Referendums in Hessen 2018

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Sample voting slip for the 15 referendums in Hessen 2018

On October 28, 2018, referendums on 15 amendments to the Hessian state constitution (HV) took place in Hessen . Each proposal was voted individually. In Hesse, all constitutional amendments passed by the state parliament must be confirmed by a mandatory referendum . The last referendum in Hessen was held in 2018 (see state elections in Hessen 2018 ). All constitutional amendments were passed with a large majority.

Procedure

Art. 123 para. 2 HV regulates that a constitutional amendment first requires the approval of the Hessian state parliament for the corresponding law. After this happened, on October 28, 2018, the people had to approve each of the 15 laws with a majority of the voters for them to come into force.

The individual referendums

At the same time as the state elections, referendums on changes to the constitution of the state of Hesse took place. The individual votes took place on a voting slip, separate from the one for the state election. Citizens had the opportunity to vote en bloc or to decide on each law individually. The constitutional amendments are:

theme content Explanations law % Yes % No.
Actual enforcement of equality between women and men The previous Art. 1 HV “All people are equal before the law, regardless of gender, race, origin, religious or political convictions.” Becomes paragraph 1.
A new paragraph 2 is added: “Women and men are equal. The state promotes the actual implementation of equality between women and men and works towards eliminating existing disadvantages. " 		The new formulation corresponds to that in Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law Act to supplement Art. 1 HV (Strengthening and promoting equality between women and men), online 88.6 11.4
Children's rights The previous Art. 4 HV “Marriage and the family stand as the basis of community life under the special protection of the law.” Becomes Paragraph 1.
As a new Paragraph 2 is added: “Every child has the right to protection and to the promotion of its development to a self-reliant and sociable personality. The best interests of the child is an essential consideration in any action that affects children. The child's will must be given due consideration in all matters affecting him, according to his or her age and maturity, in accordance with applicable procedural rules. The constitutional rights and obligations of the parents remain unaffected. " 		Law to supplement Art. 4 HV (strengthening of children's rights), online 89.1 10.9
privacy A new Art. 12a HV is inserted: “Everyone is entitled to determine how their personal data is disclosed and used. The confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems are guaranteed. Restrictions on these rights require a law. " So far, the Hessian constitution did not contain any regulation on the basic right to informational self-determination Law to supplement Art. 12a HV (right to informational self-determination and protection of information technology systems), online 90.9 9.1
death penalty The previous Art. 21, Paragraph 1, Clause 2 HV “In the case of particularly serious crimes, he can be sentenced to death” is changed to “The death penalty has been abolished”. Art. 109, Paragraph 1, Clause 3 HV (“The state government reserves the right to confirm a death sentence”) is repealed. The new text corresponds to Art. 102 GG. Since the Basic Law does not allow the death penalty and federal law violates state law ( Art. 31 ), the previous regulation was irrelevant. Act amending Art. 21 and 109 HV (repeal of the death penalty), online 83.2 16.8
Definition of the concept of a state objective A new Article 26a is inserted: "State goals oblige the state, the municipalities and municipal associations within the scope of their competence and capabilities to continuously observe and to align their actions with them." So far there has been no legal definition of the term state goal in the constitution Law to supplement Art. 26a HV (inclusion of a state target concept), online 84.8 15.2
Sustainability as a national goal A new Art. 26c HV is inserted: "The state, the municipalities and municipal associations take into account the principle of sustainability in their actions in order to protect the interests of future generations." Law to supplement Art. 26c HV (state objective to take greater account of sustainability), online 89.1 10.9
Promotion of technical, digital and social infrastructure and adequate housing as a national goal A new Art. 26d HV is inserted: “The state, the municipalities and municipal associations promote the establishment and maintenance of the technical, digital and social infrastructure and of adequate housing. The state works towards the equality of living conditions in town and country. " Law to supplement Art. 26d HV (state objective to promote infrastructure) online 90.0 10.0
Promotion of culture as a national goal A new Art. 26e HV is inserted: "Culture enjoys the protection and promotion of the state, the municipalities and municipal associations." Act to supplement Art. 26e HV (state goal for the protection and promotion of culture), online 87.7 12.3
Promotion of voluntary work as a national goal A new Art. 26f is inserted: "The voluntary work for the common good enjoys the protection and promotion of the state, the municipalities and municipal associations." Law to supplement Art. 26f HV (state objective to protect and promote voluntary work), online 89.0 11.0
Promotion of sport as a national goal A new Art. 26g HV is inserted: "Sport enjoys the protection and promotion of the state, the municipalities and municipal associations." Art. 62a is repealed. Sports funding was already part of the constitution as Art. 62a HV. As part of the creation of a catalog of state goals in Art. 26 HV, this state goal is to be moved here. Law to supplement Art. 26g HV (state objective to protect and promote sport), online 87.8 12.2
Commitment to European integration Art. 64 HV, which previously read “Hesse is a member of the German Republic”, is to be replaced by: “Hesse is a member state of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European Union. Hessen is committed to a united Europe that is committed to democratic, constitutional, social and federal principles as well as the principle of subsidiarity , preserves the independence of the regions and ensures their participation in European decisions. " Act to amend and supplement Art. 64 HV (commitment to European integration), online 82.4 17.6
Reduction of the minimum age for the right to stand for election in state elections from 21 to 18 years Art. 75 para. 2 HV is replaced by the following: "Those eligible to vote who have reached the age of eighteen are eligible for election." Such a constitutional amendment was rejected in a referendum held at the same time as the 1995 state election . Hesse is the only state in which a state election is not acquired at the age of eighteen (see electoral mode of state elections ). Act amending Art. 75 HV (lowering the eligibility age), online 70.3 29.7
Electronic promulgation of laws The following sentence is added to Art. 120 HV: “The Law and Ordinance Gazette can be kept in electronic form in accordance with a law.” In addition, Art. 121 HV is formulated as follows: “Unless otherwise stipulated, laws take effect in force on the fourteenth day following the day on which they were announced. " The aim is to create the possibility of keeping the law and regulation gazette for the state of Hesse purely electronically Law supplementing Art. 120 HV and amending Art. 121 HV (Electronic promulgation of laws), online 81.4 18.6
Lowering of the quorum for referendums Art. 124 para. 1 sentence 1 HV is worded as follows: "A referendum is to be brought about if one twentieth of the voters make the request after a bill has been submitted." Para. 3 sentence 2 is worded as follows: "The law is based on a referendum resolved when the majority of the voters, but at least a quarter of those entitled to vote, has approved the bill. " Up until now it was necessary for 20% of the citizens entitled to vote to support a referendum; in future 5% should be sufficient. In return, a referendum should only take effect if 25% of those eligible to vote agree. Law amending Art. 124 HV (Strengthening the People's Legislation), online 86.3 13.7
Strengthening the independence of the State Audit Office Art. 144 para. 1 HV is worded as follows: "The Court of Auditors, whose members have judicial independence, examines the efficiency and correctness of the budget and economic management as well as the bills for the budget and determines them." Act amending Art. 144 HV (Strengthening the Independence of the Court of Auditors), online 88.3 11.7

prehistory

The Hessian constitution is one of the oldest state constitutions; it came into force in 1946 three years before the Basic Law. It therefore contains a number of regulations, such as Article 41 of Socialization , the death penalty or the ban on lockouts, which are now obsolete. In 2005 an attempt to undertake a comprehensive reform of the constitution failed. In 2017, the Hessian state parliament made a new attempt to reach a cross-party consensus settlement. For this purpose, a constitutional convention was created under the chairmanship of Jürgen Banzer , which created a catalog of 15 amendments, 7 of which were supported by all parties in the state parliament. The other 8 changes were decided by the CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP, with the left abstaining or voting against, including changing the referendum hurdles, the various state goals and the electronic promulgation of laws.

Other proposed points proved inconsistent and were not included in the package. Thus the desired CDU a reference to God in the SPD wanted a fundamental right to free education and the FDP limiting the tenure of the Prime Minister to two terms.

Counting

The referendum could be counted on the evening of the election or from the next day by counting electoral boards . Because of the state elections taking place at the same time, the counting was probably carried out in most Hessian municipalities and electoral districts via a counting electoral committee. Contrary to initial planning, trend results were not communicated by the municipalities. The preliminary result was therefore published on November 1, 2018.

All 15 constitutional amendments were adopted; approval was between 70.3 percent (lowering the minimum age for the right to stand as a candidate in state parliament elections from 21 to 18 years) and 90.9 percent (data protection). The turnout was 67.1 percent and the valid votes ranged between 93.6 (state target definition) and 95.7 percent (equality).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ State Returning Officer for Hesse (Ed.), Christine Brieger: Information on the referendums on October 28, 2018. (pdf, 276 kB) In: Elections in Hesse. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Christine Brieger: Overview of the referendums carried out so far. (pdf, 26 kB) In: Elections in Hesse. July 30, 2015, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  3. ↑ State Parliament decides on reform - citizens are allowed to vote on 15 constitutional amendments. In: hessenschau.de . May 24, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018 . Pitt von Bebenburg: No more death penalty in Hesse. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , November 27, 2017.
  4. ↑ Results of the 15 referendums in Hesse on October 28, 2018 - State of Hesse. In: statistik-hessen.de. Retrieved November 16, 2018 .