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“Most guides list Forbin as a “Representative Democracy” which is strictly true, but visitors should be aware that the voting franchise is notably limited. Citizens who wish to gain the right to vote have to complete a course of study, including law, political theory, finance and civics so that they will be able to exercise their vote wisely.

Any citizen can take the course, regardless of age, education or gender – the youngest voter as of 1107 was a precocious thirteen year old. Tuition is free, and access to it is a constitutional right, guaranteed even to citizens serving prison sentences.

However, the Imperial Ministry of Education judges that it is roughly equivalent to an undergraduate degree course, and the average time for a citizen attempting to complete the course in their spare time is around six years. The required course was much shorter in the colony's early days, but additional elements were steadily added until a constitutional amendment in 912 prevented anything more being added without removing an equivalent amount of current material.

As a result, only about 20% of the adult population are voters, even though it carries a considerable degree of social cachet and certain jobs in government and politics are only open to those with the vote. Most voters are over thirty, though an unintended consequence of the system is that the long term unemployed are disproportionately likely to have had the time to complete the course.

It is not clear whether the better than average education of the average voter actually leads to better government, though most voters unsurprisingly believe that it does”


(Author's note - In game terms, only people with EDU 8+ are voters on Forbin. The idea is again to give a world some character, rather than "another generic mid-tech planet". It can kick off various scenarios, where groups who are under-represented in voter numbers (perhaps new immigrants or the poor) campaign to change the system, or other groups such as political parties run night classes to help their supporters pass the exams and become voters)


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