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Constitutional Convention Approves Slate of Amendments February 5152
Specially Appointed Representatives from the Union, Liori, and Kuragao Governments met in Kitemjiji to Vote on Constitutional Amendments
Representatives from the three major governing entities in the Kitembo Union have met to discuss a slew of propositions for constitutional amendments that have compiled over the previous decades that have gained, in recent years, greater attention by the wider public. This constitutional convention comes at the prompting of several political parties and entities, spearheaded by the Harambee, Ujamaa Mpana, and Modern parties (all three of which have been trapped in the backseat of governance, with Harambee being locked out of governing coalitions for decades and the UM and Modern being trapped in a cycle of junior partnerships).
While Harambee had taken up the banner of political decentralization for years and has made it it's prime policy at the constitutional convention, other actors have been perceived as pursuing constitutional amendments, particularly in electoral and legislative reform, for purely political reasons, hoping to do away with the presence of FPTP elections on national and Union levels and create a system that gives greater power to smaller minority parties. Even the mighty Kitembo party, which has been continuously elected the plurality party in the past several election cycles, has begun to push for reform that would likely be at the expense of its own power, as recent analyses and polls indicate an increasing disillusioning towards the KU among the population. The populist Kilamtu party has been the only major group to come out in opposition to the amendments, putting forth arguments that it would weaken the Liori and Kuragao nations' status in the KU, displaying the party's continued drift away from Pan-Kitemboism and towards Liori nationalism.
At the core of the amendments adopted at Kitemjiji is the decentralization of power away from national governments (Liore and Kurageri) and towards regions that have recently and historically called for greater sovereignty within the Union. In pursuing this, the convention replaced the system of "two nations, one Union" with "several republics, one Union," replacing the Liori and Kuragao nations with two 'National Republics' (NR) and three 'Autonomous Republics' (AR), the latter of which nominally remain apart of the former, except with much greater local powers. Both the NRs and ARs have near-sole authority over their legal codes and domestic laws and policies, with the Union government only intervening to protect recognized human and group rights. Both will also have the authority to veto any infrastructure or special projects the Union governments pursues in their territory, and are required to cooperate on projects which are approved. Legally being apart of the NRs, ARs will have a few responsibilities, including the contribution of taxes and troops to national guard units (ARs, however, cannot levy their own guard units), but will be granted special representation in NR legislatures in return.
Liore and Kurageri will become the KU's two National Republics. Nefa, a region of Liore that was annexed from and remains to be claimed by Mina, and Utukanchi na Yrasema, largely-tribal regions which have demanded autonomy after perceived government overstepping by the KU, will become two ARs within Liore. Msijani, a region similar to Utukanchi na Yrasema that has called for autonomy to protect tribal rights and environmental integrity, will become an AR within Kurageri.
The amendments also include electoral and legislative reform. The Baraza and Mtukano shall remain, however electoral districts within the Baraza will be changed from the previous provinces to the NRs and ARs, with NRs receiving three Diwanis and the ARs receiving two, for a total of twelve, Baraza power has also been drastically reduced to effectively being a rubber stamp for the Mtukano and an advisory board for the President. Representatives to the Mtukano will also now be elected in a solely proportional manner from across the entire Union, as opposed to the previous system where Liore and Kurageri would elect their own separate delegation before sending them to Kitemjiji. Membership of the Mtukano will also be decreased to 500 representatives.
The NRs and AR will form their own unicameral legislatures, with the only Union requirement being that elections be conducted in a mixed-member proportional manner, with individual electorates directly electing representatives in single-member districts on one ballot poll and vote for a party in a second ballot poll. While those representatives elected directly in the first ballot poll are directly sent to their legislature, the second poll will determine the number of representatives introduced via party list. NRs will also be required to establish a single special committee for each AR it encompasses that oversees, cooperates with, and approves all matters related to that AR. Each individual AR will be permitted to send representatives to its special committee in a manner it sees fit.