Constitutional referendum in Comoros 2009
The Constitutional Referendum in Comoros 2009 took place on May 17, 2009. Voters were supposed to vote on a new constitution which, in the opinion of their supporters, would reduce the government's bureaucracy in the islands, but which, in the opinion of their opponents, posed a threat to democracy in the country and the autonomy of the main islands. After the opposition called for a boycott, with a turnout of just over 50% of the votes, the new constitution was adopted with 93.9% approval.
Changes due to the new constitution
The old constitution of 2001 was a very costly attempt to achieve a political balance between the country's three main islands. Each island had a semi-autonomous parliament headed by a president and the presidency of the entire state rotated between the islands.
In contrast, the constitution adopted by the referendum provides for the following changes:
- The presidents of the main islands become governors with less influence
- The ministers of the individual island governments lose their rank and become agents
- Of the 33 seats in the entire parliament, only 9 seats are indirectly occupied by the parliaments of the main islands (compared to 15 according to the old constitution) and 24 seats are directly elected (compared to 18 according to the old system)
- The president's term of office should be extended to five (instead of four) years.
- The president was given the right to dissolve parliament
- In the new constitution, Islam is declared the state religion
The particularly criticized extension of the president's term of office, which would have made new elections necessary in 2011, was revoked by the Constitutional Court in May 2010, so that the next presidential elections in the Comoros took place in 2010 and President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi did not have to stand for re-election until 2011. The parliamentary elections in the Comoros in 2009 took place according to the requirements of the new constitution.
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110407085640/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTTLlA88nrhaFJ4u1DgeMzY5zpLg afp article, accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83144 irinnews.org, accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.africa.com/comoros/report accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.africa.com/comoros/report accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.africa.com/comoros/report accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.k-state.edu/sasw/comoros/ www.k-state.edu accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://www.k-state.edu/sasw/comoros/ www.k-state.edu accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ http://welections.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/malawi-and-comoros-2009/ accessed on January 14, 2011
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110407085640/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTTLlA88nrhaFJ4u1DgeMzY5zpLg
- ↑ http://www.k-state.edu/sasw/comoros
