Aurora

Section 1 - Regional Identity
I - Aurora shall be a directly democratic, Soviet republic that works for the common good of its membership - hence, it shall be a Soviet Commonwealth.
II - Aurora shall be styled as ‘the Soviet Commonwealth of Aurora’. Shorter versions may include ‘the Soviet Commonwealth’ or simply ‘Aurora’.
III - Aurora shall be a leftist, anti-capitalist region - that is, a region primarily for people who hold leftist beliefs and adhere to leftist and anti-capitalist ideologies. It shall be, however, open to people who do not necessarily adhere to such ideologies and hold such beliefs, so long as said people accept the expectation that they do not attempt to change this general state of affairs.
IV - Aurora shall be a region opposed to fascism and bigotry wherever and however they appear.
V - Aurora shall be a region inclusive of all demographics with the exception of the above.
VI - The General Secretary shall be responsible for ensuring that all of these remain the case.

Section 1 - Rights of Member Nations/Residents
I - All member nations/residents shall have the rights to freedoms of: speech, information, thought, expression, assembly, and religion,
II - Provided said rights are not exercised in a fashion intended to disrespect anyone else’s: sexuality, gender/gender orientation or identity, ethnicity, religion or lack thereof, nationality, age, class, ability, and privacy,
III - And provided that said rights are not exercised in ways that are harmful, such as: discrimination, defamation, doxxing, harassment, subverting the rights of others, harming Aurora’s nature as a leftist region, spreading harmful beliefs such as fascism and far-right ideologies, and harming the continued existence and security of Aurora.

Section 2 - Rights to Citizenship and of the Citizenry
I - All residents/member nations have the right to submit a citizenship application to the Commissariat of Internal Affairs and Justice. This application may only be turned down if the relevant authorities have substantiated reason to believe:
that accepting it constitutes an unacceptable potential threat to the region’s security,
or that the individual who submitted it has violated the principles laid down in (Section 1) through previous behavior.
II - All citizens shall have equality to all other citizens before the law without discrimination or prejudice, subject to the provisions laid down in (Section 1). Citizens will have certain privileges beyond those accorded to residents/member nations who have not become citizens.
III - All citizens shall have the right, following a period of one week after their citizenship application has been accepted, to participate in the Soviet Commonwealth’s political and legislatory process as members of the People’s Assembly.

Section 3 - Further Rights
I - All residents/member nations that have not become citizens shall have equality to all other such residents/member nations before the law without discrimination or prejudice, subject to the provisions laid down in (Section 1).
II - All residents/member nations shall have the right to privacy at all times.
III - All citizens and residents/member nations shall have the right, should they be ejected or banned from the region for rule violations, to be informed why they were so punished, and to appeal such punishment, at any point after. Should such an appeal come from a citizen, it will be handled by the justice system, and should it come from a resident, it will be discussed by moderation.

Section 1 - The General Secretary
I - The head of state of Aurora shall be known as the General Secretary.
II - The General Secretary shall serve until such a time as they wish to resign, or are forced to by a supermajority (¾) vote of the People’s Assembly. When this occurs, a new one shall be elected from the citizenry by popular vote.
III - The General Secretary shall be responsible for the direct administration of the online platforms that constitute the Soviet Commonwealth of Aurora. They shall be assisted in this by other administrators.
IV - The General Secretary shall be responsible, as laid out in (Article 1, Section 1, V), for ensuring that all provisions of Article 1 remain upheld. To that end they may maintain a Commission of Revolutionary Security, to aid them in this endeavour.
V - Additionally, the General Secretary shall serve as head of government when the Premier is not available, or before a new Premier is elected.

Section 2 - The Premier
I - The head of government of Aurora shall be known as the Premier.
II - The Premier shall be elected from the citizenry by popular vote, to serve a term of four months, with a limit of two terms served consecutively.
III - The Premier shall be responsible for leading the Auroran government.
IV - This shall include convening the Soviet of People’s Commissars, ensuring its smooth operation, tallying the votes on executive decisions taken collectively within it, and generally directing government business.
V - The Premier shall have the responsibility of appointing new Commissars, should they wish, upon the start of their term, or if a Commissar is impeached by popular vote.
VI - The Premier or the People’s Assembly with a majority vote holds the right to trigger an election for any position in The Soviet of People’s Commissars.
VII - The Premier shall have the authority to make executive decisions in times of urgency when it is not possible to convene the Soviet of People’s Commissars in the necessary timeframe.

Section 3 - The Soviet of People’s Commissars
I - The power to make executive decisions within Aurora shall be vested collectively in the Soviet of People’s Commissars (abbreviated as ‘Sovnarkom’).
II - The Sovnarkom will be led by the Premier with the General Secretary serving as deputy.
III - The Soviet of People’s Commissars, in addition to the above, comprise all regional Commissars (Information and Education, External Affairs, Culture, Internal Affairs and Justice), and the People’s Deputy, all of whom must be citizens.
IV - The regional Commissars shall be appointed by the Premier at the start of each term. There is no limit on the number of terms for which they may serve. They may be impeached by a ⅔rds supermajority of the People’s Assembly or resign at any point, in which case the Premier will appoint a replacement.
V - The Sovnarkom must, when practical, exercise its power collectively - that is, executive decisions should be authorized by a majority vote of it.
VI - The Sovnarkom may determine at any time, through the above method, to remove one of its members with the exception of the General Secretary and the Premier. This is subject to veto by the People’s Assembly, should it wish to do so.
VII - All decisions of the Sovnarkom are subject to veto by the People’s Assembly through a ⅔rds supermajority vote, should it wish to do so.
VIII - The Sovnarkom shall operate on principles of democratic centralism - that is, while decisions should be taken collectively, once they are taken they are binding on all of its members.

Section 4 - Commissars
I - The Commissars of Aurora shall comprise those given the duty of maintaining, operating and developing certain parts of Aurora’s affairs
II - The Commissars shall be as follows:
III - The Commissar of Internal Affairs and Justice shall have the duty of organising and presiding over People’s Tribunals, operating the means by which residents/members of Aurora apply for citizenship, and evaluating said applications. They shall also have the duty of enforcing general regional rules and law and maintaining the region’s internal security with respect to non-ideological threats. If necessary, they may maintain a Commissariat of Internal Affairs to aid them in one or both of these endeavors, albeit they must approve each citizenship application themselves. Any moderators outside of the Sovnarkom shall be part of this Commissariat.
IV - The Commissar of External Affairs shall be responsible for the maintenance and expansion of Aurora’s diplomatic relations with other regions. This shall include the approval/denial of embassy requests, the proposing of embassies with other regions, the opening of diplomatic talks, the posting of foreign affairs updates to allied regions, general diplomatic discussions, and the proposal and negotiation of treaties. They shall be additionally tasked with ensuring that regions with which Aurora has some form of relations are in compliance with Aurora’s embassy policy, and the command of any Auroran militia/military force. If they wish, they may maintain a Commissariat of External Affairs to aid them in these endeavors. Any Ambassadors appointed to allied/embassy regions that request it will be part of this Commissariat.
V - The Commissar of Culture shall be responsible for the maintenance, organization and operation of Aurora’s roleplay and other parts of its internal cultural scene, such as movie and game nights and other such events. They may maintain a Commissariat of Culture to aid them in these endeavors.
VI - The Commissar of Information and Education shall be responsible for operating an official news service for Aurora which is tasked specifically with reporting on governmental news in addition to other news activities, and also responsible for providing educational material for new members of the region to inform them of how to play NS, what Aurora has to offer, and how, generally, to get involved. They shall also have the responsibility of assisting members of Aurora in their own self-education with regards to leftist ideologies and literature. They may maintain a Commissariat of Information and Education to assist them in these endeavors.

Section 1 - Legislature and legislation
I - Legislative power shall be held collectively by all the citizens of Aurora.
II - The membership shall exercise said legislative power through the People’s Assembly.
III - All citizens of Aurora automatically gain People’s Assembly membership and the associated rights to participate in the political and legislatory process one week after gaining citizenship, unless prevented from doing so as punishment for an offence, handed down by a lawfully constituted People’s Tribunal.
IV - The People’s Assembly shall have the right and duty to create and vote on any legislation for Aurora, by a procedure it shall determine, so long as the legislation does not contradict this Constitution.
V - The People’s Assembly shall have the sole right to provide final approval for, or withdraw, any diplomatic agreements/treaties put forth to it by the Sovnarkom and/or the Commissar of External Affairs.
VI - The People’s Assembly, via a 2/3rds supermajority, shall have the right to veto decisions collectively taken by the Sovnarkom.
VII - Citizens may create and operate political parties within the People’s Assembly, with the proviso that each party must consist of three or more members. However, parties are not fundamental to the political system of Aurora, and should not be treated as such. They shall serve merely as voluntary associations of citizens with common political interests, and parties shall be forbidden from sanctioning or expelling their members for not voting according to the party’s line.
VIII - The People’s Assembly may create and pass pieces of legislation - to be known as ‘bills’ prior to ratification and ‘acts’ or ‘laws’ after they have successfully passed - on any topic it wishes. Laws, however, must not contradict this Constitution (unless they are amendments and seek to rewrite sections of it, of course, and even then, they should not constitute fundamental alterations of its principles). They may be used to elaborate on sections of it where, when and if such elaboration proves necessary, but they should not contradict it in letter or spirit.
IX - Aspects of law that this Constitution does not cover, treaties with other regions, declarations of war, et cetera shall all constitute valid topics for a piece of legislation, although no topic is technically prohibited (except as relating to Section VIII, above).
X - Once passed, pieces of legislation shall be added to the Codex of Laws. This shall be a document listing all current and former laws, acts, and constitutional amendments, and shall be maintained and updated by the People’s Deputy.

Section 2 - The People’s Deputy
I - The People’s Assembly shall elect from its membership a People’s Deputy every four months (concurrently with the Premier elections).
II - The People’s Deputy shall have the duty of representing the People’s Assembly on the Sovnarkom, and the additional duty of organizing the People’s Assembly (voting sessions, recording legislation and proposals, etc). The exact details of this are to be defined by statutory legislation.
III - As detailed above, the People’s Deputy shall be responsible for maintaining a Codex of Laws.
III - The People’s Deputy shall further have the responsibility to ensure that the government remains accountable and transparent to the People’s Assembly.
IV - To that end, the People’s Deputy has the power to request accounts of what each Commissariat has done for the past two weeks or one month, a request that may only be turned down citing regional security or privacy (per Article 2) concerns with the approval of the Premier or the General Secretary.
V - The People’s Deputy is responsible for overseeing the elections and randomly choosing 2-4 citizens for verifying electoral integrity, or alternatively another method of verifying electoral integrity may be defined by statutory legislation if that proves more practical, as long as it remains accountable to democratic authority.

Section 1 - Overview of Unions
I - A union shall be a term for a voluntary organisation of Auroran citizens, dedicated to the accomplishment of a specific goal or set of goals, the performance of a specific task or set of tasks, or the promotion and discussion of a specific interest or set of interests (excepting political interests, at least as related to Auroran politics).
II - Unions fall into three categories, workers’ unions, creative unions and cultural unions. III - Workers’ unions shall be dedicated to a specific purpose or set of purposes relating to the region (for instance, regional recruitment, increasing RMB activity, etc). Although anyone may form one, no union shall have the purpose of another union.
IV - Creative unions shall be dedicated to the creation of media (e.g banners, flags, maps, dispatches, songs/anthems etc) for the region and its members.
V - Cultural unions shall be dedicated to the promotion and discussion of specific non-political interests.
VI - Further clarification on this may be added in statutory legislation.

Section 2 - Unions and the Government
I - The government of Aurora may organise workers’ and creative unions for the above-stated purposes.
II - It may choose to do this with one encompassing workers’ union and one encompassing creative union, or split them up on a Commissariat basis.
III - Any such unions must not be involved in matters relating to moderation, justice or foreign/external affairs.

Section 3 - Governance of Unions
I - Unions shall be governed through collective decision-making if practical.
II - With the exception of situations where members of the Sovnarkom may see the need to take more direct control of governmental unions.

Section 1 - Purposes of the People’s Tribunals
I - The People’s Tribunals system shall serve the purpose of the judiciary of Aurora.
II - This shall include lawsuits brought by members against other members, lawsuits brought by members against the Soviet Commonwealth (e.g challenging moderation decisions), and lawsuits brought by the Soviet Commonwealth against members.
III - This shall not include suits regarding the perceived constitutional legality of decisions taken by the Sovnarkom or the People’s Assembly - that is a duty for the Commissar of Internal Affairs and Justice alone, or the General Secretary if they are implicated in the suit.
IV - The People’s Tribunals will not be a standing organization, they shall be convened as required (i.e when a lawsuit is brought).

Section 2 - Operation of the People’s Tribunals
I - When a People’s Tribunal is convened, the Commissar of Internal Affairs and Justice shall be responsible for the operation of the court, the collection of statements from the accused and the plaintiff, and the final delivery of the judgment. It is their duty to be fair and impartial in this - if they are accused by either the plaintiff or defendant as not being so, or recuse themself from the case on the basis that they believe they cannot be impartial, another member of the Sovnarkom - one which all parties can agree will be sufficiently impartial - will take their place.
II - The accused and the plaintiff shall have the right and responsibility to serve as their own prosecution and defense - ‘lawyers’ are not permitted. They may ask the Commissar of Internal Affairs and Justice to take statements from other members of the region on their behalf.
III - Once both sides have presented their arguments, the arguments shall be put to a jury consisting of an odd number of not less than 5 members, selected randomly from the citizens of the region.
V - The jury shall be given a period of time of not less than 48 hours and not more than a week to decide on a verdict.
VI - The Commissar shall then have the responsibility to take the jury’s verdict into account when sentencing.
VII - The sentence may be overturned by the General Secretary or the Premier should they wish to do so.
VIII - The sentence may be appealed by the defendant, either to the People’s Assembly (which will vote on whether to overturn it, not including the plaintiff or defendant) or to a new People’s Tribunal, with a different composition.

Section 1 - Procedures on Amendments
I - Any citizen may propose an amendment to this Constitution to the People’s Assembly, which then will require a two-thirds supermajority to pass it.
II - Amendments are subject to veto by the General Secretary or the Premier, should they wish to.
III - Once an amendment passes, it will come into force within one week of its passage.
IV - Minor amendments, such as corrections to spelling or grammatical errors, or clarification of sections, may be undertaken without a democratic process, with the authorization of the General Secretary, so long as there is no substantive change in the overall meaning of the section so amended.

Section 2 - Procedures on Repeal and Replacement
I - Should this Constitution become outdated or no longer fit for purpose, it may be repealed.
II - Should this be the case, a citizen may propose to repeal this Constitution by obtaining signatures from at least 30% of the region’s citizens.
III - Should this occur, the People’s Assembly shall then vote on repealing this Constitution. Should a repeal proposal pass with at least 70% of the vote, this Constitution shall be considered repealed within one week of the passage of such a repeal.
IV - If that occurs, the standing Sovnarkom shall have the task of drafting a replacement and submitting it to the People’s Assembly for approval and amendment.