Government - Armed Forces Constitutional Change

A referendum was put forward two times in 2021 which stated that the Grand Marshal, & other high ranking paramilitary ranks could not simultaneously serve in the Long Palace, in positions such as Director or Marquis.
In both instances, the law passed.

## The First Constitutional Amendment

On the 7th of March 2021 a constitutional referendum was put forward to the Easwegian electorate which asked "Do you, say yes to separating powers in Easway so high ranking military officials (such as a Grand Marshal) can not simultaneously hold government office (Director or Marquis) in Easway?"

The referendum passed with 69.23% of the vote and was implemented on the 1st of April 2022. Metallityöt was serving as the 3rd Grand Marshal at the time as well as the 3rd Marquis of Essrina and he chose to step down as Marquis to continue serving as the Grand Marshal. The process was smooth.

## The Second Constitutional Amendment

Due to misreading of the original referendum, it was believed that it was only Marquis that were effected by the original law. Therefore once the second amendment came about, it was aimed on including Directors.

On the 28th of July 2021 a constitutional amendment was put forward in the Long Palace that asked "Do you vote yes on a constitution reform which would make the Grand Marshal position (the Commander of the Armed Forces) be disallowed from simultaneously holding office in the Directorate as a Director aswell as being the Leader of a Political Party?"

This was in response to outrage from the Easwegian Community and government representatives due to the General Secretary of the Homofascist Party of Easway using thier majority to implement what was described as an authoritarian bill known as the Anti-Homophobe Act, an act which put down restrictions on heterosexual sexual identification and logged with the government relationships citizens would engage in. There was serious concern that this was not only unconstitutional, but also dangerous considering the one implementing this policy was also the co-commander of the Easwegian state militia.

The bill passed with 8 yes votes, 4 no votes, and 1 abstention.

### Aftermath

The Referendum change, like with the first referendum change that forced Metalli to choose between Grand Marshal and Marquis of Essrina, this time gave Director Hellmut the choice between staying on as Grand Marshal and resign as Director or vice versa and also lose leadership of the HPE because of Grand Marshal neutrality laws prohibiting them from simultaneously holding the office and being the head of a political party. Hellmut ultimately chose to resign as Grand Marshal.

### Resolution to the Redundant Second Referendum and Constitutional Errors in Original Appointment

Once it was realised that the previous referendum included both Marquis and Directors, the Emizerri used an imperative executive order to mandate both votes were legal references for the amendment. The Imperial Council which at the time, before the creation of the High Court of Justice held superior judiciary powers within the Realm and voted to make a post-judgement declaration stating the previous violations of the constitution would be declared fully legal by their then new ruling and for the fact that the original referendum was not properly filed in a way that it made it clear by accessibility the intent of the original bill, and thus malace against the constitution not being provable nor assumed.

Since the second referendum and its outcomes, the Easwegian government has aimed to become more transparent and the rules clear through new filing systems, more reliance on the National Electoral Committee and a new High Court of Justice of Easway, voted in by referendum on the 22nd November 2021 which separated the superior judiciary away from the Imperial Council.