New Elections 2757

[Horatius Piscinus]

EX DOMO M MORAVIUS HORATIUS BIS CON. SODALIBUS SPD:

Salvete vosque bona Iuppiter auctet opea
Hereby do I, Marcus Horatius bis consul SVR, post a unanimous decision of the Senate:

In accordance with the Regula Fundamentalis, Sect. VI, 4 the Senate hereby authorizes bis consul Marcus Horatius to appoint an interrex for the sole purpose of holding magisterial elections. Further the consul is authorized to prorogate or appoint magistrates as may be required to assist the interrex.

Quod bonum faustum felicumque sit
Pidie Kalendae Ianuariae MMDCCLVI

[Horatius Piscinus]

EX DOMO M HORATIUS BIS CONSUL SODALIBUS SPD:

In accordance with the senatusconsultum ultimum just posted, I hereby appoint Censor Q. C. Locatus Barbatus as interrex for the sole purpose of conducting magisterial elections, to hold office until the completion of inauguration on the Kalends of February 2757.

To be elected are
One censor
Two consules
Two Praetores
Two Aediles
Two rogatores

Also to be voted in Comitia are two edicta consularis posted earlier:
De Institutionibus
De Vacuitate

To assist the interrex I hereby prorogate in office the Praetores P. Pomponius Mus and P. Aurelius Tergestus, the Aediles Gn. Dionysius Draco and Tarquinius Dionysius Draco, and Rogatores A. Dionysius Mencius and P. Oregonius Longinus.

The schedule for our new elections shall be
Accepting candidates: January 1 - 10
Aediles setting up the cista: January 11 -12
Voting January 13 (Ides) through 27
Rogatores counting the vote: January 28 - 29
Interex announcement of election results: January 29 - 30
Magistrates take office: February 1

If you have not yet received your voter code please contact the censores at censores @societasviaromana.org

Candidates are still needed. All sodales who have joined as of this date, 31 December 2756 AUC are elegible to vote and to run for office.

Sodales, quod faustem felixque sodalibus esset Comitiis primo quoque die ferre ad sodales interrex iusserit

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salvete Tiberi Corunaci et sodales omnes

I am glad you have found your way through my reasoning. The Regula Fundamentalis has provisions that at times can prove difficult to implement and at other times does not have provisions to deal with things as they arise. I do not accept that any magistrate should act arbitrarily as situations arise, but should try to work within the Regula's framwork, and when that is not posiible to work within the precedence set in the ancient Res Publica Libera.

There were a number of things in the elections that were not carried out in accordance with the Regula. Voter codes were not sent out, the cista was not made in time, the rogatores apparently did their part but had not communicated with the consules properly. The role of a consul in any elections is oversight. I have been engaged elsewhere for the past few weeks and did not provide proper oversight to ensure that all those involved in holding the elections had received proper instructions and carried out their duties in accord with the Regula. I take full responsibility. With the consent of the Senate I therefore voided the elections and called for new elections.

The terms of office for our magistrates were to expire as of 1 January, leaving us with only one magistrate still in office, Censor Locatus. In the ancient Republic this situation was not uncommon and was addressed by appointing an interrex. As you recognize our Regula makes no provision for such an office or for such a situation as arose. But the Regula does provide for a senatus consultus ultimus granting the consules such powers as the Senate may adopt. It was under a SCU that I so created an interrex to act in place of the consules, and prorogated for one month those magistrates necessary for conducting an election.

If anyone would have the opportunity to read through the Senate's archives they will find that I have always been very conscious of setting precedents for our Societas, and that I have often proposed a complete revision of our Regula. You would have to go elsewhere though to read my discussions with conditor Florus over the provision for an SCU. In Roma antiqua the Senate never really had such authority and I questioned whether we should make such a provision because of its potential for abuse. But the provision is there, so one thing I wished to do in employing an SCU was to set a precedent that the Senate only adopt such a measure with a very narrow authorization. The decision to name an interrex, and to name Locatus as interrex, and what was to be his role, were all decided upon in the Senate before the SCU was adopted. The Regula does not provide for the appointment of a dictator and I do not wish to see its provision for a SCU turn into the creation of a dictator or grant the consules dictatorial powers. Thus the invention of an interrex with a set role established by tradition. So I hope that I have set some precedent for the future Senate on how and when to apply such a measure. The next duly elected praetores can then decide how far I have stretched the Regula to deal with our current situation.

Valete optime