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4. Election Process

(1)Prior to the opening of the first voting period of the LC election, there will be a period of three days where members can nominate candidates, and candidates can accept nominations, which will commence after a region-wide telegram sent by the Election Commissioner announcing the opening of nominations. This will be followed by three days where candidates can campaign, which will commence after a region-wide telegram sent by the Election Commissioner announcing the close of nominations and start of the campaign.

(2) The election will consist of two on site polls, open to Native World Assembly members, each lasting three days. The first past the post winner of the first poll will be elected onto the Local Council, and all remaining candidates will move on to the second poll, where the top two candidates will be elected.

(3) If there are three candidates or fewer, all candidates will be automatically elected. Electees shall fill any remaining spaces on the Local Council under the terms outlined in Article 5 of this Act.

(4) Re-open nominations (RON) must be an option on both normal voting periods. If there are more than eleven candidates running, elimination rounds shall take place to reduce the field of candidates proceeding to the two normal voting rounds to eleven as follows
a. If there are exactly twelve candidates then a three day elimination poll, open to Native World Assembly members, will be conducted with the top eleven vote-receiving candidates continuing onto the set of normal voting periods.
b. If there are more than twelve candidates, the field will be split into three day elimination polls, open to Native World Assembly members, with the top eleven vote-receiving candidates over all such polls proceeding to the two normal voting rounds.

(5) In the event of a tie, all tied candidates will be elected unless the number of Local Councilors is greater than three, in which case there will be a separate three day poll for the tied candidates.

(6) In the event of RON winning a poll, any candidates elected prior to that poll will be allowed to take their place on the Local Council without running again, and the nominations would re-open for the remaining places.

(7) In the event a candidate who has won a round but is later disqualified by the Election Commissioner or the Council on Regional Security, that round’s results are voided and a new round shall be added.

(8) Members of the South Pacific Special Forces who are on deployment for the whole duration of the regional poll are eligible to cast a vote prior to the end of the poll. The Minister of Defence shall provide a list of deployed personnel to the Election Commissioner. Members on the list who send the Commissioner their vote through a telegram and a public post on the Regional Message Board which tags the Election Commissioner and notes who their vote goes towards shall have it added to the final tally.
a. Candidates for Local Council may request the list of deployed personnel from the Election Commissioner for the campaign purposes.

(9) The terms for the incoming Local Council begin when the Election Commissioner certifies the results and the Delegate assigns Regional Officer Powers, before which any and all election-related disputes must be settled. The outgoing Local Council will maintain their offices until then.

(1) A candidate may only run for one seat on the Local Council.

(2) Candidates must receive and accept a nomination on the Regional Message Board from a member of The South Pacific that is not their own account or controlled or accessible by the candidate nominated. The acceptance post must quote the nominating post in full and mention the Election Commissioner using nation tags. Nominations and declined nominations need not tag the Election Commissioner.

(3) To be eligible, a candidate must be a member of The South Pacific, and all candidates must file a full Conflict of Interest disclosure to the Election Commissioner, fully listing all nations they control and can access and disclosing any positions held in other regions.

(4) The Election Commissioner shall share the Conflict of Interest Disclosure with the Council on Regional Security to allow a security check.

(5) The CRS can prevent any candidate from running if they deem them to be a security threat.

(6) Candidates shall publicly post their Conflict of Interest disclosure in a dispatch, which may be their campaign dispatch. At the request of the candidate The Minister of Defence may authorize the waiving of the public disclosure of nations participating in South Pacific Special Forces operations. In such cases the public disclosure should state that SPSF participating nations are not listed as authorized by the Minister of Defense. The Minister of Defence shall confirm this by sending confirmation to the Election Commissioner.

(7) If, at any time before the election is certified, the Election Commissioner or the Council on Regional Security determines a candidate's Conflict of Interest Disclosure is not fully truthful, or the CRS determines a candidate represents a security threat, the candidate will be disqualified from the election.

(8) An intentional deception or omission in a Conflict of Interest, or knowingly abetting in another's claims to a false identity, wherein this fraud threatens the security of The South Pacific, or circumvents the laws and legal processes of The South Pacific, including the electoral process described in this Act, shall constitute Identity Fraud and be subject to referral for prosecution by the Election Commissioner or Council on Regional Security.

(9) Any Local Councilor can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. If they serve that maximum, they must wait for one full term before they can run in a regularly scheduled election for the Local Council again. Any member of cabinet must wait one full Local Council term after leaving the cabinet before they can run in a regularly scheduled election for the Local Council.