Candidates announced for non-residential elections

Nominations have closed and candidates have been announced for the elections taking place on July 31st.

The upcoming elections are a historic first, being for the Divisions established at the start of the month to represent non-residential subjects in Parliament.

Any non-residential subject – that is, an Austenasian not living within an Austenasian land claim – will be entitled to vote for a Representative, depending on the region of the world in which they live.

Of the four Divisions into which the Empire’s non-residential subjects were placed, three returned only a single candidate for Representative.

Professor Sir Sanjib Bhattacharya is standing for Asia, Lord Andrew Creed is standing for Britain and Ireland, and Sir Isaiah Burdette is standing for the New World.

The non-residentials of these Divisions will therefore have the option to either vote for the sole candidate or to abstain. Should the majority of votes be abstentions, the election will be re-run for that Division, with those eligible to do so invited again to stand.

Professor Bhattacharya has served in various diplomatic capacities for the Empire since 2015, and has had an award-winning career in translation and education. Lord Creed is the incumbent Home Secretary, and took part in the Cabinet discussions for the naturalisation and representation initiative that has culminated in these elections. Sir Isaiah is one of the newly-naturalised Austenasians whose entry into the Empire made these elections so necessary, and has held various roles within the Grand Unified Micronational.

The Europe and Africa Division, on the other hand, has had three different candidates stand.

Perhaps the most well-known of these three candidates is H.E. Nitan Kumar, Austenasia’s ceremonial Ambassador to Ukraine, whose safety has been of concern due to living in the beleaguered city of Kharkiv, in which he has organised humanitarian relief.

The other two candidates for the non-residential subjects of Europe and Africa are Mr Clemens Schumann and Dr Kalin Yanev, both of whom joined Austenasia in May. Mr Schumann is running on a liberal left-wing platform, and Dr Yanev has expressed interest in developing Austenasian culture, having been conducting research on the organisation of societies and cultures for over 15 years.

Votes will be counted and the duly elected Representatives announced and take office on Tuesday 1st August, replacing four Acting Representatives appointed by Parliament upon the creation of the Divisions.

Parliamentary representation for non-residential subjects

Non-residential subjects of Austenasia will henceforth be able to vote for Representatives in Parliament, following a new law passed this evening.

This sees the culmination of efforts led by Prime Minister Lord William Wilson, whose campaign for the premiership included a pledge to see parliamentary representation for non-residential subjects (an idea originally proposed by his predecessor Lord John Gordon) finally arranged.

No parliamentary representation for non-residential subjects was provided for by the Austenasian Constitution of 2011 or its subsequent amendments, due to their historically having made up such a small proportion of Austenasia’s population.

However, in recent years the proportion of Austenasians who do not live within Austenasia itself has increased, with a notable jump in numbers happening in May earlier this year as a result of Honorary Subjects being able to apply for naturalisation.

While still technically a minority, just under half of Austenasians – 47.3% – now hold non-residential subjectship as opposed to being residential subjects living in traditionally organised territorial Towns.

The growing proportion of non-residential subjects has made it a pressing concern of the government to enable parliamentary representation for them, with the Constitution only allotting Representatives to Towns.

Today’s Act of Parliament has changed the definition of Town to include a new entity known as a Division, into which Austenasia’s seventy non-residential subjects are henceforth grouped.

Four Divisions have been established, grouping together non-residential subjects living in the British Isles, in the rest of Europe and Africa, in Asia, and in the Americas and Oceania.

Parliament has appointed a prominent non-residential from each of these regions as Acting Representative of their Division on a provisional basis until elections are organised:

• Britain and Ireland will be represented by Lord Andrew Creed, who as Home Secretary has played a leading role in the political process behind these reforms;
• Europe and Africa will be represented by Aggelos I of Imvrassia, who has experience in Parliament having served as Representative of Ionisia between 2017 and 2018;
• Asia will be represented by Shiro Mephistopheles, this year’s First Consul and outgoing Chairman of the GUM; and
• The New World will be represented by Lord Charles Ross, former Governing Commissioner of Bregusland and Director-General of Austenasian Television Productions

Non-residential subjects will be contacted over the coming few days to inform them of these reforms, and to begin organising elections for the new Divisions.

With the addition of the four above-mentioned Acting Representatives to Parliament, the House of Representatives now stands at 15 strong, the largest it has ever been.