Los Santos Mayoral Election — Official Announcement

Legal Faction Management is pleased to officially announce the opening of the Los Santos Mayoral Election.

This election will determine the next Mayor of Los Santos and establish the elected leadership of Los Santos Government (LSGov) for the upcoming term.

This topic will serve as the primary source of information regarding the election process, candidate requirements, voting, the authority of the Mayor, limitations of the office, and the candidate declaration process.

All Mayoral elections will be overseen by Legal Faction Management (LFM). LFM will be responsible for candidate approval, election administration, voting integrity, and certification of the final results.

Term of Office

The Mayor of Los Santos will serve a term of six months.

A Mayor may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

After serving two consecutive terms, the individual must sit out for one full Mayoral term before becoming eligible to run again.

A Mayor who has only served one term may immediately seek reelection for a second consecutive term.

Inactivity

The Mayor is expected to maintain reasonable activity throughout their term.

If the Mayor becomes inactive for 14 consecutive days or longer without explanation, notice, or an approved leave of absence, Administration/LFM may remove them from office OOCly.

For continuity of roleplay, the IC explanation will generally be that:

The Mayor has resigned from office due to health reasons.

Reasonable notice of temporary inactivity may prevent removal depending on the circumstances.

Election Timeline

Candidate Declaration — 5 Days

Candidate declarations will remain open for five days.

Anyone interested in running for Mayor must copy the declaration format located at the bottom of this topic and create their own forum topic before the declaration period closes.

The purpose of the five-day declaration period is to ensure members interested in running have a reasonable opportunity to submit their candidacy without being excluded because they were unable to make a shorter filing window.

Candidate Review — Rolling

Candidate declarations will be reviewed as they are submitted.

Candidates will not be required to wait until the declaration period ends before receiving a decision.

Someone who submits their declaration on Day 1 may be reviewed and approved while declarations are still open.

Approval simply confirms that the candidate meets the requirements to participate in the election. It does not represent an endorsement by LFM or Administration.

Campaign Period — 14 Days

Following the declaration period, approved candidates will have 14 days to campaign.

Candidates are encouraged to make use of the campaign period through speeches, advertisements, interviews, debates, town halls, public appearances, press conferences, campaign events, meetings, campaign websites/topics, and other appropriate political roleplay.

The purpose of the two-week campaign period is to allow candidates to actually develop their campaign, gain visibility, explain their platform, interact with voters, and create meaningful political roleplay.

Campaigning should remain primarily IC and roleplay focused.

Voting Period — 4 Days

Once campaigning concludes, voting will remain open for four days.

Each community member may cast:

One Forum Account = One Vote

Characters do not receive separate votes.

Regardless of how many characters a player possesses, each community member may only vote once.

The four-day voting period is intended to provide members who may be unavailable during part of the election with a reasonable opportunity to participate.

Election Certification

After voting closes, LFM will review the results, verify election integrity, address any invalid or duplicate votes, and officially certify the winner.

Following certification, the successful candidate will become the Mayor-Elect of Los Santos.

Transition Period — 2 Days

A short transition period will follow certification so the outgoing administration, when applicable, can transfer relevant information, responsibilities, ongoing projects, and other government matters to the incoming Mayor.

Voter Eligibility

Any member of Roleplay Project may participate in the Mayoral election.

Voting eligibility is not affected by a character's:

• Criminal history

• Employment

• Faction membership

• Government affiliation

• Previous convictions

• Character wealth

• Political views

The purpose of the voting system is to give each community member an equal opportunity to participate in choosing the Mayor.

Attempts to vote multiple times using alternate accounts, additional characters, or other methods of election manipulation are prohibited.

Candidate Requirements

Candidates must satisfy both IC and OOC requirements before being approved for the ballot.

IC Requirements

A candidate for Mayor of Los Santos must:

• Be a legal resident of San Andreas.

• Maintain their primary residence within Los Santos or otherwise demonstrate substantial ties to the city.

• Have resided within San Andreas for a reasonable period prior to the election.

• Be legally eligible to hold public office.

• Not currently be incarcerated or have outstanding warrants.

• Not currently be serving a sentence or probation for a serious felony offense.

• Register their candidacy through the designated election process before the filing deadline.

• Provide an official campaign platform outlining their primary goals and priorities.

• Provide appropriate IC contact information for their campaign.

• Participate in any required Mayoral debate, town hall, or candidate forum unless excused.

• Follow all applicable election and campaign regulations.

A criminal history does not automatically disqualify a character from running for Mayor.

Disqualification should only occur where the character's circumstances would reasonably prevent them from legally or realistically holding public office.

OOC Requirements

The player behind the candidate must:

• Be a member of Roleplay Project in good standing.

• Have no significant or recent disciplinary history that would reasonably interfere with their ability to hold a major government position.

• Demonstrate an acceptable level of activity prior to announcing their candidacy.

• Be capable of maintaining reasonable activity throughout the term.

• Have an established character with sufficient development to reasonably pursue elected office.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities and limitations of the Mayor position.

• Understand that winning the election does not provide unrestricted authority over other factions, Staff, Development, or server systems.

• Agree to separate IC political conflict from OOC disagreements.

• Conduct campaigning primarily through roleplay rather than OOC popularity contests.

• Not offer OOC incentives, money, Discord perks, server items, or other benefits in exchange for votes.

• Not use alternate accounts or characters to manipulate the election.

• Not coordinate OOC vote manipulation or mass-voting campaigns outside the intended election system.

• Follow all Roleplay Project rules throughout the campaign and their term.

LFM/Administration reserves the right to reject a candidacy where there is a legitimate concern regarding activity, conduct, character eligibility, or the player's ability to responsibly maintain the position.

This discretion will not be used simply because LFM or Staff disagrees with a candidate's IC political platform.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE POSITION

Authority of the Mayor

The Mayor is the Chief Executive of Los Santos Government (LSGov).

The Mayor has significant authority over departments, agencies, offices, personnel, programs, and resources that are formally organized underneath LSGov.

The easiest way to determine whether the Mayor has direct executive authority over something is to ask:

Is this organization, employee, resource, or program directly underneath Los Santos Government?

If the answer is yes, the Mayor will generally have executive authority over it.

If the answer is no, the Mayor may still negotiate, request, influence, fund, regulate where legally appropriate, or cooperate with that organization — but does not automatically control it.

Influence is not command.

Executive Authority

Within LSGov, the Mayor may:

• Establish executive priorities for the City of Los Santos.

• Issue lawful executive orders affecting LSGov.

• Establish policies governing LSGov operations.

• Create, reorganize, or eliminate LSGov offices or programs where reasonable.

• Direct LSGov department leadership.

• Establish administrative procedures for city government.

• Create advisory boards, commissions, committees, and task forces.

• Direct government initiatives and public programs.

• Represent the City of Los Santos in official matters.

• Negotiate agreements on behalf of LSGov.

Executive orders may only apply to matters that fall within the Mayor's established authority.

An executive order may not be used to bypass server rules, court decisions, Faction Management decisions, administrative decisions, or the independence of another faction.

Appointments

The Mayor may appoint individuals to positions within Los Santos Government.

This may include positions such as:

• Deputy Mayor

• Chief of Staff

• City Attorney

• Department Directors

• Commissioners

• Public Information Officers

• City Administrators

• Advisors

• Other LSGov executive positions

The Mayor may generally remove their own executive appointments unless another established rule or IC law provides otherwise.

The Mayor may not appoint or remove leadership belonging to an independent faction.

Los Santos Government Departments

The Mayor has administrative authority over departments formally organized underneath LSGov.

These may include:

• Public Works

• Transportation

• Code Enforcement

• Business Licensing

• Planning and Development

• Parks and Recreation

• Housing

• Public Information

• City Administration

• Other future LSGov departments

The exact departments operating underneath LSGov may change as the server and government develop.

Budget & Financial Authority

The Mayor may develop and approve budgets involving LSGov resources.

The Mayor may:

• Establish funding priorities.

• Allocate funding between LSGov departments.

• Fund city programs.

• Approve reasonable city expenditures.

• Establish grants or public initiatives.

• Approve city contracts.

• Request funding for major projects.

• Increase or reduce funding for LSGov programs through appropriate IC processes.

The Mayor may also negotiate funding agreements with independent factions.

However, providing funding to another faction does not provide the Mayor operational control over that faction.

For example, LSGov may contribute funding toward equipment or programs for an independent public safety agency without the Mayor becoming that agency's commanding authority.

Ordinances & Legislation

The Mayor may propose ordinances and other municipal legislation affecting Los Santos.

Depending on the structure of LSGov, legislation may be enacted through an established legislative body or another approved IC government process.

Municipal legislation may involve matters such as:

• Business regulations

• Parking regulations

• Municipal codes

• Public event regulations

• City fees

• Licensing requirements

• Zoning regulations

• Public nuisance regulations

• Municipal programs

Los Santos Government is a local government.

Neither the Mayor nor LSGov may independently create State of San Andreas law.

City ordinances may not override:

• San Andreas law

• Court rulings

• Server rules

• Faction Management decisions

• Administrative policies

• Matters outside Los Santos jurisdiction

If LSGov believes a new State law, statewide regulation, or amendment to existing State law is necessary, it may submit a recommendation to LFM for consideration.

Public Safety

The Mayor may establish public-safety priorities for the City of Los Santos, but this does not mean the Mayor directly commands independent law enforcement, Fire/EMS, or other public-safety factions.

The Mayor may:

• Meet with faction leadership.

• Request cooperation.

• Discuss crime or public-safety concerns.

• Establish citywide public-safety initiatives.

• Request additional enforcement in certain areas.

• Coordinate LSGov resources during major incidents.

• Negotiate funding or resource agreements.

• Establish interagency task forces with the consent of participating factions.

• Request reports or briefings where appropriate.

The Mayor may not personally command individual officers, deputies, firefighters, EMTs, investigators, or other members of an independent faction.

Independent Factions

Any faction that exists separately from Los Santos Government remains operationally independent.

This may include:

• Law enforcement factions

• Fire/EMS factions

• Judicial factions

• State agencies

• County agencies

• Federal agencies

• Independent authorities

• Other factions specifically designated as separate from LSGov

The Mayor may not:

• Hire or fire members of an independent faction.

• Promote or demote their members.

• Change their rank structure.

• Issue direct operational orders.

• Control patrol strategies.

• Control disciplinary processes.

• Modify their SOPs without agreement.

• Appoint or remove their faction leadership.

• Take control of their assets.

• Force faction leadership to perform an operational action.

• Dissolve the faction.

The Mayor may politically disagree with an independent faction ICly. That disagreement does not create command authority.

LSPD Example

If the Los Santos Police Department exists as an independent faction rather than a department underneath LSGov, the Mayor does not directly command LSPD.

The Mayor could tell the Chief:

"I want the city to focus more heavily on vehicle theft."

The Mayor could not order an individual officer:

"Patrol Strawberry tonight and make traffic stops."

The Mayor may request that agency leadership consider a particular policy or priority, but operational decisions remain with that faction's leadership unless otherwise established through IC law and faction rules.

Contracts & Agreements

The Mayor may enter LSGov into reasonable IC agreements with:

• Businesses

• Contractors

• Other governments

• Public-safety agencies

• Community organizations

• Other approved entities

Contracts involving major server systems, development resources, faction assets, significant permanent changes, or other major OOC effects may still require LFM or Staff approval.

Emergency Powers

During a significant city-level IC emergency, the Mayor may declare a City State of Emergency.

This may allow the Mayor to:

• Activate emergency LSGov resources.

• Close government facilities.

• Suspend nonessential government operations.

• Establish temporary city emergency measures.

• Coordinate government response efforts.

• Request assistance from public-safety agencies.

• Redirect LSGov resources toward the emergency.

• Issue emergency public notices.

A City State of Emergency does not grant the Mayor command authority over independent factions.

Police, Fire, EMS, State agencies, and other independent factions continue operating underneath their own command structures.

Emergency measures should be temporary and directly related to the emergency.

Statewide emergency powers or matters requiring State-level authority remain reserved for the State Government/LFM structure described below.

Government Personnel

The Mayor may exercise administrative and disciplinary authority over personnel formally employed underneath LSGov.

This may include:

• Hiring

• Termination

• Suspension

• Reassignment

• Appointment

• Department restructuring

This authority applies only to positions that fall underneath Los Santos Government.

Relationship With Other Factions

The Mayor is encouraged to interact heavily with other factions.

Political and government roleplay may include:

• Meetings with faction leadership

• Budget negotiations

• Public hearings

• Interagency projects

• Government contracts

• Policy discussions

• Requests for cooperation

• Emergency planning

• Press conferences

• Investigations or oversight where ICly appropriate

• Political disputes

The Mayor can be an extremely influential character within Los Santos without becoming the faction leader of every government organization operating within the city.

Again:

Influence is not command.

OOC Limitations

The position of Mayor is an IC elected position.

Holding the office does not provide the player with OOC authority over:

• Legal Faction Management

• Server Administration

• Development

• Moderation

• Faction rules

• OOC faction leadership decisions

• Server systems

• Other players

Permanent changes involving development, faction restructuring, new server mechanics, significant economy changes, or changes affecting other factions must still go through the appropriate OOC approval process.

IC authority may never be used to circumvent the OOC server structure.

State Government

Roleplay Project will not maintain a formal player-operated State Government of San Andreas faction at this time.

When State-level authority, intervention, or decision-making is required, Legal Faction Management, with Staff involvement where appropriate, will act on behalf of the State Government.

This does not mean LFM will involve itself in normal day-to-day Los Santos Government operations.

Local matters should remain with LSGov whenever reasonably possible.

State-level authority may become involved when a matter:

• Exceeds the authority of Los Santos Government.

• Requires statewide action.

• Involves significant disputes between governments, agencies, or jurisdictions.

• Cannot reasonably be resolved at the local level.

• Requires statewide legislation, regulation, or policy.

• Significantly affects multiple factions or the server as a whole.

• Requires emergency or extraordinary State intervention.

LFM acting as the State Government should generally remain a higher-level or last-resort authority.

LSGov may recommend changes to State law or statewide policy, but LSGov may not enact those changes on its own.

LFM may approve, deny, modify, or otherwise address State-level proposals as necessary.

Election Integrity

LFM will remain politically neutral throughout the election.

Candidate approval will be based on the established IC and OOC requirements and legitimate concerns involving activity, conduct, character eligibility, or the player's ability to responsibly maintain the position.

A candidate will not be rejected simply because LFM or Staff disagrees with their IC political beliefs, policies, or campaign platform.

Candidates and supporters are expected to keep IC political disagreements separate from OOC conflict.

The following are prohibited:

• OOC bribery or incentives for votes.

• Offering server items, money, perks, or other benefits for votes.

• Alternate-account voting.

• Voting multiple times.

• Coordinating OOC vote manipulation.

• Harassing players over their political support or vote.

• Using OOC popularity to intentionally circumvent the intended IC campaign process.

Political disagreements and rivalries are encouraged ICly when appropriate.

They should not become OOC disputes.

Candidate Declaration

Anyone wishing to run for Mayor must copy the format below in its entirety and create their own topic within the designated Mayoral Election section.

Topic Title

[MAYORAL DECLARATION] Character Name

Declaration of Candidacy

Office of the Mayor — City of Los Santos

Election: Los Santos Mayoral Election
Office Sought: Mayor of Los Santos

Candidate Information (IC)

Full Legal Name:
Date of Birth / Age:
Residential Address:
Length of Residence in Los Santos:
Length of Residence in San Andreas:
Current Occupation:
Phone Number:

Declaration

I, [Full Legal Name], hereby declare my candidacy for the office of Mayor of the City of Los Santos.

By submitting this declaration, I affirm that I intend to seek election to the Office of Mayor and, if elected, am willing and able to perform the duties and responsibilities of that office for the duration of the established term.

I further affirm that, to the best of my knowledge:

• I am a legal resident of San Andreas.

• I maintain my primary residence within Los Santos or otherwise maintain substantial and legitimate ties to the city.

• I am legally eligible to hold public office.

• I am not presently incarcerated.

• I have no outstanding warrants that would prevent me from holding office.

• I am not presently serving a sentence or probation for a serious felony offense that would make me ineligible to hold office.

• The information contained within this declaration is true and accurate.

I understand that submitting this declaration does not automatically place my name on the ballot and that my candidacy remains subject to review and certification by the designated election authority.

Campaign Information

Campaign Name, if applicable:
Campaign Manager, if applicable:
Campaign Headquarters / Contact Address, if applicable:
Official Campaign Contact Information:

Statement of Candidacy

In a brief statement, explain why you are seeking election as Mayor of Los Santos:

Response:

General Platform

Provide a brief summary of the principal issues, policies, or priorities your campaign intends to focus on:

Response:

Candidate Certification

I certify that I have reviewed and understand the established powers, responsibilities, and limitations of the Office of Mayor.

I understand that the Mayor serves as the Chief Executive of Los Santos Government and that Mayoral authority applies primarily to departments, personnel, programs, and resources operating under LSGov.

I further understand that election to the Office of Mayor does not grant direct command authority over independent law enforcement, Fire/EMS, judicial, county, State, federal, or otherwise independent factions.

I agree to comply with all applicable election rules and understand that fraud, vote manipulation, bribery, improper incentives, or knowingly providing false information may result in disqualification.

Candidate Signature: ______________________________

Date: ______________________________

OOC Administrative Information

Forum Name:
Discord Username:

Are you currently in good standing within Roleplay Project?
Yes / No

Are you able to maintain reasonable activity throughout the six-month term if elected?
Yes / No

Do you have any known periods of extended inactivity that could substantially affect your ability to serve?
Yes / No
If yes, explain:

Do you understand that the position of Mayor grants IC authority only and does not provide OOC authority over Staff, LFM, Development, other factions, or other players?
Yes / No

Do you agree to keep IC political disputes separate from OOC disagreements?
Yes / No

Do you certify that you will not use alternate accounts, OOC incentives, coordinated vote manipulation, or other prohibited methods to influence the election?
Yes / No

Submitting a declaration does not guarantee approval.

LFM will review every candidacy according to the established requirements and will communicate a decision as declarations are reviewed.

Candidate Declarations Are Officially Open

If you believe your character has what it takes to lead Los Santos, develop a platform, create political roleplay and earn the support of the community, this is your opportunity.

Good luck to everyone who chooses to run.

— Legal Faction Management