2022-23 Alslandic constitutional reform

The Dellish language cover of the proposed constitution

A Citizens' Assembly (Boargergearkomste, Kodanikekogu) to rewrite the constitution of Alsland which had been written following the Great War was created following the 2022 legislative election which resulted in a majority for pro-reform parties. The Assembly was first convened on 9 November 2022, out of the 1600 members of the Assembly, 80% were selected via sortition whilst the remaining 20% were selected by political parties, constitutional experts and the supreme court to help draft the constitution. The Assembly was given 7 months to deliver a draft constitution which it did on 21 May 2023, shortly before the deadline set by the Folkssenaat. The Assembly's draft constitution will be debated and amended in the Folkssenaat before being put to a binding public referendum in October.

Background

The prior constitution of Alsland was drafted in the immediate aftermath of the Great War by the Transitional Authority of Alsland which was established to reform the state. The Transitional Authority was controversial due to the manner in which it rushed the final constitution and the way in which Villem Mand largely added his own amendments and suggestions to the constitution without proper oversight. The Constitution was seen as slightly authoritarian due to the way in which the President of Alsland was given sweeping powers to dissolve the government and Folkssenaat. The constitutional drafting process was boycotted by the Alslandic Section of the Workers' International who were the largest opposition force to the governing National Bloc and as a result very few opposition figures contributed in the constitution's drafting.

The constitution was opposed by varying opposition forces since it was implemented although the National Bloc has consistently refused to rewrite the constitution and has been a member of every government with the exception of three since it was founded, largely removing the possibility for constitutional reform. Attempts in 1995 and again in 2009 to rewrite or reform the constitution whilst the Bloc was out of power were unsuccessful due to judicial concerns brought by various figures and organisations including the Estmerish Community in Alsland which was to be dissolved in the 1995 and 2009 proposals, the community was able to successfully block the passage of both constitutions through court cases over its status. After the 2022 Alslandic legislative election, parties favouring a constitutional convention vastly outnumbered the National Bloc which experienced its worst ever defeat in terms of seats and the popular vote. The party also faced rumours of potential bankruptcy due to a lack of funding since 2021. Following the election as well as the outbreak of the Alslandic government-debt crisis as well as the swearing in of a new pro-reform government, a Citizens' Assembly was quickly established to outmanoeuvre any potential opposition to a rewrite.

Citizens' Assembly

Unlike past constitutional conventions which were elected and suffered from political infighting between the Bloc as well as other parties, the Citizens' Assembly was to be selected via sortition of all adult nationals living in Alsland and without a serious criminal record who were also capable and willing to attending functions of the Assembly and to fulfil their civic duty. In total, 80% of the 1600 members of the Assembly were selected this way whilst the remaining 20% were selected by political parties represented at all levels of government, the supreme court and constitutional experts and historians. The assembly's members were to be representative of the demographic makeup of Alsland containing members from all societal groups. At the Assembly's inaugural meeting at the Yndyk Philharmonic, the Folkssenaat gave the Assembly a mandate to draft a constitution by 1 June 2023 which would then be debated over the summer and put to a binding referendum in October. A subsequent press conference held by the President of the Assembly, Bonne Zijlstra laid out the structure of the new Assembly which polled its members on what they wanted to see in a new constitution with many wanting to see the constitution's outdated features gone as well as democracy, human rights, freedom, justice, respect, honesty and responsibility play heavily into the new constitution. At a meeting, members of the assembly declared that the new constitution should introduce electoral reform and other modernising reforms such as abolishing mandatory conscription and introducing alternative service methods.

Main proposals

The final draft of the constitution was finished on 19 May 2023 and publicly released on 21 May by the Folkssenaat.

The final draft of the constitution was approved by the Citizens' Assembly which formally dissolved itself on the same day as the draft's completion. Members of the Assembly were awarded certificates of participation for their involvement in the draft.

Important features of the draft constitution included:
× Highlights proposals which were removed by the Folkssenaat.

• Enshrining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the constitution. (Article 2.1.)
• Recognising same-sex and opposite-sex marriage into the constitution, previously an act of the Folkssenaat granted this recognition. (Article 2.12.)
• Decreasing the Folkssenaat's membership from 201 to 138. (Article 3.6.)
• Introducing term-limits of 16 years for Senators and 8 years for the Premier and President. (Article 3.7.) ×
• Proposes holding a referendum to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide nationwide. ×
• Introducing a mandatory retirement age for politicians in line with the judiciary's retirement law, this currently being 68 years old. (Article 3.9.) ×
• Making the position of President ceremonial and removing most of its official powers. (Article 1.2.)
• Allowing for citizens initiatives, recall elections and propositions which have the support of 15% of the total registered electorate. (Articles 3.8. and 4.3.)
• Banning members of the Government from serving as Senators. (Article 3.5.)
• Enshrining neutrality as a core aspect of the Alslandic nation. (Article 1.6.)
• Declaring internet access to be a fundamental human right. (Article 2.10.)
• The position of Premier is to be directly elected by the public using preferential voting. (Article 4.1.)
• Legislative constituencies should be re-founded to reflect community boundaries. (Article 4.9.)
• Threshold rules for national elections should be abolished and instead organisations must only win enough votes for a seat in a constituency. (Article 4.10.)
• Symbolically declaring Alsland's natural resources to be public property. (Article 2.27.)
• Reducing the voting age to 16 and requiring mandatory voting in federal elections for all able adult voters. (Article 3.18) ×
• Nature where life occurs has the right to a respected existence and to be regenerated, protected and maintained for future generations. (Article 2.11.)
• Amend Jus Soli to require at least one parent to be an Alslandic citizen or to have resided in Alsland for the last 8 years in order for the child to have access to birthright citizenship. (Article 2.33.)
• Require the Government of Alsland to release truthful financial and debt data at regular intervals. (Article 5.2.)

Speaking after the draft was released, constitutional expert and political scientist Haryt Reitsma said: "The Assembly's key proposals are clear indicators of the desires of the public to be represented more in their political system and have been accepted by the 'establishment' through a series of negotiations to have these articles included in the draft document that has been released. The twin scandals that rocked Alsland to its core, 'Syfa' and the public debt issue motivated the Assembly members to seek fundamental change to the systems of their country to prevent this from happening again."

Senate debate

The Folkssenaat was granted the ability to review the document and make necessary amendments to the document to ensure its legality and compatibility with current laws as well as the laws of the Euclean Community. A majority of Senators were required to approve of the changes to allow for its passage through the lower chamber, the upper chamber was not accounted for in the votes as its position remained merely advisory and had voted to support the proposed document. The Senate was given until 30 June to make amendments before it was to be dissolved for its summer recess.

The Senate removed amendments relating to term-limits for Premiers and Senators, a proposed euthanasia referendum, mandatory retirement ages for politicians as well as reducing the voting age to 16 and introducing mandatory voting in national elections. Many of the removed amendments were removed for "legislative overreach" according to the official Folkssenaat register. Votes at 16 and the proposed euthanasia referendum were both highly controversial amendments to the constitution and were opposed by politicians from many parties. Only the Progressives, Greens and Radicals supported both amendments, all other parties rejected the amendments. Liekele Ykema said that the issue would be looked into at a future date but opposed the citizen's assembly attempting to make laws instead of the Folkssenaat.

Lawmakers were criticised for removing references to term limits and mandatory retirement ages from the constitution. The articles relating to term limits had widespread backing from the public according to opinion polls conducted during the drafting process.

Future referendum

Main article: 2023 Alslandic constitutional referendum

According to the act establishing the Citizen's Assembly, a referendum on the document must be held by October. The wording of the question to be posed to voters is unclear but the electoral agency stated that they would prefer the referendum to only feature a single question on approving or rejecting the document. If voters reject the document a constitutional assembly of elected officials is likely to be created according to Kairi Sokk. The 17th or 19th of October has been the most commonly suggested day as it would take place the day prior to or following Freedom Day in Alsland which celebrates Dellish independence and is a public holiday, as federal elections and referenda are also public holidays and cannot be scheduled to clash with another public holiday it has been suggested that the referendum should take place on an adjacent day to Freedom Day.

After the referendum act was given presidential assent the referendum date was set for 17 October.

Reception

Positive

The draft constitution was supported by the Radical Movement, Liveable Alsland, the Left Alliance, Greens and Orange Party; combined these parties have enough votes to override any stalling attempts by opponents of the drafted constitution. The draft constitution was also supported by Alslandic Trade Union Federation who had previously pushed for the inclusion of workplace democracy, of which limited aspects were included in the draft document. The BFFO organisation praised the new document as a step towards improving the accountability of governments and ensuring fiscal responsibility in the wake of the debt crisis.

Negative

The constitution was primarily opposed by the National Bloc and the Humanist Sotirian Union (HSU). The Bloc opposed the draft constitution as it saw the document as unnecessary when the current system was working as they claimed, they also stated that the document was simply too progressive and left-leaning to provide the basis for a pluralist democracy. The HSU opposed it primarily on the grounds that it called for the right to allow for euthanasia and assisted suicide which are red lines for the party's leadership. Hilda Schaaf summarised the party's view when she said: "the document as it stands has positive aspects but we cannot support it when it includes references which will pressure our sick, elderly and those who need our support into ending their own lives when instead we should be caring for those same people." After these proposals were removed the HSU dropped their opposition to the document. The Veritas Institute opposed the draft and referred to it as a "notice of submission to Priedīši". The Institute criticised the promotion of what it called 'woke values' in the document specifically relating to LGBTQ+ issues, women's rights, the rights of ethnic minorities and the economic aspect of the draft. Whilst it supported reforms to the Jus Soli law it ultimately concluded that the draft as it stood was a threat to Alslandic democracy. Hepke Veltman stated his opposition to the constitutional rewriting and hinted that he would seek to block a proposed referendum from occurring, which would be a violation of his duties as President according to legal scholars. Veltman relented on using his Presidential veto and announced he would sign the referendum bill into law.

The draft was criticised for advocating for a referendum on euthanasia and assisted suicide by many Senators, including supporters of the constitution. After the constitution was sent to the Senate, the Citizens' Assembly was criticised for trying to take over the legislative branch through this and the proposed referendum was removed from the final draft.