In regards to Article II, Paragraph E of the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, constitutional amendments shall henceforth take place in accordance with the process established in this Imperial Decree.
An amendment to the Constitution requires the consent of the Monarch, the consent of over 80% of the House of Representatives, and the consent of the People as expressed through a Senate-authorised referendum. The Monarch, Prime Minister, or any Representative or Senator may propose an amendment to the Constitution.
A proposed amendment will first be either accepted or rejected by the Throne; should the Monarch grant their consent, the amendment will move to the House of Representatives.
An amendment requires the consent of over 80% of the House of Representatives; this means that enough Representatives must support the amendment for more than 80% of the entire House to be in support. For example, should there be ten Representatives, nine must vote in support, and should there be one hundred, eighty one must vote in support, and should there be five or fewer, the entire House must vote in support.
Should enough Representatives be in support of the proposed amendment, it falls to the Senate to decide whether to authorise a referendum. The Senate may then pass by majority vote a Senatorial Resolution, authorising and organising a referendum and establishing the implementation of the proposed amendment should it win the vote.
To quote the above-mentioned Paragraph of the Constitution, an amendment can only be made “when the majority of the subjects of Austenasia have implied that they wish a proposed amendment, edit, or suspension of any kind be made through the results of a free and fair referendum”. A majority of Austenasian subjects to not therefore have to actually vote in support of the amendment; rather, a majority of Austenasian subjects can imply their support through the result of the referendum, meaning that an amendment must have the support of the majority of those subjects that voted in the referendum, but does not require the support of a majority of all subjects. However, the result of a referendum must be broadly representative of the wishes of the People, and as such, we decree that should a majority of all subjects not support an amendment, the result of such a referendum with a turnout of below two-thirds of the electorate shall be considered invalid.
Decreed at Chester this twenty eighth day of February during the ninth year of our reign, in the year of the consulship of Hannah Augusta and Bradley Archidux Saxoniae, anno mundi 7529.