2023 Entropan Global ACES membership referendum

23 September 2023 - 30 September 2023
Should Entropan join the Global ACES program?
Results
Results Votes % Yes 11,461,313 62.25% No 6,948,985 37.75% Valid votes 18,410,298 94.05% Invalid or blank votes 1,165,315 5.95% Total votes 19,575,613 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 20,985,013 93.28%
Results by Province

On 20 September 2023, a petition in Entropan to join the Global ACES program passed the 100,000 signatures required to warrant its contents being held as a national referendum. The referendum is currently ongoing, with voting starting on 23 September 2023, and ending on 30 September 2023. It is the first referendum held nationwide in Entropan on the subject of joining the Global ACES program, and comes following a substantial increase in support for the program, mainly due to shocks such as the Shaoyu Crisis leading many in the public to be in support of dismantling Entropanian neutrality.

The referendum reached the 100,000 signatures quorum in the 2 weeks following the endorsement given by current Chairperson Håkon Martinsen in a surprise press conference held on 2 September 2023. This press conference came following controversy that surrounded the government's inaction in regards to the discovery of the Shaoyu Island genocide, with widespread views that the action they had taken regarding Zloveshchiy, and Zloveshchiyan ally New Illyricum was insufficient. Polling indicates that around 60% of Entropanians are in favour of joining Global ACES.

After a week-long period in which Title 1.4 was invoked, which made voting in the referendum compulsory under threat of fine, the referendum ended on 30 September 2023, with 58.7% voting Yes, and 35.3% voting No, which meant that Entropan then officially applied for membership of Global ACES , and after the application was accepted, a Committee was then formed on 2 October 2023, titled the Global ACES Integration Committee, with several high-ranking members of the National Council being part of it, with the intention of "properly discussing how integration with the Global ACES program would work.

Background

In August 2023, an investigation by the Pavulturilori National Security Service found evidence of a genocide perpetrated on the internationally disputed territory of Shaoyu Island, perpetrated by the government of Zloveshchiy, with estimations of 8 million Shaoyunese people, mainly being made up by dissidents against the Zloveshchiyan government. When news of the genocide was made public and the OU Task Force for Shaoyu was established by the Ostlandet Union, the government of Entropan, headed by the Progressive Socialist Party, issued a statement in support of the Task Force's attempt to invade Shaoyu and end Zloveshchiyan occupation of the island. The statement read:

The Government of Entropan wholly condemns the actions of the Zloveshchiyan government. The Government offers its full diplomatic support to other democratic countries in doing whatever may be necessary to relinquish Zloveshchiyan control of the island, and will discuss what measures the Democratic Federation of Entropan could take regarding the matter.

This statement garnered widespread approval, with its Twitter post gaining over 100,000 likes within 2 days of it being published.

Within the next week, Chairperson Håkon Martinsen appeared on broadcasters The Sentinel, the National Observer, and The New Independent, giving interviews, specifically regarding key legislation being passed in the National Council at the time. When asked for comment on what the Entropanian government would be doing regarding the Shaoyu crisis, in each of the three interviews Martinsen said:

We are keeping our options open and will undertake rigorous debate in the National Council on what we will do regarding Shaoyu.

On 29 August 2023, the Conservative Party of Entropan published a campaign video on all their social media. The video featured Martinsen, in the three interviews, being asked questions about the Shaoyu crisis, with the videos syncing up when Martinsen gave his answer, which was the same in all three instances. It was then followed by red bold text stating "No plans for liberating Shaoyu" overlayed onto a black bar covering his head. The post was widely successful. It gained over 100,000 likes on Twitter, 1,000,000 views on various video sites, and managed to increase their polling numbers by nearly 5 percentage points, and was accompanied by most broadcasters, including Progressive Socialist-aligned broadcasters such as The Sentinel, taking a decidedly negative turn towards the policy of the governmnet.

The day later, Angerlannguaq Leite, the leader of the Social Liberal Party, the third largest party behind the Progressive Socialists and Greens, and a decisive part of the ruling Maldekstro coalition, held an impromptu rally, wherein he criticised Martinsen's approach to the Shaoyu crisis, and got from that to criticising Entropanian neutrality in world affairs, citing previous negative comments by Martinsen about the Alliance of Central Ecrosian States, ending with Leite calling for Entropan to "end this embarrassing neutrality, join Global ACES, and start defending democracy and liberty in action". This speech was widely aired, and polling the next day later showed a 10 percentage point increase in popularity for the Social Liberal Party, and, for the first time since ACES formed in 1982, a majority of the Entropanian public had favourable opinions of the alliance, and wanted to join the Global ACES program.

On 1 September 2023, General Questions was held in the National Council, in which Angerlannquaq Leite asked the first question, departing from the usual schedule of General Questions, in which the Leader of the Opposition, currently Conservative Leader Erke Lindahl, would ask the first question. Angerlannquaq Leite asked the question

It has been over a week since the OU commission to Akvakita Island found the Zloveshchiyan Government guilty of a genocide on the island with the death toll reported to be up to 8 million, and yet the Government has not given a single actual action on the matter. The governments in the Ostlandet Union, and several allies around the world have now began to set military forces towards the liberation of Akvakita Island. Will the Government commit to a course of action that will liberate the people of Akvakita Island from their genocidal rulers?

Håkon Martinsen responded to that question with:

I would like my Colleague to know that this Government has been working tirelessly, day after day, figuring the best options that would be available for Entropanian response to the discovery of genocide on the Akvakita Island.

The media backlash from this answer was immense, with Martinsen's polling numbers dropping to below 30% positive in the immediate aftermath. Angerlannquaq Leite, Erke Lindahl, and other Party Leaders, including others in the ruling Left coalition, publicly discussed their dissatisfaction with the Government's approach to Shaoyu, and media headlines in some of the largest media outlets showed negative sentiments among the general populace.

On 4 September 2023, 3 days after the General Questions, Martinsen held a surprise Press Conference in the Press Conference room of the National Council, wherein he announced a sudden change in policy, with him backing a petition to hold a referendum on Entropanian membership of Global ACES, and intending on pushing the then in-Committee Communist Blockade and Declaration of Military Action Bill out of Committee, to speed up Entropanian response.

Petitions

Petition system

In Entropan, under the 2022 Constitution, petitions are started by members of the public, filed through the appropriate channels (by filing to any level of council, which will then be passed up to the correct authority), are able to prompt referendums on laws, motions, and statements of governance, with only Constitutional amendment being the responsibility of the National Council.

There are 4 types of petitions. There are federate petitions, which affect matters of the authority of a city or federate rural division, in which the petition will be sent up to the relevant council and their provisions enacted at the condition that "2% of the electorate of that area had approved it, and a majority has approved it via referendum". There are provincial petitions, which affect matters of the authority of a provincial council, in which the petition will be sent up to the relevant council and referendum on them put into form at the condition that "1% of the electorate of that province had approved it, and a majority has approved it via referendum". Then there are National Petitions, which affect the entirety of Entropan, including proposed amendments, legislation, and motions for recognition, which require 100,000 petitions in order to become referendums, at an absolute majority approval in which the provisions are enacted by the Ministry of State.

There is a mechanism for ward petitions, for issues that affect ward councils, which constitutionally requires "1,000 residents of the ward" in order to pass through, but that has recently been up for debate in the National Council, due to it causing issues in wards with very low populations where it is seen as impossible to garner enough support for successful petitioning, and in wards with very high populations in urban centres where ward councils have often been overwhelmed by petition requests.

Global ACES petition

The petition for the referendum, with the code NP00013389, was filed on 1 September 2023, by Ååjjaž Innož, an Uryha campaigner for the Social Liberal Party. The name of the petition was "Hold a referendum on whether Entropan should apply for Global ACES", and the full text of the provisions of the petition read:

Within a week of petition Significance, hold a National Referendum with the question "Should Entropan join Global ACES?", and, after the Voting Period of the Referendum (1 week), if the result is an absolute majority voting for "Yes", apply for Entropanian membership of the Global program of the Alliance of Central Ecrosian States, and, were the application to be accepted, set up a Temporary Committee to fully integrate Entropan within the institutions and programs of Global ACES.

Administration

Eligibility to Vote

The right to vote in the referendum in Entropan is defined by the 2022 Constitution as those who are citizens of Entropan or resident within Entropan and officially registered, or those who have received amnesty or asylum from "the authorities responsible to do so". The electorate of 20,985,013 represented 85.6% of the population of 24,500,000, with the voting restrictions having been loosened due to the Elections and Referendums Act 2023. Entropanian citizens abroad were also able to vote, though mail-in ballots were not considered valid for these people.

The Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 1985, as amended, also permit certain citizens and nationals who had once lived in Entropan, but had since and in the meantime lived outside of Entropan, but for a period of no more than 15 years, to vote.

The minimum age for voters in the referendum was set to 14 years, in line with the Representation of the People Act, as amended, and a then-experimental measure in which voter registration would be automatic, tied to the Universal ID of every citizen and registered national, was put into place for the first time in the referendum.

This meant that the referendum had the highest electorate of any referendum or election in Entropanian history, as, according to the Minister of Democracy, Áidnu Sen, "[the referendum], being the first in which Title 1.4 has been invoked, [...] served as a way to put a lot of the Department of Democracy initiatives to increase voter participation and representation into real action, to see how effectively the populace could get energised and encouraged to participate in the referendum".

Voting methods

In accordance with the Petitions and Referenda Procedure Act 2023, voting for the referendum was to be done over a week, starting at 1200 TSS on 23 September 2023, and ending at 1200 TSS on 30 September 2023, the period being for over a week. Some 23,000 polling stations were opened for the week, staffed by over 75,000 poll workers. Postal ballots were also permitted in the referendum, and were sent out to eligible voters 3 days after voting had started.

However, for the first time in Entropanian history, the majority of votes were cast online, in accordance with the recently rolled out Online Voting Plan by the Department of Online Affairs, legally aided by the passage of the Voting Methods and Procedure Act 2023. According to the Office for National Statistics, 53.6% of votes were cast online through the official Government website, 26.4% were cast through in-person voting, and 20% through postal ballots.

Title 1.4

In the 2022 Entropanian Constitution, Title 1.4 refers to a procedure where "Via unanimous consent of the executive provided no objection from the legislature or a Combined Referendum of lower councils, or via three-quarters consent of the legislative body, a fine of no more than the equivalent valuation of 100 felcoes at the levels of 2022 can be placed upon an individual's failure to cast a vote in a particular election or referendum". This provision, for allowing mandatory voting to be in place at particular times, means that decision of the Cabinet or two thirds vote of the National Council can allow not voting in an election or a referendum being designated a particular fine, however the Cabinet decision needs to be approved by the National Council in order to be valid.

This was invoked for the first time in the 2023 Global ACES membership referendum, by a unanimous decision of the Cabinet, announced at General Questions on 20 September 2023, with the fine being set at 50 felcoes. The three days following the decision, before the referendum was held, involved the National Council debating the measure in 2 debates, with the Constitution Committee being called to grasp on the notions of an invocation of Title 1.4. During this debating stage, the Combined Authority for the Provincial Councils was called into session, with the vote of the members of the Provincial Combined Authority meaning that the third debate would be devolved to members of Provincial Councils, who ended up passing a Motion after the debate, titled the "Motion on the Devolved Discussion of Title 1.4 in Reference to the Global ACES Referendum", concluding that the invocation of Title 1.4 was acceptable.

After receiving the issue back from the Provincial Combined Authority, the National Council ended up passing an Emergency Motion (Emergency Motions being distinguished from the usual Acts, as they deal with one or a few actions due to be performed by the National Council, instead of continuous actions that would require Acts), titled the "Emergency Motion on Title 1.4 Invocation for the September Global ACES Membership Referendum", in which the National Council allowed Title 1.4 to be invoked, after heavy debate on the issue.