User:Fm3dici97/sandbox/Referendums by country: Difference between revisions

A referendum (in some countries synonymous with plebiscite, or a vote on a ballot question) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This article summarises referendum laws and practice in various countries.

Summary table

Types of referendums by country

This tables contains a high level summary of the referendum types for which an explicit legal provision exist in each country; ad hoc referendums initiated by event-specific legislation are not included; more details about such referendums are available in the country specific sections lower in this page.

Country	Type	Topic	Triggered by	Is binding	Quorum	Approval threshold	# Held[b]	Last referendum	Ref.
Bolivia	Constitutional	Constitution amendment		Y Yes	N No	50%	1	2016	[1]
	(Mandatory) treaty ratification	International treaties regarding border issues, monetary unions, structural economic integration or sovereignty cessions to international organizations	Mandatory to confirm	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[1]
	(Optional) treaty ratification	Any other international treaty not covered by the previous case		Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[1]
	Recall	Recall of national, departmental, regional and municipal elected officials	25% of registered voters + 20% in each department[c]	Y yes	Y # of votes obtained in the previous election	highest between 50% and % of votes obtained in the previous election	0	—	[1]
	Legislative	Any legislative proposal on admitted topics		Y yes	N No	50%	0	—	[2]
Chad	Constitutional	Constitution amendment	Mandatory if not approved by 2/3 of the National Assembly	Y Yes	N No	50%	1	2023	[3]
	Territorial changes	Cession, exchange or addition of territory	Mandatory to confirm	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[3]
	Optional	Any topic of national interest	President’s decision	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[3]
Egypt	Constitutional	Constitution amendment		Y Yes	N No	50%	1	2019	[4]
	House dissolution	Justified dissolution of the House of Representatives	President’s decision	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[4]
	Treaty ratification	International treaties about peace, alliances or sovereignty	Mandatory to confirm	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[4]
	Presidential recall	Recall of the President	Simple majority of the House of Representatives	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[4]
	Optional	Any topic of national interest	President’s decision	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[4]
Guyana	Constitutional	Constitutional amendment	Optional after approval by the National Assembly if about non-entrenched topics and approved by less than 2/3 of the members, mandatory otherwise	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—
Italy	Constitutional	Constitution amendment approved by less than 2/3 of House and Senate	1/5 of House or Senate or 5 Regional Councils or 500,000 registered voters	Y Yes	N No	50%	4	2020	[6]
	Regional statute	(Amendments to) regional statutes approved by Regional Councils	1/5 of Regional Council or 1/50 of the region’s registered voters	Y Yes	N No	50%	—	—	[6]
	Popular	Abolish an existing law	5 Regional Councils or 500,000 registered voters	Y Yes	Y 50%	50%	77	2025	[6]
	Advisory	Modification of regions or municipalities	Mandatory for changes to regions, optional for changes to municipalities	Y Yes	N No	50%	—	—	[6]
Jamaica	Constitutional (ordinarily entr.)	Constitutional amendment on ordinarily entrenched provisions	Mandatory after approval by 2/3 of the House of Representatives and double rejection by the Senate	Y Yes	N No	3/5	0	—	[7]
	Constitutional (deeply entr.)	Constitutional amendment on deeply entrenched provisions	Mandatory after approval by 2/3 of the House	Y Yes	N No	2/3 if rejected twice by the Senate, 50% otherwise	0	—	[7]
Japan	Constitutional	Constitutional amendment	Mandatory after approval by 2/3 of the Diet	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[8][9]
	Local mandatory	Special law approved by the Diet that applies to a local entity	Mandatory to confirm after approval by the Diet	Y Yes	N No	50%	—	—	[8]
	Local recall	Recall of local officials or dissolution of a local assembly	1/3 of registered voters	Y Yes	N No	50%	—	—	[10]
Malawi	Constitutional	Constitutional amendments on entrenched provisions	Mandatory unless proven that substance and effect of the Constitution are not impacted	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[11][12]
	Optional	Matters of national relevance	President’s decision	Y Yes	N No	50%	0	—	[12]
Moldova	Mandatory constitutional	Constitutional amendments on national sovereignty, independence, unity or neutrality	Mandatory after approval by 2/3 of Parliament	Y Yes	Y 1/3	50% of registered voters	0	—	[13]
	Optional constitutional	Constitutional amendments on topics not covered by the mandatory referendum	Request by the Parliament after approval by 2/3 of the Parliament itself	Y Yes	Y 1/3	50%	3	2024	[13]
	Legislative	Legislation drafts	1/3 of the Parliament or Government’s decision or 200,000 signatures	Y Yes	Y 1/3	50%	0	—	[14]
	Consultative	Matters of national importance	President’s decision or 50% of Parliament	N No	Y 1/3	50%	3	2019	[13][14]
	Presidential recall	Recall of the President after approval by 2/3 of the Parliament	1/3 of the Parliament	Y Yes	Y 1/3	Highest between 50% and votes received in previous election	0	—	[13][14]
	Local	Matters of local importance	50% of local council or Mayor’s decision or Representative body decision or 10% of registered voters	Y Yes	Y 1/3	50%	—	—	[14]
	Mayoral recall	Recall of a mayor	52/3 of local council or 10% of registered voters	Y Yes	Y 1/3	Highest between 50% and votes received in previous election	—	—	[14]
Nauru	Constitutional	Constitutional amendment on entrenched provisions	Mandatory following approval by 2/3 of the Parliament	Y Yes	N No	2/3	3	2025
Norway	Local citizens’ initiative	Local matters	2% of registered voters or 500 signatures for counties / 300 for municipalities	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	—	—	[18]
	Local advisory referendum	Local matters	County / municipal council decision	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	—	—	[18]
	Boundary change	Changes of municipal boundaries	Mandatory on municipal or governmental initiative	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	Ad hoc	—	—	[19]
Taiwan	Constitutional and territory alteration	Constitution amendment and territorial changes	Mandatory after approval by 3/4 of the Legislative Yuan with a 3/4 quorum	Y Yes	N No	50% of eligible voters to approve	1	2022	[17]
	National	Overturn a law, initiate new legislation or on introduce/change an “important policy”	50% of the Legislative Yuan or 0.01% then 1.5% of voters of last Presidential election	Y Yes	N No	50% + 25% of eligible voters to approve	19	2025	[16]
	Local	Overturn a law, initiate new legislation or on introduce/change an “important policy”	50% of the Local Council or 0.01% then 1.5% of voters of last Presidential election in city/county	Y Yes	N No	50% + 25% of eligible voters to approve	6	2021	[16]
	Defense	Matters of national security	President’s decision	Y Yes	N No	50% + 25% of eligible voters to approve	2	2004	[16]

Africa

Chad

The Constitution of Chad provides for three different contexts in which a referendum can be used:^[3]

• as a mandatory step to approve any cession, exchange or addition of territory, as specified by Article 223
• in the case of a Constitutional amendment, its approval has to be confirmed either through a referendum or by 2/3 of the National Assembly, as specified by Article 226
• as an optional prerogative of the President, that after consultation with the National Assembly can submit to referendum any text or any question necessitating a direct consultation of the people, as specified in Articles 88 and 89.

Since the promulgation of the latest version of the Constitution in 2018, only one referendum has taken place in 2023.

Egypt

The country’s Constitution specifies various cases in which a referendum can take place; in all those cases the referendum procedure can be triggered by either the President or the House of Representatives, but there’s no legal provision for citizens-initiated referendums. Moreover, in all those cases the referendums are called at national level, the outcome of the referendum is binding, and a simple majority is sufficient to determine the result.^[4] More specifically, a referendum can be called in all these cases:

• Constitution amendment: regulated by Article 226 of the Constitution, it concerns the modification of one or more articles of the Constitution. The procedure can be initiated either by the President or by 1/5 of the House of Representatives, and for the referendum to be triggered the constitutional amendments need to be approved by 2/3 of the House of Representatives;
• House of Representatives dissolution: regulated by Article 137 of the Constitution, that requires a referendum to be held whenever the President decides to dissolve the House of Representatives, with the extra constraint that the reason behind the dissolution cannot be the same as for the previous dissolution. The referendum has to be held within 20 days from the decision, and if approved it results in new legislative elections within 30 more days;
• Treaty ratification: regulated by Article 151 of the Constitution. While in general the ratification of international treaties is only subject to the approval of the President and the House of Representatives, in the specific case of treaties regarding peace treaties, alliances and sovereignty rights it is mandatory for the treaties to be approved also through a popular referendum;
• President recall: regulated by Article 161, it concerns a no confidence motion proposed by a simple majority of the House and approved by 2/3 of the House itself. Upon approval of the motion, the Prime Minister has to call a referendum on the matter, that if approved results in the removal from office of the President and a new presidential election has to be called within 60 days; while if rejected it results in the dissolution of the House of Representatives and a new legislative election has to be called within 30 days;
• Public consultation: regulated by Article 157, that gives the President the power to call for a referendum over any matter regarding issues concerning the supreme interests of the State.

Since the promulgation of the latest version of the Constitution in 2014, only one referendum has taken place in 2019.

Malawi

The Constitution of Malawi prescribes the use of referendums to amend the Constitution itself in its Articles 195, 196 and 197. In those articles it is specified that while standard provisions can be amended by the National Assembly with a majority of 2/3 of its members, the amendment of core provisions has to first be approved through a national referendum with a simple majority of the votes casted, and then confirmed by the National Assembly also with a simple majority vote. An exception can be made to this second instance if it is proven (and confirmed by the Speaker of the Assembly) that the amendment doesn’t affect the substance or effect of the Constitution: in this case, the approval by 2/3 of the members of the National Assembly is also sufficient, without the need of a referendum.^[11]

However, a specific legal framework to regulate the occurrence of a referendum has been missing until 2018, when the Referendum Act came in effect. The Act, on top of specifying all the procedural details, specifying some topics that cannot be subject to a referendum, and confirming a simple majority threshold for the approval for any referendum vote, it indirectly introduces a second type of referendum. In fact the Article 3 says that the President can call for a referendum not only to comply with the already existing legal requirement in the case of a constitution amendment, but also whenever “he considers that it is in the public interest to obtain […] the opinion of the electorate on any issue or question”, effectively establishing a kind of “optional referendum” equivalent to those prescribed more explicitly in other countries.^[12]

The only referendum ever held in Malawi took place in 1993, before the current Constitution came into effect, and sanctioned the country’s transition to a multiparty democracy.

Asia

Japan

At national level, referendums are envisioned in the Constitution of Japan only for the purpose of amending the Constitution, as specified in Article 96.^[8] At local level however the picture is quite different, with a variety of direct democracy instruments allowed by the legislation and specified Article 95 of the Constitution and in various articles of the Local Autonomy Act.^[8][20]

Constitutional referendums

The Article 96 of the Constitution, that covers the procedure for amending the Constitution itself, states that the procedure should be initiated by the Diet, through a concurring vote of two-thirds or more of all the members of each House, and the approved reform should then put to vote in a national referendum and whose result should be determined by a simple majority of the votes casted. Moreover, the Article states that amendments approved via a referendum should “immediately be promulgated by the Emperor”, making the outcome of such referendums binding for all intents and purposes. However, no Constitutional referendum has been held yet and the Constitution has remained unchanged since its adoption in 1946.^[8] The specific procedures by which national constitutional referendums are held after Diet approval, including voting procedures, campaign rules, eligible voters, and implementation methods, are regulated instead by the Act on Procedures for Amendment of the Constitution of Japan.^[9]

Local referendums

At local level referendums can take place in a variety of situations. Firstly, according to Article 95 of the Constitutions whenever the Diet approves a special law that applies to a specific local entity it is mandatory for that law to be approved also by a referendum held among the voters of that entity.^[8] More provisions for referendums at local level are contained in the Local Autonomy Act, that specifies that 1/3 of the registered voters of a local entity can initiate a procedure for a recall referendum that affects either the local assembly as a whole, effectively triggering its dissolution (Article 78), the chief executive (Article 80), individual members of the local assembly (Article 81) or other local public officers (Article 83). Both in the cases of mandatory referendums and recall referendums a simple majority of the votes is sufficient to determine the outcome, and the outcome itself is considered to be binding.^[10]

Taiwan

While the rights of initiatives and referendums are mentioned in the Three Principles of the People and Chapter 9, Article 136 of the Constitution of 1947,^[21] a law pertaining specifically to referendums was not enacted until 2003. Approved by the Legislative Yuan in December 2003, the Referendum Act regulates referendums at both national and local level, allowes people to make changes or abolish laws by referendums.^[16] In addition to that, the 7th amendment of the Additional Articles of the Constitution in June 2005 also moved the final ratification process for future constitutional amendment and national territory alteration into a form of referendum. These referendum has a higher bar of proposing and approval set directly by the Constitution outside of the Referendum Act.^[17]

Constitutional and territory alteration referendums

The current Additional Articles of the Constitution designed two topics for a constitutional referendum in Articles 1, 4, and 12: Constitutional amendment and National territory alteration, setting a high bar in terms of requirements for these referendums over those set in the Referendum Act. The process for a constitutional amendment or national territory alteration has to be initiated by one-fourth (25%) of the members of the Legislative Yuan, then voted in the Legislative Yuan with at least three-fourths (75%) members attended and by a three-fourths (75%) supermajority. A constitutional referendum will then be conducted if the amendment is approved, with a threshold to pass the constitutional referendum set to 50% of all eligible voters.^[17] The first and only Constitutional referendum to take place since the 2005 amendments to the Additional Articles was the 2022 Taiwanese voting age referendum, while no referendum about territory alteration has taken place yet.

National and local referendums

The process for other referendums at both national and local level is regulated by the Referendum Act, which states that such process can be initiated either by the legislature or through a popular initiative. At national level, this means that in the first case a simple majority of the Legislative Yuan is sufficient to start the process, while in the second case the initiation procedure is split in two confirmation rounds, the first requiring the signatures of 0.01% of the electorate of the most recent Presidential election, and the second the signatures of 1.5% of that same electorate. At local level, the same requirements are mirrored regarding the voters of the affected city/county and their Local Council legislature. Additionally, referendums will be declared passed if a majority of voters vote for propositions, and the number of agreeing votes reaches 25 percent of the eligible voters.^[16] Initially a 50% turnout quorum for referendums to be considered valid was also required, but the failure of the first 6 national referendums due to the Kuomintag asking its voters to boycott the votes lead to the removal of the quorum in an amendment of the Referendum Act 2017 that also brought some relaxation in the initiation requirements.^[22]

In terms of issues on which referendums can occur, three types are admitted: referendums on whether to overturn a law, on principles for a new law or on initiating or changing an “important policy”. The binding nature of these referendums however is a more controversial matter, and heavily dependent on the specific issue covered by the referendum. Article 30 of the Referendum Act states that action needs to be taken to respect the (positive) outcome of a referendum in all of the three cases specified above, making all of Taiwan’s referendums legally binding at least in principle.^[16] While in first case the Referendum Act explicitly mentions that the law will lose its efficacy on the third day after the result is officially declared by the CEC, nothing of the sort is specified for the other two cases. The responsibility for implementing the result should fall on the government and Legislature in the second case, and on the “relevant authority” in the third, but the Referendum Act does not have compulsory enforcement clauses and there’s nothing preventing the result from being effectively ignored, leaving the binding nature of Taiwan’s referendums in a grey area.^[23][24]

Defense referendums

The Referendum Act specifies special provisions for national-level referendums in the case of matters of national security. Article 17 of the Referendum Act states “When the country is under the threat of foreign force and the national sovereignty is likely to be changed, the President may, with the resolution of the meeting of the Executive Yuan, apply the matters regarding the national security to referendum.” This means that such referendums can be called only through presidential initiative, while the requirement for such referendums to be declared passed is the same as for other national referendums, i.e. a majority of voters voting for the propositions, and the number of agreeing votes reaching 25 percent of the eligible voters.^[16] Two such propositions have been voted in 2004, where voters were asked two questions regarding the cross-strait relations, that is, between Taiwan and China. This case is particularly relevant for the controversy about the referendums’ binding nature mentioned in the previous subsection, cause following its outcome government officials clearly stated that the result of the referendum was not binding on the Government.^[25]

Europe

Italy

The Constitution of Italy only provides for four types of legally binding referendums:^[6]

• A popular referendum, in which the electorate is called to vote on whether they wish to abolish (abrogate) an existing law, either totally or partially, as specified by Article 75;
• A constitutional referendum, which can be requested in some cases when a new constitutional law is approved by Parliament, as specified by Article 138. Similarly, a referendum can be requested to confirm the adoption of the Statute of ordinary regions, as specified by Article 123;
• An advisory referendum might be required to approve the modification of regions, provinces, or municipalities, as specified by Articles 132 and 133;
• A popular referendum on regional laws and regulations may be regulated by regional statutes, as specified by Article 123.

Despite that the constitutional right to hold a popular referendum has existed since adoption of the Constitution in 1948, the necessary legislation detailing the bureaucratic procedures needed to hold them was not adopted until 1970, when the Law No. 352/1970 was approved.^[26] As a consequence of this, Italy’s first popular referendum was not held until 1974, 27 years after the constitution was first approved.

Popular referendums

A popular referendum can only be called only at the request of five Regional Councils or 500,000 Italian voters. A popular referendum can only be asked to abolish an existing law (or part of it); a referendum to adopt new legislation is not provided for by the Constitution. Some matters are not subject to popular referendum: tax laws, budget laws, amnesties and pardons, and laws that authorize the ratification of international treaties. For any question that reaches any of those thresholds two more validation steps are required: by the Court of Cassation, that judges its conformity to ordinary law and verifies the regularity of the signatures (if it’s through those that the threshold was met), and by the Constitutional Court, that evaluates its conformity to the Constitution. If those two checks are passed the President has then to set a date for the referendum to take place, that will be considered valid if the majority of those eligible has voted, and will be considered approved if a majority of valid votes has voted in favor. In any case, the outcome of the vote is binding.^[6][26] This has been by far the most popular form of referendum in Italy, with 77 such questions being put to vote since the first abrogative referendum in 1974.

Constitutional and regional statutes referendums

The standard procedure for amending the Constitution in Italy does not require its approval via referendum: it’s sufficient for the amendment to be approved twice by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, with the first voting in each house requiring just a simple majority and the second an absolute majority. However if the second voting while meeting the required threshold does not see 2/3 of the members of each house voting in favor, a confirmation referendum can be asked. More specifically, such a request can be submitted by either 1/5 of the members of either house, by 5 Regional Councils, or by 500,000 registered voters, and has to be submitted within three months of the publication of the bill in the Official Gazette. If that’s the case a confirmation referendum has to take place, with no turnout quorum and with a simple majority of the votes in favor required for it to be approved. As in the case of popular referendums, the outcome of the vote is binding.^[6][26] Italy has had four constitutional referendums in the history of the republic; two of which the constitutional law was approved in 2001 and 2020, and two in which it was rejected in 2006 and 2016.

A similar procedure applies to the approval and amendment of regional statutes at regional level. The standard procedure requires the a regional stature, or changes to a regional statute, to be approved twice by the Regional Council with an absolute majority required in the second vote. However a confirmation referendum can be requested by either 1/5 of the members of the Regional Council or 1/50 of the registered voters of the region within three months from the publication of the bill. In that case a referendum has to be held with a simple majority of the casted voted in favor required for the referendum to be approved.^[6]

Referendums on administrative divisions

The matter of modifications to the internal administrative divisions of Italy is covered in Articles 132 and 133 of the Constitution, and the process to approve those changes can be different depending on the changes involved. The merger of two regions or the creation of a new region with at least one million inhabitants, requested by a number of Municipal Councils representing not less than one-third of the populations involved, has to be subject to a referendum requiring an absolute majority of the affected population to be approved and resulting in a Constitutional Law that implements its outcome (if approved). Similarly, the transfers of provinces and municipalities from one region to another has to be subject to a referendum requiring an absolute majority of the population of the provinces or municipalities involved to be approved and resulting in a National Law that implements its outcome (if approved). On the other hand, changes to provinces and municipalities are generally approved at regional level with only the latter case requiring a “consultation with the population involved”, that might take the form of a referendum (but not necessarily).^[6]

Other referendums

At national level there are not explicit provisions in the Constitution for other referendum types different than the ones mentioned above, but further referendums can be held if regulated by an ad hoc Constitutional Law, which is an Act of the Parliament that has the same strength of the Constitution. That was the case of the 1989 Italian advisory referendum, which covered the topics of transforming the European Communities into a European Union and of allowing the European Parliament to draft a European Constitution. Moreover, Article 123 of the Constitution leaves to the regions the freedom to regulate in their statute processes to initiate legislation and hold referendums on regional laws. As a consequence, all current Italian regional statutes provide in some manner for regional referendums, though the form and subject matter are determined by each region’s legislative autonomy.^[6]

Norway

There’s no legal provision either in the Constitution of Norway or in other electoral laws for specific referendum procedures at national level. However, national referendums are still possible and require an initiation through a majority vote of the Storting and ad hoc legislation to determine their course.^[27] Multiple such referendums have taken place over the years in Norway, with the first being the 1905 referendum on the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway, and the last being the 1994 European Union membership referendum.

At local level however the picture is different. The Norwegian Local Government Act in Chapter 12 specifies two means of direct democracy that can be activated in counties and municipalities:^[18]

• citizens’ initiatives that receive the support of at least 2% of the registered voters of a county/municipality, or equivalently of 500 signatures in a county or 300 signatures in a municipality, should be submitted to the consideration of the local council of reference. However, the local council still retains the authority to decide whether the initiative should be submitted to a vote.
• the municipal or county councils themselves may decide to hold advisory referendums on proposals that concern the business of the municipality or the county authority, respectively.

In both cases, there’s no binding provision in the Act about the course of action for such votes and the councils are free to decide about their qourums, thresholds and binding nature.

A special provision is present in the case of boundary changes at municipal level: in this case, the Act on the determination and amendment of municipal and county boundaries (Division Act) at Article 10 states that in this specific situation the municipality or the Government (depending on who initiated the boundary change process) are obliged to seek the views of the residents on the proposal. However, the Article also specifies the referendum as only one of the means through which such consultation can take place, together with opinion polls, questionnaires, meetings or any other means of their choice.^[19]

Moldova

The Constitution of Moldova prescribes referendum as an option in several cases, which are regulated by the Constitution itself and by the Articles in the Title IV of the Electoral Code.^[13][14] While many aspects of the referendum procedure depend on the specific kind of referendum triggered, certain traits are shared by all of them, like the quorum of 1/3 of the registered voters for a referendum to be considered valid, as mentioned in Article 171 of the Electoral Code.^[14] More specifically, Article 143 of the Electoral Code specifies four types of Republican (i.e. national) referendums that can be held:

• constitutional, on amendments to the Constitution
• legislative, on legislative matters of national relevance
• consultative, on any issue of national interest
• recall, for the dismissal of the President of the Republic of Moldova

On top of that, referendums at local level are also allowed and regulated by Chapter 14 of the Electoral Code.^[14]

Constitutional referendums

The procedure for amending the Constitution is outlined in Articles 141, 142 and 143 of the Constitution itself. The process can be initiated by either at least 1/3 of the members of Parliament, the Government, or at least 200,000 citizens. Once the amendment is found compliant with the Constitution by the Constitutional Court, it is put to vote in the Parliament and it is considered approved if at least 2/3 of its members vote in favor. What happens afterwards depends on the topic of the amendment:

• if the amendment concerns the sovereignty, independence, unity or neutrality of the State, the approval via referendum is a mandatory step following the Parliament adoption, and it requires a majority of the registered voters to be passed.
• if the amendment concerns any other provision of the Constitution, the approval via referendum is only optional; the authority to decide for a referendum rests on the Parliament, and in that case a simple majority of the votes casted being in favor is enough for it to be considered approved. This was the case for example for the 2024 constitutional referendum.

In both cases, the outcome of the vote is binding. All three Constitutional referendums that took place in Moldova were about non

Legislative referendums

According to Article 144 of the Electoral Code, a legislative referendum can be initiated by either at least 1/3 of the members of Parliament, the Government, or at least 200,000 citizens (similarly to the procedure to amend the Constitution) and, according to Article 143, the subjects of such referendums are “draft laws on issues of major importance”. The procedure for the occurrence of the referendum itself is regulated by the Parliament, and a simple majority of the votes casted being in favor is sufficient for the referendum to be considered passed.^[14] Also in this case the outcome is binding, pending validation from the Constitutional Court.

Consultative referendums

The subjects of this third type of referendum are “issues of national interest that are brought for consultations with the public” (Article 143 of the Electoral Code), but their outcome is not necessarily binding and it’s up to the competent public administration bodies to eventually enforce it. They can be proposed either by the President (Article 88 of the Constitution) or by the Parliament (Article 66 of the Constitution).^[13] Three such referendums have taken place: the 1994 referendum was proposed by the President, while the two questions of the 2019 referendum were proposed by the Parliament.

Presidential recall referendums

A motion for the dismissal of the President can be requested by 1/3 of the members of the Parliament and has to be approved by 2/3 of those same members. After that happens, a national referendum with binding value on the matter is called, with an approval threshold set to the highest between the amount of votes obtained by the President in the last presidential election, and a simple majority of the votes cast, as per Article 168 of the Electoral Code.^[14]

Local referendums

Chapter 14 of the Electoral Code contains all the provisions that allow for referendums to be held at local level. In particular, two cases are envisioned: referendums over “issues that are of special importance for the respective locality, and that fall only
within the jurisdiction of local public administration bodies”, that can be held at any subnational administrative level, and referendums to recall mayors of communes and municipalities.^[14]

In the first case, a referendum can be called by either half of the elected local councilors, the mayors of communes or municipalities, the representative body of the local entity or 10% of the registered voters of the local entity. For mayoral recall, a referendum can be initiated by either 2/3 of the elected councilors through a secret ballot, or 10% of the registered voters of the commune/municipality. Moreover, equivalently to what is prescribed for referendums at national level, also the validity of local referendums is bound to a quorum of 1/3 of the registered voters of the corresponding local entity, as per Article 199. Approval thresholds are specified in Article 198, and in particular mayoral recalls have it set at the highest between the amount of votes received by the mayor in the election he brought them to office, and 50% of the casted votes; for any other local referendum instead a simple majority of the votes casted is enough.^[14]

South America

Bolivia

The country’s commitment to participatory democracy is outlined in the Article 11 of the Constitution of Bolivia, that states that Bolivian democracy is “participatory, representative and communitarian” and specifying among others means such referendums, citizens’ legislative initiatives and recall votes.^[1][28] In addition to that, the 2010 Electoral Regime Law provides a more detailed framework regarding the electoral process for referendums.^[2] This translates in practice into a variety of instances of participatory democracy that include:

• Constitutional referendums, mandated by Article 411 of the Constitution;
• referendums for the ratification of international treaties, mandated by Articles 257, 259 and 260 of the Constitution;
• recall referendums, mandated by Article 240 of the Constitution;
• legislative referendums, introduced by the Electoral Regime Law.

Constitutional referendums

According to the Constitution, Constitutional referendums in Bolivia are mandatory for any modification to the Constitution to be enforced. Such referendums can be the results of either a popular initiative that gathered the signatures of at least 20% of the registered voters, or by a constitutional reform approved by 2/3 of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, and would be considered approved if a simple majority of the expressed votes is in favor. Since the establishment of the current Constitution only one such referendum has taken place in 2016 and it was initiated by the Parliament.^[29] Two more Constitutional referendums took place in 1931 to amend the 1931 version of the Constitution, and in 2009 to approve the current version of the Constitution.

Treaty ratification referendums

The ratification of international treaties involving Bolivia can be subjected to a referendum if such an option is requested either with by 5% of the registered voters, or by 35% of the members of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. In the specific cases of treaties regarding border issues, monetary unions, structural economic integration or sovereignty cessions to international organizations the ratification via a referendum is a mandatory step.^[30] In either case, the result of the referendum is binding and is considered approved if an simple majority of the votes is in favor. Moreover, any international treaty that has been approved via a referendum will also require a referendum to be denounced. No such referendums have been held yet in Bolivia since the enactment of the 2009 Constitution.

Recall referendums

The Constitution states that any elected official in Bolivia can be subject to a recall referendum if requested by at least 15% of the registered voters of the administrative level of the official (national, departmental, regional or municipal), and that such a referendum can only be held in the second half of the term (but not in the last year), and can only happen once per term for each official.^[1] Further conditions are then provided by the electoral law, stating that the recall can be considered successful if there’s an simple majority in favor of the recall and if the number and percentage of votes in favor of the recall is greater than the number and percentage of votes through which the official was elected.^[2] The electoral law also imposes stricter conditions on the amount of signatures required to request a recall referendum, in particular:

• for national officials, 25% of registered voters at national level and at least 20% of each department (or 20% just in their constituency for officials elected via FPTP);
• for departmental officials, 25% of registered voters at departmental level and at least 20% of each region (or 20% just in their constituency for officials elected via FPTP);
• for regional officials, 25% of registered voters at regional level and at least 25% of each municipality;
• for municipal officials, 30% of the registered voters at municipal level.

No such referendums have been held yet in Bolivia since the enactment of the 2009 Constitution, but a recall referendum took place in 2008 and was regulated by the 2008 Law on the Recall Referendum.^[31]

Legislative referendums

In addition to the above referendum types mandated by the Constitution and regulated by special provisions the 2010 Electoral Regime Law establishes the presence of generic legislative referendum that can be triggered in the following cases:

• at national level, by the President, by 2/3 of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly or by 20% of the registered voters at national level with at least 15% from each department;
• at departmental level, by 2/3 of the corresponding Departmental Assembly or by 25% of the registered voters at departmental level with at least 20% from each municipality;
• at municipal level, by 2/3 of the corresponding Municipal Council or by 30% of the registered voters at municipal level.

The result of such referendums is binding, and an simple majority is necessary to determine the winning option. The Electoral Regime Law also establishes a limit to the amount of referendum at national level that can be triggered during a term, with at most one referendum per initiator (President, Parliament or registered voters), and excludes certain topics from the possibility of being subject of a referendum.^[2]

Guyana

The Constitution of Guyana allows referendums only for constitutional amendments, as outlined in Article 164. It distinguishes between two categories of provisions: entrenched (fundamental) and non-entrenched. For entrenched provisions, a referendum is always required after the National Assembly passes the amendment by majority vote. For non-entrenched provisions, a referendum is only necessary if the amendment is passed by the National Assembly without reaching a two-thirds supermajority; if two-thirds approve, the referendum can be skipped.^[5] The only referendum ever held in Guyana dates back to 1978, and it concerned the removal of the Constitutional requirement of a referendum to approve amendments to entrenched provisions. While the referendum passed, the same requirement was later reintroduced in the new Constitution that was enacted in 1980.

Central America

Jamaica

The Constitution of Jamaica allows for referendums only in the context of amending the Constitution itself. In particular, the provisions of the Constitution are grouped into three categories (ordinary, ordinarily entrenched, and deeply entrenched), and the procedures for amending provisions from each group are different. The starting point is always a Constitutional Amendment Bill being submitted to a vote in the two Houses of Parliament and being approved by the House of Representatives. The approval thresholds required in the Houses, and the steps to be followed after approval by the House of Representatives, are specified in Article 49 of the Constitution as follows:^[7]

• Ordinary provisions are the least protected in the Constitution and can be amended through a simple majority of both Houses.
• Ordinarily entrenched provisions require a two-thirds majority of both Houses to be amended; a referendum is normally not required to pass the Bill, but if the Senate rejects it twice, it can be bypassed by submitting the Bill to a referendum requiring an approval majority of 3/5 of the votes cast.
• Deeply entrenched provisions also require a two-thirds majority of both Houses to be amended, but with referendum approval as a mandatory step following the votes in Parliament; if both Houses approve the amendment, a simple majority of the votes cast is sufficient for the referendum to be approved; if the Senate rejects it twice, the required approval threshold rises to 2/3 of the votes cast.

Oceania

Nauru

In the Constitution of Nauru referendums are only envisioned as part of the process to amend the Constitution. As per Article 84, any amendment to the Constitution must first be submitted as a Bill to the Parliament and it requires majority of 2/3 of its members to be passed. In the case of core provisions of the Constitution, listed in its Fifth Schedule, the approval from the Parliament is not sufficient and a further confirmation through a national referendum is required. The approval threshold for the referendum is of 2/3 of the votes casted and its outcome is binding; all the procedural details about how such referendums must be held are described in the Referendum Procedures Act.^[32][33] Three such referendums have been held in Nauru so far, the last of which in 2025.

Samoa

No standard provision is included in the Constitution of Samoa for means of direct democracy such as referendums.^[15] However referendums can still be held provided ad hoc legislation to regulate the voting process, as it happened for the 1990 constitutional referendum, the only case in post-independence Samoa where referendum propositions have been subject to popular approval.^[34] The only other case in Samoan history where a referendum has been held dates back to 1961, where voters of the Territory of Western Samoa where asked about independence from New Zealand and the ratification of a new Constitution.^[34]

References