In our most recent blog, we looked back on the journey of the Cardano constitution from its conceptual beginnings and purpose through the various stages of its evolution to on-chain enactment. 

In this blog, we will dive deeper into the details, sharing the latest draft Constitution, supporting contextual material and other contributions, summaries of all the views and outputs expressed during the global workshops that have fed into the draft, and outlining the next steps on the journey to arriving at a Constitution that can be endorsed and ratified by the community. 

The draft Constitution
Drafting the Constitution has been and continues to be an iterative process, involving nearly 1400 community members and 126 elected delegates and alternates representing their communities’ views. Throughout the entire consultation process, alternative variations and iterations of a constitution emerged. These have ranged from changes in language and simplifications to more fundamental challenges to principles and statements. Much discussion and idea-sharing has taken place on social media, particularly on X. Still, there are notable exceptions where supporting materials and documentation have been published and shared.

Cardano community member Cerkoryn recently posted an excellent thread linking other materials and contributions, including their own plus: Adam Dean, Kevin Mohr, Jane, Alfonso Spencer, Collin Smith, and the Cardano Foundation. This list is not exhaustive, but these contributions and drafts highlight the robust engagement of the Cardano community, showcasing a wide spectrum of ideas that have been invaluable in shaping and refining what delegates will vote on at the Constitutional Convention.

Following the conclusion of the seventh delegate synthesis workshop on November 16th, the latest community-driven draft is now available. The latest draft remains a work in progress and may be different from the one shared at the Constitutional Convention, pending tweaks and adjustments requested by delegates.

Learning more and providing feedback
There are several ways to engage with the draft Constitution. The community-elected delegates are the best resource for understanding the progression of the Constitution text. You can also contact the Civics Committee via the channel #cardano-civics-committee on Intersect’s Discord server. 

We have also provided, alongside the latest draft, some supporting material designed to assist with reading, understanding, and contextualizing the draft Constitution. It includes an outline of the role the Constitution plays in the Cardano ecosystem, a summary of the community review and global workshops, explains the function of the preamble, articles, principles, and tenets, and outlines, section by section, the edits, and changes that have been made to the draft following the consultation process and discussions with delegates.

What happens next?
The draft Constitution remains subject to change until voted on by elected workshop delegates. Very shortly, those delegates will vote on whether they, on behalf of the workshop attendees and community members they represent, accept the draft. This off-chain vote requires 51% of elected delegates’ votes to pass.

Should the majority vote yes, that text version will need to be voted on on-chain; at this point, no other changes to the text are anticipated. For the governance action to pass on-chain, it must meet a DRep approval threshold of 75% and a two-thirds majority vote (the same threshold as for all governance actions) by the interim Constitutional Committee.

Once we reach the milestone of ratifying, on-chain, a Constitution that the community is happy with, we can look ahead to 2025 and the point at which a new governance action will need to be submitted to elect a Constitutional Committee that will pick up the baton from the current interim committee.

Getting ready for the Constitutional Convention!
The Constitutional Convention will now be held in Buenos Aires and Nairobi. This is in response to travel visa complications for approximately 30 delegates and alternates. For more information on how the convention will unfold, check out cardanoconvention.com. The agenda should be considered a guide to the event but subject to change depending on progress and delegate signaling.