Referendum

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A referendum is generally understood to be a non-binding instrument of direct democracy in which the eligible population is consulted on a specific question. Beyond the German-speaking countries, referendums are mostly referred to as consultative referendums . The result of the vote is normally non-binding and is essentially intended to determine the majority of opinion in the population on a political question.

process

All residents of a local legislative body (e.g. a state or a federal state) who are entitled to vote are asked about a specific political matter. As is usual with direct democratic instruments, the procedure has a very high degree of formalization. Preparation, implementation and determination of results follow the usual standards for elections. The submission to be questioned usually has to be answered with "Yes" or "No" by the voters, or if there are several alternative proposals, a clear choice must be made between these.

criticism

Referendums are often criticized because, on the one hand, they are quite time-consuming and, on the other hand, like some other forms of referendum, they also show a certain susceptibility to manipulation.

If a referendum is actually about determining a majority opinion in the population, much cheaper methods are available today with the means of public opinion polls. By means of a demoscopic survey of a few thousand citizens, a picture of the opinion of the population can usually be obtained with sufficient reliability, while in a referendum several million people may be called on to participate in a similar election procedure. Expenditure and income, so the criticism, would not be in a favorable relationship with a referendum.

More serious is the allegation of susceptibility to manipulation. Since the submission on which the public's opinion is to be queried comes from the government or a part of parliament, there is a risk that the referendum will be instrumentalized in the political debate. Since the result of the survey is non-binding anyway, the political representation could be tempted to use the instrument primarily for propaganda purposes.

The EU membership referendum in the United Kingdom in 2016 was a consultative referendum that received worldwide attention .

Popular surveys in the German-speaking countries

Austria

The referendum in Austria is a typical example of a non-binding referendum. The consultative referendum can be decided by the National Council with a majority of its members and is scheduled by the Federal President.

Germany

In Germany, the Basic Law provides for a referendum in the event of a reorganization of the federal territory . Contrary to the globally customary procedural design, the referendum in Germany has a quasi-binding character and is therefore a very atypical example of the instrument ( Article 29 of the Basic Law for the restructuring of the federal territory).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Conscription referendum. In: Demokratiezentrum.org. Retrieved March 21, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Brexit in the European constitution. In: verfassungsblog.de . June 27, 2016, accessed on March 31, 2019 : "On June 23, 2016, there was a consultative referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union."

literature

  • Mario Martini : If the people (co) decide ... Interrelationships and lines of conflict between direct and indirect democracy as a challenge for the legal system. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-428-13759-6 .
  • Mario Martini : The Citizens' Polls as a Building Block of Democracy, DÖV 2015, pp. 981–992

See also