[Sanctaria]

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[floatleft]VOL. C .. Num. 36,489[/floatleft]SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2018[floatright]1 SANCTARIAN POUND[/floatright]

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SANCTARIANS GO TO POLLS TO DECIDE ON NEW, FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES TO COUNTRY
by JOEY SESSIONS, Political Editor

Sanctus - Sanctarians are today voting in one of the most important and radical referenda since the formation of the Divine Republic in 1974 - but turnout reports from polling stations this morning suggest that many don't seem to care.

Federalisation, and significant overhauls to the 1974 Constitution, will impact the day-to-day lives of citizens, but neither the pro- nor anti-campaigns seem to have generated enough interest to get people to the ballot boxes - national turnout at 12 noon today is only estimated to be approximately 29%. With polls open until 10pm tonight, the government is hoping many late risers on the weekend will get out to vote.

Despite the lower than expected turnout, however, the government is confident the measures will pass, with all parties in the Sanctarian Parliament in favour of it. Smaller parties too have been asking their members to vote in favour of the ballot; federalised assemblies will give them a greater chance for election, particularly if some states decide to adopt different, and more subjectively more fair, electoral systems than the first-past-the-post system that the parliament operates under. One exception to these smaller parties, and the main side leading the anti-campaign is the Sanctarian People's Party, whose policies include embracing the imperial past of Sanctaria, and imploring it become a nation-conquering empire once again. The SPP typically receive less than 2% support in the polls.

Some academics have suggested that if the government had simply decided to introduce a new constitution, and thus removing the requirement the remaining seven referenda that are planned in the DLP's term, turnout would be higher since people would be more motivated to go to the polls. One leading law professor has said that, if passed, 80% of the 1974 Constitution will have been rewritten since its adoption, a significantly high amendment rate which in other countries would have spurred on a constitutional convention to rewrite the country's basic law; only the Green Party have consistently adopted an election policy of introducing a new constitution since the election in 2000.

If passed today, the government will spend the next year preparing for federalisation which, though nominally in place from 01 January 2019, will only see matters devolved and state governments functioning in January 2020, following elections which Secretary for Devolution Ben Jackson has said take place in late October 2019.

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Read more articles on the SNT website: http://snt.istariis.eu/