Elections in the Kingdom of Palmshire
Towns wishing to elect a member to the Parliament to represent them must undertake the following procedure. First, a town wishing to send a representative to the Parliament must petition the Crown for the royal charter that confers upon it the right to elect a representative.
Second, once that is done, town is to be assigned to a nearest county, of which Palmshire is organized into. Each county have a sheriff appointed by the Sovereign on advice of the Home Secretary (appointed by the Prime Minister). These sheriffs will be responsible for conducting and organizing the parliamentary elections within their respective counties. They fix the election timetable and set length of polling time in their county. Once election is concluded, they must send back the election returns to the Crowns and publish it for the public within 2 days. They also must maintain list of voters, a record called electoral rolls, who holds properties within their county, and forward it to the Crown every 3 month. Any voters who are rejected but believe they're eligible must petition the Crown for the redress. If their eligibility is proven, the Crown will order the sheriff to admit the voter and permit them to vote in election.
There is no prohibition on sheriff being the candidate for the parliamentary seat as long as they do not conduct the election dishonestly. Any losing candidates may appeal the election to the Parliament within 2 days of election which will then order the scrutiny to be conducted by the Crown, which will involve asking each voters listed on election returns whom they voted for. If found against winning candidate, either outcomes may occur:
- If the scrutiny results finds the election in favor of losing candidate, the Parliament then may declare the losing candidate duly elected and admitted to the Parliament.
- If foul play is found and winning candidate is guilty, Parliament may squash the election result and disqualify the said candidate who is guilty of foul play for 2 years from future elections and the future Parliaments, even if the said candidate later becomes a noble peer (a severe penalty if you will). The Parliament may rescind the disqualification at any time, but not until 3 month passed since the act. In the event of such election results being squashed for foul play, the losing candidate with biggest share of votes will then be declared winner and admitted to the Parliament. If all candidates in the election is found to be guilty of foul play and disqualified, then new election will be called without those candidates.