2010 Nauruan constitutional referendum

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2010 Nauruan constitutional referendum
Flag of Nauru.svg
27 February 2010

Do you approve of the proposed law entitled Constitution of Nauru (Referendum Amendments) Bill 2009?
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes1,45033.04%
Light brown x.svg No2,93966.96%
Valid votes4,38998.17%
Invalid or blank votes821.83%
Total votes4,471100.00%

Nauruan constitutional referendum, 2010 results by district.svg
Results by district

A constitutional referendum was held in Nauru on 27 February 2010. [1] Voters were asked to vote on amendments to the constitution, most notably a change to a directly elected president (instead of one chosen by parliament) and a strengthening of human rights legislation (but also a clarification of the distribution of powers and other, less notable amendments). [2] A two-thirds majority was required for the amendments to pass. [3]

The referendum was part of a large-scale constitutional renewal; the referendum had to be held to approve changes to some especially protected parts of the constitution, while other changes were made by simple parliamentary vote. Any changes would only take effect on the day of the next general election, likely in May/June 2011. [3]

Turnout was 78%, [4] with almost 4,400 votes cast; the constitutional changes were rejected by majority of two thirds, almost 3,000 votes. [5] [6] It was considered immediately afterwards whether another referendum might be held at a later time. [7]

Results

Nauruan constitutional referendum, 2010
ChoiceVotes %
Light brown x.svg No2,93966.96
Yes1,45033.04
Valid votes4,38998.17
Invalid or blank votes821.83
Total votes4,471100.00
Source: Government of Nauru

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References

  1. "Nauru Government confident that public will back constitutional reforms". Rnzi.com. 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  2. "Stories:Nauru to hold constitutional referendum". Australia Network News. 2010-02-04. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  3. 1 2 Constitutional Review Project Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Parliament of Nauru
  4. Steven Ratuva (2011) The gap between global thinking and local living: Dilemmas of constitutional reform in Nauru The Journal of the Polynesian Society, volume 120, number 3, pp241–268
  5. "Stories:Changes to Nauru's constitution rejected at referendum". Australia Network News. 2010-03-01. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  6. "Nauruans vote against proposed Constitutional Amendments". Rnzi.com. 2010-02-28. Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  7. "Nauru leaders disappointed with referendum rebuff". Rnzi.com. 2010-03-01. Retrieved 2010-08-21.