The Elected Council
Translations can be found here:
There are two key roles in the CENNZnet governance process, councillors and voting citizens. In this article, we will be focusing on what the council is, the qualities of a councillor, their duties and the process for electing councillors.
What is the elected council?
CENNZnet’s on-chain governance model will be led by an elected body of on-chain accounts, known as councillors. These accounts are owned by a diverse array of our community token holders.
The council has two major tasks in governance:
- proposing ideas and changes to the CENNZnet protocol and,
- voting on proposals made by fellow councillors.
It is the council’s job to initiate the direction of the CENNZnet protocol and protect the chain from dangerous or unsafe changes while allowing for necessary reform and adaptation.
Our initial council will consist of 5 seats filled by ecosystem partners, core CENNZnet developers and notable community members. This initial set-up will allow for a balance between productive governance and democratic decision-making. In the future, the Council elections will be in the hands of the community.
What will the elected council do?
The council are the first and leading layer of the CENNZnet governance model. Elected council members’ duties are to:
Propose changes to the blockchain protocol
Adaptation and development are essential to keep CENNZnet secure and innovative. It’s the council’s job to propose the changes and refinements that will keep CENNZnet ahead of the pack.
Proposals must be thorough and include the proposed ready-coded change alongside a detailed description informing fellow councillors of the purpose of the change and how it will benefit the chain at large.
Proposals at this stage pertain only to the blockchain protocol. This means actions related to the logic and functioning of the blockchain itself (rather than broader design changes or marketing ideas). This means councillors can vote on everything from the allocation of treasury funds to development work, for example, proposing a new runtime module or proposing a transaction, such as minting an NFT.
At this stage, it is only councillors who can put forward a proposal. Community members can petition council members to put forward their ideas. In this way, councillors act as a voice for the community.
Vote on proposals from fellow council members
In order for a proposal to be passed, over 50% of the council must vote in its favour. The council acts as an essential first layer of security to ensure that only proposals that serve to protect and enhance the CENNZnet blockchain are put forward to the broader community.
It is very important that councillors are active and consider all proposals carefully before voting. Once a proposal has been passed (by the council and then the community) it can be enacted by the chain. This means if dangerous or unsafe proposals are approved it could put the whole chain at risk. While the council can theoretically propose to undo a previous proposal, this will take time.
Once a proposal has been passed by over 50% of the council it will be passed onto the wider token holder community. The community then have the power to veto the motion. If the proposal is not vetoed it will be enacted by the chain at a pre-agreed time.
What are the qualities of a council member?
Councillors are the backbone of the CENNZnet blockchain and are essential to the chain staying safe and relevant. They also represent the interests of the entire chain community. For these reasons, councillors must bring some key qualities along and be officially elected by the community.
Ideal councillors are those who:
- Have a stake in CENNZnet: A minimum stake in CENNZnet is essential to show support for the network.
- Have a strong interest in blockchain: Due to the technical nature of many of the propositions, a thorough understanding of blockchain is required to make well-informed decisions.
- Are willing to spend time researching and discussing: Councillors will need to spend time thinking about and researching the proposals made by their peers.
- Are loyal to the CENNZnet community: Councillors are the first point of action for decisions made about CENNZnet. They therefore need to have a genuine desire to represent the community as a whole and make CENNZnet as successful as possible.
- Diversity: It is important that the council contains a diverse spread of opinions and backgrounds. This will ensure that as many points of view and experiences can be incorporated into the decision-making process as possible.
How do I become a councillor?
Staying true to our guiding principles of decentralisation and community decision-making, future Councillor elections are to be a process built and led by the community via governance, with support from the CENNZnet team.
We anticipate the experience the community gains from governing the network will help build a robust Councillor election system.
When will council elections be held?
After the launch of community governance, we will allow some time for the community to learn about and gain experience in network governance.
After which, the CENNZnet team will join hands with the community to build the council election system together.
We anticipate that we will be able to hold our first Council election in 2022.
In the meantime you can prepare yourself by:
- Joining our Discord Channel
- Learning more about governance
- Learning more about CENNZnet and blockchain
- Get staking on CENNZnet
