We describe Liberland as a place where corporate governance meets Swiss democracy. As such, the leading institute of our democracy is the Referendum, direct democracy. Congress exists to generate reasonable proposals and to offer voluntary representation to citizens who want to delegate their political powers to experts. Further, Congress appoints the executive and dismisses it and controls budgetary matters. It has the “emergency brake” power to Cancel malicious referenda.
Elections are held on the Blockchain every three months. We shortened the term to conserve the connection between the people and their Representatives. Citizens do not vote by the one-citizen-one-vote principle; instead, they vote by the one-Merit (LLM)-one-vote principle.
The Members of Congress are equal in their votes. Their main task is to make legislative proposals for the Referendum to adopt or reject. Where Congress adopts a proposal with a majority vote, the Referendum will require 50 per cent plus one LLM to accept it. Where the proposal is voted unanimously, the tally requires cca ⅔ majority to reject the proposal.
Where ⅔ majority of the Congress considers a Referendum proposal to be “malicious”, defined by our Constitution as inimical to individual liberty, they can “cancel” it. Cancelled proposals will not be presented in an unchanged form for at least the next five election terms.
Liberland vests the power to adopt the State budget in Congress. The people can reject it using the Public Veto where needed, and the Senate can stop the payouts. This is to separate, as much as possible, budgetary matters from general politics and to professionalise the decision-making about them.
Congress appoints the Prime Minister as the head of the Cabinet and thus the Executive. By a majority decision, the Assembly can demote the Prime Minister at any time. Also, a Prime Minister must be and must remain a Representative during their tenure; should they lose their seat in the Assembly, their tenure as Prime Minister ends. This applies to the other ministers as well.
The Congress is the one-stop shop for political deliberations in Liberland, the focal point for Liberland’s democracy. The Members of Congress will be publicly known and be readily contactable by Citizens, who can bring their ideas and issues to their ears. We envision that the Congress, first in the virtual space and eventually in a real building in Liberland, will be visited frequently by members of the civil society, representatives of special interest groups, foreign dignitaries and lobbyists. Ours is an attempt to build upon the existing edifice of democracy and to set up the Congress as a model parliament for the 21st century.