote and the game lets us know who won after 24 hours.



During the lead up to the Country President Election, the candidates ask our party for a nomination and then they go on the roster for our primary. Our members get one vote and the person on the primary roster with the most votes receives our party nomination. At that point, it’s out of our hands besides getting the party to the ballot on the right day.





That's basically how elections in the SFP work. Now let's take a look at what the constitution has to say about elections in “Part III Voting and Nominations”.



“Country President Nominations

a. The Party President shall nominate or endorse eUSA Country President (CP) candidates based on the results of a General Party Membership poll conducted on the SFP Forum in the week prior to elections. CP elections are held on the 5th of each month. Results of the Party CP Primary should be concluded no later than the first day of each month.

b. The Revolutionary Committee may propose endorsing a Presidential candidate to the Party, or running a candidate from the SFP. But a full membership internal poll must still be held to endorse a CP nominee, even if there is one who is a member of the SFP, or who has been recommended by the RC.

c. It is not mandatory that the SFP endorse a nominee for CP. The poll should always include the choice "None of the above" as an option.”



“A” explains that nominations are to be based on a poll conducted on the SFP Forum prior to the election and then it adds some requirements as to when this is supposed to be done.

“B” The RevCom can endorse and nominate a candidate but this candidate must receive the required votes via polling on the forum to get the nomination. (They don’t get the nomination just because SFP)

“C” Any poll of the membership on the forum for CP Nomination should include the option, “None of the Above”



“Congress Elections

a. If the SFP is not a Top 5 party, SFP candidates for Congress must temporarily join a Top 5 party in order to run for Congress. In that situation, the Revolutionary Committee shall engage the Top 5 parties in order to ensure slots for SFP candidates and shall assist SFP members seeking election.

b. If the SFP is a Top 5 party, then the Party President is required, with assistance if needed, to put forward a list of Congressional candidates ranked according to results on an internal poll of the General Assembly.

c. After the new SFP Chairman is in office (17th of the month), s/he or a representative from the SFP Revolutionary Committee should open a Call for Congress Candidates in the SFP Forum, and communicate this to the membership.”



“A” Requires candidates for SFP Congress to temporarily join T5 parties if the SFP is not itself a T5 party so that they can be elected to congress. These arrangements are to be worked out by the RevCom beforehand.

“B” Explains that the Party President is obligated to list the congress roster in-game according to the results of the poll conducted each term on the forum.

“C” Says the Party President at the start of their term is to open a call for congress on the SFP Forum and inform the membership of its existence.



“Interested SFP members should answer this Call by stating is desire to be a Congress candidate, declaring their intention both by using the in-game mechanism and by having their name added to the internal poll.

Candidates should campaign for the Congressional primary, providing a manifesto on why Party members should vote for him/her and why the SFP should be represented in Congress.

On the 20th of every month, the Congressional Candidates call thread should be locked and a new thread opened for internal primary voting on the candidates. The Congressional Primary will last until the 23rd of the month.”



This part explains that interested candidates should answer the congress call both on the forum and in-game and that they should publish a manifesto outlining their views and plans for congress. Then it sets time constraints on the internal primary.



“Party members vote for a maximum of five candidates in the primary.

At the conclusion of the polling, the SFP President/RC Chair or an authorized representative of the SFP Revolutionary Committee will tally the total votes for each candidate and rank the results. Ties are broken by counting in-game amount of congressional medals, with the candidate holding the fewer amount of congressional medals ranked first. If this measure won't be sufficient then the RC Chair breaks the tie.

RC Chair ranks the candidates in-game according to the results of the primary vote. Failure to follow the results of the internal pool is a serious breach of responsibilities.

The RC Chair may negotiate with external parties to include 6th Party candidates on the SFP ballot. Such arrangement should be agreed to by the voters on the Revolutionary Committee before the 23rd, and such candidates are included on the internal poll. No one is guaranteed a specific slot on the in-game list.”



This part tells us we only get 5 votes in the Congressional Primary. After the vote, the count is tallied and the candidates are ranked. Ties are broken via the number of medals candidates that are tied have. The one with fewer congress medals breaks the tie. If that doesn’t work then the chair of the RevCom breaks the tie.

The Chair of the RevCom is obligated to set the roster in-game according to the results of the primary. If they fail to do so they have egregiously failed in their obligation to the party.

The RevCom can negotiate with 6th parties to include their candidates on our primary roster. This should be agreed upon by the voters. Nobody is guaranteed a slot and must be voted in.



“Revolutionary Committee Elections

Party President elections occur in-game on the 15th of each month.

Two internal primary polls of the General Membership is concluded by the 13th of each month for:

The Chair of RC and his/her slate of voting RC members, which is the same as their 4-person "cabinet" of Party-level roles. This is basically a "popularity contest" regarding the upcoming in-game Party President election.

Six additional voting members of the Revolutionary Committee. This is a binding poll, with no in-game equivalent.

Candidates for Chair of the RC (Party President) should announce their intention, along with their "cabinet" selections, no later than the 8th of the month. Obviously they should also register as PP candidate in-game.”



This section reminds us when Party Presidential Elections occur in-game and then it tells us we should hold two internal primary polls and that they should be concluded by the 13th of each month. These primaries are for the Chairman of the RC and his RevCom nominations and those RevCom nominations should be the chairman's four-person “cabinet”.

And for the six remaining voting members of the RevCom. Candidates for the chairmanship should announce their run and their nominations no later than the 8th of the month. (don’t forget to run in-game)



“Members of the Party can announce their own candidacy for voting RC membership ("The Six"), or can nominate other Party members. The list of all those nominated should be closed by the 10th of the month. Members who have been nominated by the PP candidate as appointed voting members should also be included on the polling for the Six additional voting members of the RC. Should their sponsor win the in-game election for PP, then their names are stricken from the final results for the additional Six. Should their sponsor lose the in-game election for PP, then they are treated like any other candidates in the polling for the Six additional members.

Discussion, debate, campaigning, manifestos and so forth for the revolutionary leadership should be shared and published. The two RC polls open on the 10th and close on the 14th:

Preference poll for Chair of the Revolutionary Committee and their slate of voting RC members. All non-censured Party members may participate. This can be either an open or closed poll. If it is a secret ballot, then it should be conducted by a well-trusted forum admin.
Election poll by list for 6 additional voting RC members is handled similarly to the Congressional candidates polling. Each non-censured Party member may vote for up to 6 folks from the list of nominees. An authorized representative of the RC tallies the votes and ranks the results. Ties go to players who have served on the RC fewer times.”



This part says that any member can announce their candidacy for one of the 6 voting RevCom spots and can also nominate others. The list of people generated this way is to be wrapped by the 10th.

The party president nominations are also included on this list. If their sponsor wins they are stricken from the roster and if their sponsor loses they are included like the other candidates. (This is because there are only 11 spots and when a sponsor wins the election their nominations also win their primary. But when the sponsor loses the election those nominated people are still up for election.)

RevCom members are to post manifestos and the polls open on the 10th and close on the 14th. Non censured members of the party may participate and the poll can either be open, closed, or secret. If it’s a secret poll it should be handled by a forum admin. Each non censured member can vote for 6 people. Ties are broken by the people who have the least number of terms on the RevCom and an authorized representative of the party does the vote tally.





And that concludes my analysis of the text. Let's discuss my conclusions.



1. Looking through this text I can’t help but feel it has a lack of easily citable sections. There doesn’t really seem to be a method to the madness and what I figured would be a helpful contribution to the text is the possibility of codifying it. And so that is what I have done. Keeping up with the originality of my interpretation I have decided to code it according to the distinction made in previous volumes, Regular and Irregular Sections. Here's a graphical key for how I have done so:





As you can see, it's quite easy to follow but it only works when viewing the constitution through the lens of this interpretation and so I am also working on codifying it as it stands. I will edit that into these volumes once it is finished.



2. I got this one from hcmadman’s response to this series on the issue of it being unclear what we are supposed to do when we have less than 11 people looking for RevCom positions. This is a problem that needs to be accounted for in the text.



3. It is unclear who is supposed to be running these elections - just that they should be trusted party officials or the Party President. Historically speaking, we have some of the fairest elections and there isn’t much potential for abuse at the moment but it would be good if we could really nail that down.


And last but not least:

4. We only have a short window of time to hold a primary for the RevCom





So in conclusion, The SFP constitution is not an all-powerful, sacred, infallible text, and at times it can be a little vague or even ambiguous. It lacks formal coding to it leaving us with a mouth full of words when we’d like to cite it. It was written for a time when the SFP was at the height of its power and as such includes extra primaries and extensions on the number of voting members on the RevCom that many of us might consider difficult to implement. But it has quite a few things going for it, such as the sections clearly define what is and isn’t acceptable for party officials to do, and the sections that outline procedure. It also has a plethora of protections the party can use to ensure we stay together. And last but not least, it has in the past and continues to be a unifying document for the party, and the environment that it promotes is one to be desired. Thank you to the ones who read these volumes and I hope that they will inspire you to perform your own analysis and interpretations of our party's most orthodox texts.





END OF VOLUME 5


~SFP Councilor Max Planck