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Amending the law on compulsory accident insurance | ||
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Funding a new building for the security forces | ||
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A double referendum was held in Liechtenstein on 4 April 2004. [1] Voters were asked whether they approved of amending the law on compulsory accident insurance and funding a new building for the security forces. [1] [2] Both proposals were rejected. [1]
Question | For | Against | Invalid/ blank | Total votes | Registered voters | Turnout | Outcome | ||||
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Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||||||
Amendment to the law on compulsory accident insurance | 3,953 | 33.74 | 7,763 | 31.77 | 179 | 11,895 | 17,190 | 69.20 | Rejected | ||
Funding a new building for the security forces | 3,745 | 31.77 | 8,042 | 68.23 | 108 | 11,895 | 69.20 | Rejected | |||
Source: Nohlen & Stöver |
Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east and north and Switzerland in the west and south. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy headed by the prince of Liechtenstein of the House of Liechtenstein, currently led by Hans-Adam II. It is Europe's fourth-smallest country, with an area of just over 160 square kilometres and a population of 40,023. It is the world's smallest country to border two countries, and is one of the few countries with no debt.
Liechtenstein is a principality governed under a semi-constitutional monarchy. It has a form of mixed constitution in which political power is shared by the monarch and a democratically elected parliament. There is a two-party system and a form of representative democracy in which the prime minister and head of government is responsible to parliament. However, the Prince of Liechtenstein is head of state and exercises considerable political powers.
Political identity came to the territory now occupied by the Principality of Liechtenstein in 814, with the formation of the subcountry of Lower Rhætia. Liechtenstein's borders have remained unchanged since 1434, when the Rhine established the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Swiss cantons.
Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein and also the seat of the national parliament. The village, which is located along the Rhine, has 5,696 residents. The most prominent landmark of Vaduz is Vaduz Castle, perched atop a steep hill overlooking the village. It is home to the reigning prince of Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein princely family. The village's distinctive architecture is also displayed in landmarks such as the Cathedral of St. Florin, Government House, Village Hall, the National Art Gallery, as well as the National Museum. Although Vaduz is the best-known village in the principality internationally, it is not the largest; neighbouring Schaan has a larger population.
The national flag of the Principality of Liechtenstein consists of two horizontal bands, one blue and one red, charged with a gold crown in the canton. In use since 1764 and officially enshrined into the nation's constitution in 1921, it has been the flag of the principality since that year. The crown was added to the flag in 1937, after the country discovered at the Summer Olympics held the previous year that their flag was identical to the Haitian civil flag.
The Liechtenstein national football team is the national football team of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organisation is known as the Liechtensteiner Fussballverband in German.
The German National Movement in Liechtenstein was a Nazi party in Liechtenstein that existed between 1938 and 1945.
The House of Liechtenstein, from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by hereditary right over the principality of Liechtenstein. Only dynastic members of the family are eligible to inherit the throne. The dynasty's membership, rights and responsibilities are defined by a law of the family, which is enforced by the reigning prince and may be altered by vote among the family's dynasts, but which may not be altered by the Government or Parliament of Liechtenstein.
Islam is a minority religion in Liechtenstein.
The National Police of the Principality of Liechtenstein, is the national police force of Liechtenstein. It is composed of 125 employees, with 91 officers and 34 staff, who police the 160 km2 (62 sq mi) doubly landlocked alpine state in Western-Central Europe. The current chief of police is Jules Hoch, since 2013.
The 2008 Liechtenstein tax affair is a series of tax investigations in numerous countries whose governments suspect that some of their citizens may have evaded tax obligations by using banks and trusts in Liechtenstein; the affair broke open with the biggest complex of investigations ever initiated for tax evasion in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is seen also as an attempt to put pressure on Liechtenstein, one of the remaining uncooperative tax havens, as identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, along with Andorra and Monaco, in 2007.
The United States and Liechtenstein executed their first treaty in 1926. Diplomatic relations were established in 1997. Since then, the relations between the two nations have been stable. Representatives of both countries in 2002 signed a mutual legal assistance treaty focused largely on jointly combating money laundering and other illegal banking activities.
One of the most popular sports in Liechtenstein is football. In Liechtenstein there is no national association football league however there are seven clubs in Liechtenstein which play in the Swiss football league system.
The religion in Liechtenstein is predominantly Catholic, with a minority of Protestants, non-adherents, and adherents of other religions; it also has a small Muslim population, composed mainly of immigrants from countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey.
The monarchy of Liechtenstein is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of Liechtenstein. The current monarch is Prince Hans-Adam II. The House of Liechtenstein, after which the sovereign principality was named in 1719, hails from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria, which the family possessed from the middle of the twelfth century to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. It is the only remaining European monarchy that practises strict agnatic primogeniture.
Liechtenstein Homeland Service was a political party in Liechtenstein that advocated corporate statism and the abolition of party politics. Shortly after its founding, the party also moved towards Nazism. It merged with the Christian-Social People's Party to form the Patriotic Union in 1936.
The Liechtenstein women's national football team is the national women's football team of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organisation is known as the Liechtensteiner Fussballverband in German. The team's first match was an unofficial friendly against FFC Vorderland in Triesen, Liechtenstein, a 2–3 defeat in June 2019. Their first official match was on 11 April 2021, a 2–1 defeat against Luxembourg.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Liechtenstein was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Liechtenstein in early March 2020. With a total population of 38,896 and 54 confirmed deaths, the country has one of the highest rate of confirmed deaths per capita in the world.
Women's suffrage in Liechtenstein was introduced on 1 July 1984, after the 1984 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum. This was the last nation in Europe to introduce this right.