Chancellor Announcement:
Advisory CDS Citizens’ Consultation
Re: Size of the CDS Representative Assembly
Whereas:
1. Section 2 (b) of the CDS Constitution holds that:
“The Chancellor of CDS shall, subject to the laws of CDS, have the power:
…
(b) to expend monies held by the Office of the Chancellor of CDS for the administration and management of public facilities (including, but not limited to, roadways, signage, public buildings, public events and similar), and to discharge any other duties or powers of the Office of the Chancellor conferred by this Act or any other Act of the Representative Assembly”
2. The Preamble to the CDS Constitution, which is an integral an operative part thereof, states that:
“All branches of the government are bound to serve the public before themselves and to uphold the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Founding Philosophy, Constitution, local laws, the SL ToS, and Community Standards without exception.”
3. Whereas Art. 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:
“(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”
4. Whereas the Founding Philosophy of CDS, of bringing to life a democratic community in SL, was originally embodied in the Art. 1 (2) of the Original Constitution of CDS, stating that:
“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 fourty seats;
5. This fundamental constitutional provision regarding the size of the RA was modified by the RA itself without wide popular consultation to legitimate this change to its own size and composition;
6. The Chancellor is authorized by the UDHR and the Founding Philosophy of the CDS to ensure that CDS uphold its founding principle of democratic participation of all its citizens in the governance of CDS in accordance with Art. 21 (1) of the UDHR quoted above;
7. A clear interest of concerned CDS citizens desiring to discuss and express their opinion formally on this issue has been demonstrated both on the CDS forums and in in-world meetings;
Therefore:
1. An Advisory Popular Consultation Commission (APCC) is hereby appointed.
2. The mandate of the APCC is to organize open and inclusive citizen consultations within the CDS regarding the appropriate size of the RA, and hold an advisory vote designed to clarify the free and democratic will of all CDS citizens on this fundamental issue.
3. Discussions on this topic will be held at times and places to be announced by the APCC Facilitator, to be appointed by the Chancellor from a list of volunteers, on September 7, 2014;
4. The discussions outlined above will take place over a period of one month, from September 15 to October 14, 2014
5. A direct formal expression of opinion, to be expressed in writing by each CDS citizen via a notecard transmitted directly to the APCC Facilitator, will take place between October 15 and October 24.
6. The text of the question to be debated and answered by all CDS citizens wishing to do so, as outlined above, is as follows:
"The original CDS Constitution stated that: "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 fourty seats."
Should this provision of the original CDS Constitution regarding RA size be restored?"
6. The results of this Advisory CDS Citizens’ Consultation will be formally announced by the APCC Facilitator on October 25, 2014, at a time and place to be announced.
7. A call for Volunteers for the position of PACC Facilitator is hereby made by the Chancellor, and will remain open until September 6, 2014, 11 pm SL time.
8. All members of the Executive, Legislative, and Philosophic branches of CDS are disqualified from applying for the position of PACC Facilitator.