This is concerning. I assume few of you, dear colleagues, know much of the Territory of Acre --- I do not, certainly. And so I have looked the region up.In the far away territory of Acre, a new League, the so called ‘Acre Suffrage League’, is formed in the territorial capital of Rio Branco. They call for the elevation of Acre from a territory to an official state, with its citizens being given all the rights that other Brazilian citizens have such as (and most importantly) the right to vote.
According to the latest count, there are at least 90,000 citizens of Brazil who are residents of the Territory, not counting unknown numbers of Indians and guest workers. And none of them have the right to vote in the national elections, and have absolutely zero local democratic representation.
I have drafted a brief proposal to subvert this state of affairs, amendments would be appreciated if it is not sufficiently well-written.
Acre Suffrage Act
Whereas Brazilian settlers of the Acre revolted in 1899 against the Bolivian authorities, declaring a First Republic of Acre, succeeded in 1900 and 1903 by a Second and Third Republic, all of which eventually led to its incorporation as a federal territory of Brazil in 1904 in accordance with the will of the people of Acre,
Whereas the people of the Territory of Acre since 1921 are administrated solely by a Governor appointed by His Excellency the President, and hold no democratic representation whatsoever, neither locally, regionally or nationally,
Whereas there due to the Territory of Acre's lack of parliamentary participation are tens of thousands of Brazilian citizens who are deprived of their constitutional, democratic right to vote, and the right to hold representation,
Whereas His Excellency the President and the party of the President have shown themselves shown themselves admirably eager to make constitutional amendments on the issue of suffrage
- Section 1. The Government of the Republic of the United States of Brazil shall begin an inquiry into the possible future status of the Territory of Acre as an equal federal state of the Republic.[/i].
- Section 2. The Brazilian National Congress shall call upon His Excellency the President and encourage His Excellency to submit a proposed amendment to the Constitution, which shall in lieu of full federal statehood grant the people of the Territory of Acre the right to elect elect representatives to the National Congress.
- Section 3. In addition, coinciding with the 1930 general elections, local elections shall be held in the Departments of Alto Acre, Alto Purús, Alto Juruá and Alto Tarauacá, to democratically elect Mayors of said Departments. In addition, concurrently, regional democratic elections for a Governor of Acre, replacing the current presidentially appointed one, will also be held.
- Section 4. This bill shall go into effect thirty-one (31) days after passage.
Wikipedia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre_(state)#Development_from_territory_to_statehood wrote:
Attending to the judicial arrangements of the Treaty of Petrópolis, President Rodrigues Alves sanctioned the law which created the Territory of Acre (1904), further dividing it into three departments: Alto Acre, Alto Purús, and Alto Juruá, the latter being separated to form Alto Tarauacá (1912). The departmental administration was exercised until 1921 by mayors appointed by the President of Brazil. At that time the arrangements were altered, passing the administration to a governor.
The second Constitution of Brazil (1934) conceded to Acre the right to elect representatives to the National Congress of Brazil.
[...] on June 15, 1962, it was elevated to the category of state [...]
