Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-76.97.80.106-20130811163656/@comment-24590102-20140824162308

@TiberCaesarAndRepublicOfTamriel, I agree that getting to republic is the most difficult part. You can legislate universal suffrage until you're blue in the face but the legislation still gets ignored. The unlanded may well get their vote, eventually (maybe even a century after the legislation was enacted), but they still get mysteriously dropped from considerations in other vital parts of the machine (e.g. jury duty). And, just when you think you've got yourself a Plebiscite, a gerrymander system is set up to filter out all but members of the two most supported coalitions - which guarantees zero representation for the other 70% of the population whose alternative vote is deployed against either of two major coalitions simply because it cannot be used to gain actual representation. By subdividing electorates so that everyone votes for only one or two seats 99%+ of the lower 70% get no representation because that one seat always goes to either of the top two coalition representatives. If, on the other hand, everybody voted for the fill of all the seats, the lower 70% would get representation in a proportion that was far closer to being statistically representative. But, try convincing the sitting ducks that the herrons are entitled to some space too...

I think I've heard of the republic being described as the dream which vanishes at its own mention - perhaps because of these little problems.