The Busukuma Post
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Banija's Election Primer- What do you need to know?
Kizza Makoni after the party leader's speech in Hoima
BUSUKUMA, NATIONAL CAPITOL REGION- At the Collective Resistance Union's party conference, Kizza Makoni delivered a stunning announcement- he was going to convene the cabinet upon his return from Hoima, and ask for an early election to be called. It is not uncommon in this country, nor is it in the Parliamentary system of governance, to have early elections, though it is when the government is as stable as this single party majority. In Banija, usually after about 3 years, the usual coalitions grow stale, the infighting grows as parties try to separate themselves in terms of voters, and then they ask for, and get, a general election. But in this unprecedented time of a single party majority government, the concern here is obvious- the CRU's falling polling numbers, after voter fatigue with a pair of consecutive majority governments, almost said that he had to call an election to have a chance at becoming the strongest party once again, less they start to get worse with the year remaining.
Here, of course, we'll give a brief overview of the four main parties, and for our readers, the overview of the Banijan political system in general. How do elections in this country work? Who is eligible to vote? What happened last time around? How to understand the last election, and what that means for the next one? Those questions will be answered in this article.
Q1: How does the system work?
Banija operates off of a Westminster style Parliamentary system, which is a part of the nation's semi-constitutional monarchy. The Royal Family, of course, has power over all foreign affairs, and the elected Lukiiko has power over all domestic affairs. The Lukiiko elects a Katikkiro who picks and chairs the cabinet(outside of the Waziri) and is the country's head of government. The Banijan system borrows from the Quebecois Parliamentary system, which influenced Banija a lot, but ultimately, is mostly organically formed. The Lukiiko has 500 elected members, and it is a mixed political system. 250 members are elected via first past the post constituencies, while 250 members are elected via the proportional vote. And yet, people have a lone vote- any vote for a candidate goes both to the candidate in their constituency, and that vote also goes to the candidate's party, assuming that candidate is in a party. If the candidate is an independent, then of course that vote does not go into the proportional representation system.
For the 250 seats, the Royal Election Commission draws constituency boundaries, which cannot cross regional lines. Based on population, each region gets a certain number of seats, which get reallocated after each census. The regional breakdown is as follows. Each region is assigned seats based on population percentage, the closest possible to the exact percentage matched with 250 seats, but rounded down. Any remaining seats get assigned to the region with the least amount of seats, to get to 250. Another exception we have, is that the Mukegara Tribe, who are an interesting people in their own right. As a protected minority tribe who have limited autonomy, and a population of only 50,000, they are guaranteed a single seat of their own in the Lukiiko by the Banijan Constitution. The major parties do not compete in Mukegara. Since they are located in Hangaza, one seat is taken from the Hangaza region and given to their tribe who, while having their own political parties, elects someone who sits as an independent.
The Below is the apportionment after the last census.
The other 250 seats, of course, are done via proportional representation on a national basis only. It used to be regional proportional presentation, but it was changed by a prior PPM government(WC74 Cycle) to straight up national proportional representation in order to prevent regional parties from gaining strength at a national level, and severely limit their representation in the Lukiiko. A clearly political move, of course, and it was aimed at the Busoga Islands, where a nascent regional party was ascending- and it was successful in preventing the party from running for the Lukiiko. Of course, in the long run, it ended up not mattering thanks to Matthias Mutebi, but the system stays to ensure that parties maintain national platforms that don't exasperate regional divisions.
The seats are given to parties who garner at least 5% of the national popular vote, based on their share of the popular vote and that share of 250, with that raw number rounded down. If 250 seats are not allocated via this format, any remaining seats are given to the party that won the most number of popular votes. When we go over the last results in the next edition of this paper, it'll be easily understandable.
Q2: Who is eligible to vote?
This is an easy one. The rules for voting in any governmental election, from the Lukiiko down to a local school board election, are set nationally. Regions and localities cannot add or subtract voter eligibility requirements. The basis, of course, is age. There are four categories of citizens who have the automatic right to vote, if they are at least age 18 and they are residents of Banija- Banijan citizens, Commonwealth citizens, Busoga Islander citizens, and Baker Park citizens. The only exemptions to that rule are present prisonsers(ex-prisoners can vote) and Bishops of the Puritan Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints, the national church, who do not vote, though regular clergy can. The only non-residents of Banija who are allowed to vote are Banijan diplomats or Banijan soldiers who are abroad, and their immediate families if they are abroad with their families. So, for example, somebody like Lemuel Bereket, the national team goalkeeper, cannot vote because his full-time residence is in Exton, Apox.
There are rules, however, on these non-Banijan citizens voting. Any non-Banijan citizen who votes in Banija cannot have voted in their country's last national election, as defined by the Banijan foreign ministry. If they vote in their country's last election, they have to wait for another election to occur in their home country, that they do not participate in, before they are allowed to vote in Banija. Any participation in an election in their country of origin shall make them ineligible to vote in Banija again, until they then miss another election in their home country. IT is, of course, to prevent voters from participating in multiple democratic systems at the same time. There is no length of residency requirements for Commonwealth citizens, Busoga Islander citizens, or Baker Park citizens, as long as their full-time residency is in Banija.
There are other groups, based on specific nationalities, that can vote as well. Any citizens of Farfadillis who are registered in the country as refugees can vote, and they are not subject to rules regarding participating in their country's last election. This broad exemption, of course, is subject to renewal once every 5 years in Banija.
There are citizens of other countries that can vote in Banija if they are full-time residents here, and have been for 7 consecutive years. These people, of course, are subject to the same rules about participating in foreign elections. Those countries are as follows: Equestria, Geisenfred, Timuria, Hapilopper, Qasden, Siovanija & Teusland, Valanora, Eshan, Ko-oren, Mriin, and Cosumar. Any citizen of a country that has not been previously listed is not eligible to vote in any Banijan election, no matter how long they have been a resident of Banija, unless they obtain Banijan citizenship. And of course, the overarching rule- accredited diplomats to Banija, and the immediate families of accredited diplomats to Banija, shall not be able to vote in Banijan elections, no matter the circumstances.
Q3: Who is eligible to Run?
Any Banijan citizen, who is at least age 22 or older, and who has not been otherwise banned by the Guardian Council, is allowed to run for the Lukiiko. Now, there are different requirements to run for a constituency, as opposed to appearing on a party list. To say this- only the party leader and deputy leader can run both for a constituency seat, and appear on a party list. Otherwise, candidates cannot run both on the party list and for a constituency seat.
To run for a constituency seat, one must be a resident of the region the constituency is in, though they do not have to be residents of the constituency itself. However, if a non-resident of the constituency is elected as its member of the Lukiiko, they must establish full-time residence within their constituency within 180 days of getting elected. If they do not certify to the Speaker that they have established full-time residency within their constituency within 180 days, they then must forfeit their seat and a special election must be called, and that person will not be eligible to be a candidate. Parties are eligible to run in every seat in the country, and shall otherwise follow their own processes to determine their candidates for each constituency seat. Independents face a high bar, and to be eligible to get on the ballot, they must garner signatures from eligible voters representing 5% of the total constituency population, or be endorsed by a party that has provided a full proportional list to the Royal Election Commission.
Parties shall use their own processes to determine their party lists. Any person appearing on a party list, however, must be a baptized member of the Puritan Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is the national church. This ensures that party leaders and deputy leaders are baptized members of the faith. There is no religion requirement to be a candidate for a constituency seat.
Q4: How does the campaign work?
Voting is a fairly simple process within the Kingdom. The vast majority of votes are cast on election day, which is an automatic national holiday. Absentee votes are allowed for any reason, though absentee ballots, outside of Banijan diplomats and soldiers, cannot be mailed from outside the country- absentee ballots must be filled out in Banija. Election counts usually take about a day or so, so unlike in many countries where results are known that night, results are usually tallied and preliminary results are announced by the Royal Election Commission on the night following the tally.
As for the campaign itself, there is a 45 day campaign election period. There is no public funding of candidates. All parties that run for office must be certified by the Guardian Council, who are known to block parties and candidates who advocate for 'unconstitutional policies', most commonly banning parties that advocate a republic, or that advocate the total de-coupling of the church from the state. There are usually two leaders debates, organized by the REC. While there are donation limits of $4,000 NSDs per person per candidate(and $10,000 NSD limit per direct party donation), there are no spending limits for parties. On election day, campaigners must be at least 200 feet from the entrance of any building that contains a voting booth.
And, of course, now we have the basics. In the next part of the primer, we'll do an in-depth breakdown of the last election results, and what they mean for the looming ballot.