2023 Chawosaurian Constitutional Referendum

> *For a similarly controversial but different referendum, see 2018 Age of Smartphone Referendum*
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> *Part of the 2023 Chawosaurian elections*
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## National Popular Referendum

### Question

"Should the Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria be the official constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria?"

## Referendum Results

### Result

The Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria has been narrowly approved.

### Valid Votes

40,701,210,058 (excluding the Neutral Vote)

## Map of Results

Red districts show opposition to the Imperial Constitution; blue districts show support for the Imperial Constitution.

### Map

Electoral results of the 2023 Chawosaurian Constitutional Referendum

The **2023 Chawosaurian Constitutional Referendum** (also known as **Referendum 23**) was a Chawosaurian constitutional plebiscite that was held on Friday, March 3, 2023 (early voting began on February 26, 2023), to approve or reject the proposed Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria. Referendum 23 is the most significant and most consequential referendum since Referendum 18 back in 2018, nearly five years prior. Referendum 23 was triggered by Election Resolution I-2022 issued by the 2020-2024 Chawosaurian Government on September 5, 2022, effectively starting the campaign, rather than holding it on the day of the 2024 Chawosaurian mid-term elections and the purpose of that move was to further frustrate the Chawosaurian anti-abortion movement's already losing battle to lobby the Imperial Assembly of the Chawopolis Palace to pass the Protection of Life Act of 2022. Referendum 23 was held to approve the entirety of the constitution after its supreme laws became effective on the same day as a result of the Constitution Act of 2022 which retired the old constitution, and after the 2022 Chawosaurian Constitutional Convention to approve the Imperial Constitution's amendments.

The Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria was approved by a bare plurality of 40% to 39.8%, a narrow margin of 0.2%. It survived and avoided the fate of the proposed progressive constitution for Chile that was presented for referendum in September 2022 and was defeated in a landslide there. The 2023 referendum was a pyrrhic victory for Supreme Leader Shang Jong Parker, his administration, and his government; the Imperial Constitution had a very weak performance, failing to win even by a bare majority and performed weakly across the board, performing poorly amongst places where it lost and won. Rural and exurbs hold the heaviest levels of conservatism and libertarianism, people who despise Supreme Leader Parker the most, and the suburbs holds the reputation in politics as the place where extremism goes to die and that is especially true in American politics, and suburban Chawosaurians viewed the Imperial Constitution as "radical" and the Imperial Constitution's support among metro and urban Chawosaurians was weak due to concerns about Supreme Leader Parker being allowed to change the government and its structure the way he wished and nobody held him accountable.

Unlike the 2018 Age of Smartphone Referendum, this is a widely unpopular constitutional plebiscite. 70-80% of Chawosaurians in public opinion polls believed this is government overreach by Supreme Leader Shang Jong Parker and a power grab for the ruling Socialist Coalition to benefit socialism and marginalize dissent. But despite this, the Imperial Constitution still offers what Chawosaurians believe to be badly needed reforms, making Chawosaurians desiring the Imperial Constitution over its old and failing one. The Imperial Constitution satisfy Shang Jong Parker's 2019 election promises of reform and democratization which he long desired for Chawosauria since the Revolutions of 1989, and Chawosaurians are willing to award Parker for keeping his election promises by reluctantly supporting the Imperial Constitution. Parker's liberal allies supported the Imperial Constitution, those who didn't are conservatives.

Controversies that threatened to sink the Imperial Constitution is its mass democratization of Chawosauria itself, which alienated both rural and culturally conservative Chawosaurians who lived through the Cold War, rooted for the Soviet Union, and are strongly and staunchly opposed to democracy as chaotic and unworkable, resulting in the Imperial Constitution to show weak poll numbers in rural Chawosauria compared to urban and suburban Chawosauria, giving the Imperial Constitution some hope to still survive, but there's another controversy: the so-called Biden Rule, which states a person above the age of 80 cannot run for office, which authors of the Biden Rule believed it was sensible but to their surprise, large percentages of Chawosaurians unexpectedly interpreted the Biden Rule as age discrimination, resulting in the Imperial Constitution's supports to disassociate the Biden Rule from the Imperial Constitution by minimizing the relevance of the issue.

The Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria narrowly prevailed in the March 3 referendum, therefore set to become law by July 1, 2023 and barely dodging the fate of the proposed constitution in Chile a few months prior. However, the margin of victory was still a disappointment for the constitution's supporters. The margin of victory was 0.2% and it won without even a bare majority of the vote. Suburban, exurban, and rural opposition to the Imperial Constitution was very strong but support for the Imperial Constitution amongst urban and metropolitan Chawosaurians was very weaker than expected due to big city intellectuals and highly educated Chawosaurians questioning Shang Jong Parker's right to change the government in his making without facing or have any regard for checks and balances.

The Imperial Constitution survived widespread public opposition because the yes vote had superior levels of turnout compared to the no and neutral vote, however, the yes vote had a weaker than the no and present vote if smushed together, but the non-yes vote was divided between no and neutral, allowing the yes side to have a narrow pathway. The yes vote had mild support from urban communities in Chawosauria, while the Imperial Constitution faced heavy pushback from rural and suburban areas in Chawosauria. Issues that heavily drained public support for the Imperial Constitution was its universally unpopular age limits on politicians, insultingly dubbed as "the Biden rule", and the fact that the Imperial Constitution was part of Supreme Leader Shang Jong Parker's domestic agenda, therefore there were Chawosaurians, particularly in the suburbs, who felt deeply uncomfortable with a Supreme Leader changing the rules of government entirely in his own liking.

Immediately after the referendum was called, the constitution supporters' fingers pointed directly at Supreme Leader Shang Jong Parker, the man who pushed this constitutional change, only to get a pyrrhic victory out of it. There was a widely asked question to Parker as to whether this constitutional plebiscite was really worth it, and what was the point of it. Anti-Parker sentiment grew even greater and he has become a drag on the Chawosaurian Communist Party heading into the 2024 Chawosaurian midterm elections. But after the referendum, the Imperial Constitution gained significantly in popularity, seeing a quick and sharp rise in its favorable ratings amongst the Chawosaurian public.

Despite the Imperial Constitution's rise in popularity, age limits on public office did not gain any popularity at all. Age limits on public office was greatly tarnished by scathing accusations of ageism and efforts to repeal or reform age limits gained momentum, leading to serious repeal threats such as the potential proposal of Major Amendment XVI, which defines retirement in Chawosauria as a personal choice for Chawosaurians over 65 instead of it being a requirement by the government, and it extends to Chawosaurian politicians as well. Supporters of age limits were forced to come up with compromises, such as mental competency tests for Chawosaurian political officials over age 80 after previously criticizing such proposal as "ineffective".

## History

The Empire of Chawosauria was established in 1900 following the Chawo-Wolfsberg War, the Imperial Charter of the Empire of Chawosauria and the Chawosaurian Book of Laws were implemented and rose to power in the 1900s. The officially first Supreme Leader of the Empire of Chawosauria was Emperor Santiago, ruling from 1900 to 1975, mainly with little or non-specified limits on his office, but he was politically unchecked until the disastrous 1945 Chawosaurian legislative elections, where the Chawallian Communist Party led by Timothy Max Roosevelt, won landslide control of the Imperial Assembly of the Chawopolis Palace and bolstered to official supermajority control in 1949, and Timothy Max Roosevelt went on to become Supreme Leader in 1976, replacing Emperor Santiago, and he greatly ruled Chawosauria without not even a bloc of checks and balances.

Timothy Max Roosevelt died in 2011 and Chawosauria fell under turmoil, the bloody Chawosaurian Revolution for the future of a post-Roosevelt Chawosauria in terms of a form of government for Chawosauria, but the Chawosaurian Revolution turned even more bloodier by 2015, thrown Chawosauria into a civil war that lasted from 2016 to 2019, the second stage of the civil war turned even more out of control with the rise of Bismarckia. But the civil war ended in 2019 and the overall Chawosaurian Revolution ended along with the war negotiated with the Treaty of Bucharest, one piece of the formulation of the Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria.

During the cracking down of the civil war, Supreme Leader Degotoga K. Atagulkalu, another formulation of the Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria, starting in 2018, navigated a wave of renewed reforms called the First Arsenals of Socialism that made serious government programs and progressive laws, much of these will be in the Imperial Constitution, enstoning DKA's legacy. DKA died in 2019 and the new Supreme Leader is Ekewaka Mikala Kalawai'a. Ekewaka Kalawai'a oversaw the end of the Chawosaurian Civil War, and he used his short term to use peace negotiations of the Treaty of Bucharest to establish the Continent Union, and he had the 24th Chawopolis Palace pass serious democratization reforms that will effect the upcoming 2019 Chawosaurian elections, and those initiatives truly laid the groundwork for the possibility of a new constitution.

During the 2019 Chawosaurian elections, former Prime Minister Shang Jong Parker, running for Supreme Leader in the 2019 Chawosaurian direct election to unseat Kalawai'a, ran on a promise to not only continue DKA and Kalawai'a's reforms, but to continue passing them by enshrining them as well as his own reform proposals into a new constitution, as well as perusing a green new deal to address climate change and a Second Arsenals of Socialism. Parker defeated Kalawai'a in a landslide and swept his communist party to absolute power in the 2019 elections, and the communists came to power on January 1, 2020, resulting in the inauguration of the 2020-2024 Chawosaurian Government.

## Results and Analysis

Results of the 2023 Empire of Chawosauria Constitutional Referendum
 Neutral Votes
 Invalid
 Total Votes

The Imperial Constitution was approved into permanent law by a bare plurality, 40.0% of Chawosaurians voting to confirm its legal legitimacy. 39.8% of Chawosaurians voted against the Imperial Constitution and 20.3% of Chawosaurians voted Neutral. Excluding the Neutral Vote, the margin would be 50.1 to 49.9% in favor of the Imperial Constitution, giving it a bare majority in that scenario and still gives the Imperial Constitution a bare victory of 0.2%. Most of the Neutral Vote are supporters of the Imperial Constitution as well, but voting for it directly would give Shang Jong Parker the award for changing the rules of government all by himself as Supreme Leader of the Empire of Chawosauria as he pleased.

As expected, rural, exurban, and suburban Chawosaurians are opposed to the Imperial Constitution, they view it as radical and extreme. But is unexpected is the weaker than expected support among urban and metro area Chawosaurians, stronger-than-expected opposition comes from intellectuals and big city moderates who questioned Shang Jong Parker's right to change the rules of the Imperial Government of the Empire of Chawosauria without checks and balances.

Voter turnout varied, but disproportionately, turnout was high in places where the Imperial Constitution had support while turnout was low in places where the Imperial Constitution suffered stiff opposition. Metro and urban areas have higher populations, therefore stronger and diverse economies, and the rural areas have fewer people and only limited economies. Those are reasons why the vote was so narrow. On March 25, 2023, turnout figures were released, it showed the turnout overall in the whole 2023 Chawosaurian elections was far below 40% Chawosauria-wide, maybe even below 30% of the Chawosaurian general public who voted against 70% who did not and mainly due to the Imperial Constitution and its association with Shang Jong Parker, showing how unpopular Shang Jong Parker has become amongst apolitical Chawosaurians, most of whom voted for him in the 2019 Chawosaurian direct election and are now expressing regret for voting for him and voting at all in the 2019 Chawosaurian elections, meaning turnout in the upcoming 2024 Chawosaurian elections will likely be low from 2019. Reasons for the surging voter apathy amongst Chawosaurians is both the Imperial Constitution and the Chawo-Uralic War.

New Zealand's opposition to the Imperial Constitution was a surprise and so was the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh's support for the Imperial Constitution.

The few places where the Imperial Constitution enjoyed widespread or considerable support are the following countries: Canada, Holland, Belgium, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Colombia, a total of just ten countries. The cities where the Imperial Constitution also won some major cities worldwide. In the United States, the Imperial Constitution was able to win the hearts and minds of most of its mostly liberal states. There are 195 countries in the world, and with the Imperial Constitution only winning 10 of them, it lost the nation-count in a landslide, losing 185 countries. It is surprising and heartbreaking to the Imperial Constitution's supporters that most of the liberal countries in the world have rejected the Imperial Constitution, only Canada, the Netherlands, and Belgium have accepted the Parkerian Constitution, and most of the countries that have supported the Imperial Constitution are actually mostly conservative countries. The Imperial Constitution, no surprise to most, was shut out in the southern hemisphere, but its performance in the northern hemisphere is unexpectedly weak given its liberal reputation.

## Aftermath

There had been three consequential elections in Chawosauria that altered the course of Chawosauria, the first being the 2018 Age of Smartphone referendum, the second being the 2019 Chawosaurian direct election, and the third being the 2023 Chawosaurian Constitutional plebiscite.

In the days throughout March following the constitutional plebiscite, the Imperial Constitution prepares to govern Chawosauria with no mandate. There were those from all sides who called for recounts and another vote given how close the referendum was and how a two-round vote could've been held. The conduct of the referendum was widely criticized and the decision to go with the 40% of the vote who went with the Imperial Constitution was also sharply criticized by the Imperial Constitution's critics, arguing that 60% of Chawosaurians did not vote for the Imperial Constitution, therefore the constitution should not be allowed to go free with the clear minority of the Chawosaurian people. But the opposition was divided between the No votes and the Neutral votes, which was why the Yes vote was able to prevail in fact that the Neutral Votes were mostly supportive of the Imperial Constitution, but because it is Shang Jong Parker's constitution, they voted neutral mainly out of opposition to Parker, not because of opposition to the Parkerian Constitution itself.

The 2023 Chawosaurian elections overall saw Shang Jong Parker lose considerable influence over the Chawosaurian Communist Party, the party lost 4 seats in the Chawopolis Palace in special elections and most of Parker's allies in the Communist Party were successfully primaried out of office by Communists backed by Linghu Xiaoliang, the General Secretary of the Empire of Chawosauria and second-in-command to Parker who thought Parker was contaminating communism with "American interests" by democratizing the ideology. Regardless of the results of the 2024 Chawosaurian midterm elections and partisan control of the 2025-2029 Chawosaurian Government, Parker will be in his weakest position of power since the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union when he was Prime Minister. The Communist Party will pay more attention to Linghu Xiaoliang over Shang Jong Parker, therefore increasing the power of the office of General Secretary of the Empire of Chawosauria and weakening the office of Supreme Leader of the Empire of Chawosauria since the reign of Emperor Santiago when the Prime Minister of the Empire of Chawosauria had more power until Timothy Max Roosevelt.

The Imperial Constitution of the Empire of Chawosauria will be permanently effective by July 1, 2023. The 2024 midterm elections and the 2029 Chawosaurian direct election will be the first elections affected by the Imperial Constitution. Shang Jong Parker will be barred for life from seeking both a third term and a non-consecutive second term because of his age, he'll be 80-years-old by January 31, 2030.