Dear Rebekah,
There is logic in that what you say, however there plenty of technical flaws in the election, which basically negate a lot of things. I am a person who is involved in the European Youth Politics and sadly I must say that the preparation of this elections is very chaotic. If they would be observed by any human rights watch dog, they would be classified as unfair. I understand that launching initiative as ambitious as Asgardia isn't easy and I appreciate your work as the community manager. However, errors that have been made in the process of these elections are very basic and a person who isn't tech savvy or politically skilled could have avoided them. ( especially when Asgardian Community isn't short on people with technical, legal or political skills)
First and the most simple one is the build of the website. When I was preparing my candidate statement a few weeks ago, I had a completely different view in the WordPress editor, that is built into the website than I had as a final result. Despite my multiple attempts to edit it, I was always ending up with some random ass clutter of the letters and images that looked, like made by a 5-year-old child, with no concept of aesthetics. When I reported that bug to Asgardia on FB, in reply I was told that website is being updated and the bug is caused by that. Well its 4 weeks later and nothing has changed.
Second the GUI of the candidate list. Same person, who runs for 3 different roles will have the positions they are running for stuck one of the top of another in a small font. It's easy for people voting in the process to click on the other one they wanted and give a vote. The graphic desgin of the list should be changed in the way that a person who is voting is presented with three separate lists on the left side of the screen( it's more intuitive in that way). Ergo:
- Debutants
Cnadidate X
Candidate B
Candiate C
- Startegists
Cnadidate X
Candidate B
Candiate C - Tredesetters
Candidate X
Candidate B
Candidate C
The third error is that there are no debates between, candidates. How as a voter I am able to assess the merit and skill of potential candidates? How can I know which of them are serious and who are running for the joke?
Fourth, the most crucial error, concerning this vote, is a constitution. As the highest law of the nation, the constitution, written in 21st century should be precise. Yet this one contains a lot of errors, loopholes and in some parts is too vague. As a lawyer trained in 5 legal systems I know, what I am talking about. However, I don't want to get into details on this thread. Then there is an issue of not being able to reject the constitution in the referendum. Legally binding referendum of any democratic nation has at least two options: Yes or No. If you will happen to talk with Dr Ashurbeyli, please mention this to him. People like making their own decisions and they don't like being forced to do something. Leaving one option, makes them feel that they are forced to do something. If there would be two options it would speed up the acceptance process. Finally leaving one option and tieing that with ''further verification'' isn't really democratic.
