The Unity Party/The Unity Party Constitution

The following is the constitution of The Unity Party of the United Kingdom.

Clause I - Name and Objects

1. This organisation shall be known as ‘The Unity Party’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘the party’). Its purpose is to organise and maintain in Parliament and in the country a political Unity Party.
2. The party shall give effect, as far as may be practicable, to the principles from time to time approved by the members of the party.

Clause II - Aims and Values

1. The Unity Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few; where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe and where we live together freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.
2. To these ends we work for:
   1. a dynamic economy, serving the public interest, in which the enterprise of the market and the rigour of competition are joined with the forces of partnership and co-operation to produce the wealth the nation needs and the opportunity for all to work and prosper with a thriving private sector and high-quality public services where those undertakings essential to the common good are either owned by the public or accountable to them
   2. a just society, which judges its strength by the condition of the weak as much as the strong, provides security against fear, and justice at work; which nurtures families, promotes equality of opportunity, and delivers people from the tyranny of poverty, prejudice and the abuse of power
   3. an open democracy, in which government is held to account by the people, decisions are taken as far as practicable by the communities they affect and where fundamental human rights are guaranteed
3. The Unity Party is committed to the defence and security of the British people and to co-operating in European institutions, PHOENIX and other international bodies to secure peace, freedom, democracy, and economic security for all.
4. The Unity Party shall work in pursuit of these aims with trade unions and co-operative societies and also with voluntary organisations, consumer groups and other representative bodies.
5. On the basis of these principles, The Unity Party seeks the trust of the people to govern

Clause III - Party Structure

1. The members of the Party shall gather together to form a Party Conference in which the policies, ideals, values and constitution of the Party shall be decided.
2. There shall be a Council of Unity (the ‘CoU’) which shall, subject to the control and directions of party conference, be the administrative authority of the party. The CoU shall be lead by the Party President.
3. There shall be in Parliament a Unity Parliamentary Party(the UPP), composed of all members of the Party elected to serve in Congress and will be responsible for representing the views of the party as well as their constituents in that chamber. The UPP shall be lead by the Party President, if the Party President is not a member of Congress the Vice President will lead the UPP.

Clause IV - Party Conference

1. The work of the party shall be under the direction and control of party conference, which shall itself be subject to the constitution and standing orders of the party. Party conference shall debate from time to time what specific proposals of legislative, financial or administrative reform shall be included in the party manifesto. The Party conference shall meet regularly and also at such other times as it may be convened by the CoU.
2. The CoU and the UPP shall decide which items from the party conference shall be included in the manifesto which shall be issued by the CoU prior to every general election. The joint meeting of those two bodies shall also define the attitude of the party to the principal issues raised by the election which are not covered by the manifesto.

Clause V - The Council of Unity

The Council of Unity is responsible for the administration of the party, organising the party's Congress members, the management of our media outlets and the continued functioning of our Regional Unity Party apparatus. It shall also contain the executive authority of the Party.

1. Council Positions
   1. The Council Members; Appointed by the Party President shall be responsible for:
      1. Maintaining and overseeing the Council of Unity sub-forum.
      2. Keeping our eRepublik Wiki page accurate and up to date.
      3. Maintaining the New Player section - ensuring that all new players are made to feel welcome internally and externally to our private forums.
      4. Creating & Updating our Guides section.
      5. The editorship of the Unity Post, and any other media outlets of the party.
      6. Publicising official party statements and the proof reading of such.
      7. Proofing any statements made by members to ensure that the party is not being misrepresented.
      8. Managing a media committee or team decided on by the Council of Unity.
   2. The Party Vice-President: Appointed by the Party President, shall be responsible for any tasks delegated to them by the Party President and will serve as the President should that person become absent.
      1. Presenting the official Unity Party stance in the House of Commons, applying 'the whip' (if the party president is not in the House of Commons).
      2. Encouraging attendance of TUP Congressmen in debates and votes.
      3. Maintain a mailing list for Party Members to remind them of elections and conferences.
      4. Organising the monthly party conference in conjunction with The Party President.
      5. Duties as per Council Member.
   3. The Party President: Elected by in-game party president election, shall be responsible for the leading the Council of Unity in addition to any other duties that the party may require to operate effectively.
      1. Presenting the official Unity Party stance in the House of Commons, applying 'the whip'
      2. Duties as per Council Member and Vice-President

Clause VI - The Unity Parliamentary Party

1. The Unity Party shall stand members for congress, to be approved by methods outlined in previous clauses. Those members shall stand based on the trust of the party, and they should uphold the constitution and manifesto of the party. They have been selected by the Unity Party, and therefore they are standing on it's rules.
2. All party members who wish to become a part of the UPP must read http://forums.erepublik.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=38059 for guidance about due process for the UPP.
3. The Parliamentary group of the Unity Party, those of it's members successfully elected to Congress, shall be known as the Unity Parliamentary Party. They shall be directly accountable to the CoU and to Conference. Conference can submit motions of no confidence in Congress members, who will have the opportunity to defend themselves before vote, which if passed remove the whip from the member in question. This means that they are no longer required to uphold the duties of a TUP congressman, but can no longer count on the Unity Party's support.
4. The UPP shall be led in parliament and private party UPP forums by the Party President. In the event that the Party President is not a congress member, the UPP shall be led by the Vice President.
5. The UPP members will have access to read and post within the UPP section of the party forums; where topics of a sensitive nature will be discussed by it's members. All threads produced in this section will be placed into party archives when the related sensitive thread is moved into Archived Discussions by the Speaker of the House of Commons.
6. Voting in Commons shall be subject to a whip. Unless otherwise stated there is No Whip on votes. Whips come in four categories:
   1. No Whip: Congress members vote however they wish
   2. 1 line whip: Congress members are asked to vote this way, but there is no reason they cannot.
   3. 2 line whip: Congress members have voted to accept a decision, and the group is asked to vote this way to ensure unity. Again, can be broken if the congressman feels very strongly otherwise.
   4. 3 line whip: The motion in question is one explicitly mandated by the manifesto on which the members of congress ran. The congress members must vote with the party. Breaking the whip will mean a motion of no confidence will be issued to conference. If the member(s) in question are truly unhappy with the vote they are permitted to abstain from it, and are asked to provide good reason for doing so to the CoU.
7. The Whip is there to ensure that our members and the country's constituents, when voting for us, know that they are electing someone who represents their views. We cannot as a party ask for their support and then vote against the very beliefs to which they hold.

Clause VII - Affiliated Organisations

1. Organisations may, subject to the decision of the Council of Unity affiliate to the party if they fall within the following categories:
   1. Trade unions considered by the CoU to be bona fide trade unions
   2. Co-operative organisations
   3. Socialist/social democratic organisations (Compass)
   4. Other organisations which, in the opinion of the CoU, have interests consistent with those of the Unity Party.
2. Each affiliated organisation must:
   1. Accept the manifesto, policy and principles of the party
   2. Maintain political rules, if it has any, concurrent with principles of the party and approved by the CoU
   3. Agree to conform to the constitution and standing orders of the party should they need be applied
3. Should the affiliated organisation no longer conform to these guidelines, it's affiliation can be terminated unilaterally by the Council of Unity

Clause VIII - Implementation of the Constitution

1. Implementation of the Constitution is the responsibility of the Party President and Council of Unity and Where possible the clauses herein shall be upheld to the fullest degree, recognising however that this is not always possible given the restraints and situation presented by eRepublik and the nature of the game, there is no time limit for implementation. Should the members feel that the constitution is being ignored or discarded they are entitled to submit a motion to conference forcing a specific implementation should the motion receive majority support.
2. A review of this consistution can be requested on a frequency of no less than three calendar months by any member of the party if they so require it and it will undergo a review in Party Conference.
   1. Any changes must be voted on by all members in a thread in Party Conference for no less than 24 hours. A simple majority will ratify any changes to the constitution.

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The Unity Party is the largest party in the UK and the twentieth biggest in the world, with around 400 members.
Click on the links on the right to read more about The Unity Party, its goals and its ideals, or click here to go to The Unity Party on eRepublik.