Artemis Baca has been elected Speaker of the Council, the first to hold such a post. She was elected with 100% of the votes cast, and one ballot had to be discounted because of an incorrect random identifying string. Voter turnout was 50%, though, since this includes inactive citizens, the participation of active citizens is likely higher.
Her election comes after several months of discussions concerning much-needed reforms in the Council of the State of Sandus, the country’s direct democratic assembly. Baca has also recently served as Minister of Diplomatic Affairs before the post was taken up by Jacob Barnet today in a ministerial shakeup that saw Al Deuchars become the new Minister of Human & Environmental Health. Baca will stay on the cabinet of the State of Sandus in her new role that sees her return to the Council’s leadership.
The new office of speaker replaces the Facilitator that led the Council from 2015 to 2021 before the post was renamed earlier this year. As part of ongoing reforms of the Council, the Council will take the next month at least considering the rules and procedures of the assembly, the length of the Speaker’s term, and procedures to recall the Speaker.
Since January 2015, the Council has been governed without clear parliamentary rules and procedures meaning that only a handful of laws have been passed, as well as a handful of decisions which are the Council’s resolutions. Citizens of the State of Sandus meet tomorrow to take part in one of Sandus’s biweekly klatsches where they will discuss the topic of the Council’s rules and procedures.
sandus.org 