Saridan

[Rogue]

Koeistad - After months of negotiations and nearly two years since the last election, the SNP government has managed to pass its long awaited political reforms seen as key to its domestic agenda. While initially a much larger bill, the Ministry of Home Affairs was forced to change key aspects of it as not just oppossition politicians resisted parts of the bill, but also some SNP lawmakers saw it as to extreme. Under the original proposal, a system of mixed-member proportional representation was to be adopted and the role of the president significantly reduced. Under pressure of lawmakers, those two changes have been reverted. 

The end bill, officially named the "Government Action and Transparancy Act" or GATA, changes the setup of government. The most notable change is a change to the naming of ministries and offices. Ministries will now be called Departments, with the head of every department called a "secretary". The minister-president will be named the "State Secretary" and the cabinet the "State Cabinet". Besides these symbolic changes the offices will also be more equall, with the special status of the premiership changed as to make the State Secretary primarily a chairman of cabinet, rather then a all ecompassing figure that can also dictate policy on each department. Individual secretaries are expected to be able to wield more power on their own departments, hopefully improving government efficiency. The State Secretary him or herself will continue to be appointed by the State President, but is now expected to be appointed based on the latest election result, thus giving the president less freedom in their choice for State Secretary. 

The Volksraad will continue to be elected through proportional representation but will lose its 5% electoral treshold. This will likely cause smaller parties to gain seats easier, and will make larger parties less likely to obtain a absolute majority. Lastly the State President's powers will largely remain the same, with the exception of his or her powers on appointing the head of government being slightly weakened. These changes, though minor at first glance, are expected to create a better balance between the different branches. Additionally the changes should make elections fairer, as the Electoral Commision has also been reformed in GATA and will no longer be politically appointed, but instead be randomly selected from the bureaucracy every 4 years. The Electoral Commission will also receive additional funding which they will need to be using for setting up a website that tracks election data, with the commission now being required to publish electoral data in a anonymous way to make elections more transparant. 

Earlier calls for increasing the number of members in the Volksraad have not been honoured, with the current number of 150 members to be maintained. With the reforms passing the State President will have to sign them into law, something she has pledged to do in the coming week. Political developments are also continuing, as State President Smit's own Progressive Party is now in formal talks with the Social Democrats to form a joint list for the next Volksraad election. If succesfull, this will likely bolster the left in the next election and potentially harm SNP chances at maintaining their majority.