Referendum on the municipal referendum in Bavaria
The referendum on the municipal referendum was held on October 1, 1995 in Bavaria. It came about as a result of the successful referendum “More Democracy in Bavaria: Citizens' Decisions in Municipalities and Counties” , which the association Mehr Demokratie had launched together with a civil society alliance. The aim of the referendum was the introduction of citizen initiatives and referendums , even on the local level instruments of direct democracy in Bavaria to create. For example, matters relating to a municipality or a district's own sphere of activity should be able to be decided by the municipality or district citizens themselves. The state parliament drew up a counter-proposal to the initiative's proposal, which also provided for the introduction of these instruments, but contained higher participation hurdles. In the referendum, the proposal of the initiative received a majority of 57.8% of the votes in favor and was thus accepted.
procedure
The campaign of the association Mehr Demokratie in Bayern eV to introduce citizens' petitions and decisions in cities and municipalities was started in 1993. A petition for a referendum could be submitted on October 31, 1994, 35,291 people supported this with their signature. In spring 1995 there was a referendum. Almost 1.2 million people (13.7%), significantly more than the required 10%, supported the request. A referendum was held on October 1, 1995. Despite a counter-proposal from the majority in the state parliament, 57.8% voted for "More democracy in Bavaria". The Landtag's counter-draft received only 38.7%, the turnout is 36.9%. The alleviations of people's legislation at the state level , which were also introduced, were later partially revised by the Bavarian Constitutional Court . Since this court ruling was widely perceived as a political ruling by the advocates of direct democracy, Mehr Demokratie in Bayern, a state association of the renamed Federal Association since 1997 , sought another referendum to change the electoral mode of the Bavarian constitutional judges . This stipulated that the judges could not be elected and re-elected by the state parliament with a simple majority as before , but only with a two-thirds majority . However , the popular initiative required for this in 2000 failed, as did the renewed attempt to facilitate nationwide popular legislation, due to the signature hurdle.
Legal Aspects
Citizens' petitions and referendums were initially neither provided for in the Bavarian constitution nor in the municipal or district regulations and were only introduced in 1995 by the referendum, which incorporated these instruments into the Bavarian constitution ( Art. 7 and Art. 12 ) and the Bavarian municipal regulations GO and Landkreisordnung ( Art. 12a LKrO).
The process is two-stage and consists of
- Citizens' petitions and
- Referendum.
For a referendum, a sufficient number of support signatures must first be collected. The minimum number required depends on the number of inhabitants in the municipality and is between 3% and 10% of the municipality or district citizens, in smaller municipalities a larger percentage is necessary. If this hurdle is reached and the referendum is admissible, the municipal council or the district council can take over the request, otherwise a referendum takes place. However, the local council is not obliged to deal with the issue. The holding of a referendum can also be decided by the local council or district council without a prior referendum (so-called council petition ). A referendum is decided according to the majority of the votes cast, provided that this majority exceeds the required voting quorum. The quorum is between 10% and 20% of the electorate, again depending on the population of the municipality. A successful referendum has the same effect as a decision by the local council or district council.
consequences
From November 1995 to August 2010, a total of 1,694 citizens 'petitions and 981 citizens' decisions (78 of which were initiated by the municipal council) took place in Bavaria. During this period, more direct democratic procedures were carried out at the municipal level in Bavaria alone than in all the other federal states of Germany combined. About every second referendum ended in favor of the initiators. In 49% of the decisions the proposal of the referendum or council was accepted, 45% rejected and 6% of the referendums failed due to the necessary quorum.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mehr Demokratie eV: How did the regional association come about? ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 30, 2012)
- ↑ See as an example Art. 18a Para. 12 Municipal Code for the Free State of Bavaria
- ↑ Susanne Socher, Frank Rehmet, Fabian Reidinger: 15-year report on Bavarian petitions and referendums ( memento of the original from March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. More democracy e. V. (Hrsg.), Munich 2010. (accessed on April 8, 2011)
