Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. National referendums can be permitted by an Act of Parliament and regulated through the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, but they are by tradition extremely rare due to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty meaning that they cannot be constitutionally binding on either the Government or Parliament, although they usually have a persuasive political effect.
The Greater London Authority referendum of 1998 was a referendum held in Greater London on 7 May 1998, asking whether there was support for the creation of a Greater London Authority, composed of a directly elected Mayor of London and a London Assembly to scrutinise the Mayor's actions. Voter turnout was low, at just 34.1%. The referendum was held under the provisions of the Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998.
This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate states, and their territories, with several additional referendums held in countries outside of the EU. The referendums have been held most commonly on the subject of whether to become a member of European Union as part of the accession process, although the EU does not require any candidate country to hold a referendum to approve membership or as part of treaty ratification. Other EU-related referendums have been held on the adoption of the euro and on participation in other EU-related policies.
Bulgaria elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term directly by the people. The National Assembly has 240 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. Bulgaria has a multi-party system, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each to form governments.
Elections in Portugal gives information on election and election results in Portugal.
The Czech Republic elects a legislature at a national level. The Parliament has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies has 200 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation with a 5% election threshold for political parties. The Senate has 81 members in single-seat constituencies, elected by two-round runoff voting for a six-year term, with one third of seats contested every even year in the autumn. The President of the Czech Republic was indirectly elected for five-year terms until 2012; beginning with the 2013 election, the president is elected by direct two-round runoff voting.
Elections in San Marino gives information on election and election results in San Marino.
The Czech Republic is bound to adopt the euro in the future and to join the eurozone once it has satisfied the euro convergence criteria by the Treaty of Accession since it joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Czech Republic is therefore a candidate for the enlargement of the eurozone and it uses the Czech koruna as its currency, regulated by the Czech National Bank, a member of the European System of Central Banks, and does not participate in European Exchange Rate Mechanism II.
Referendums in Taiwan at both the national and local level are governed by the Referendum Act of Taiwan, which was enacted by the Legislative Yuan in December 2003. Citizens can propose laws via referendums at the national and local levels. The Referendum Act also allowed people to make changes or abolish laws by referendums.
This national electoral calendar for the year 2010 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2010 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are not included.
The Mayor of Bristol is the head of Bristol City Council. The Mayor is an elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, is responsible for the strategic government of the city of Bristol, England. The role was created after a local referendum held on 3 May 2012, which followed the passage of the Localism Act 2011. 41,032 voted for an elected mayor and 35,880 voted against, with a turnout of 24%. An election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012.
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, also known as the EU referendum and the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the people if they wanted the country either to remain a member of or to leave the European Union (EU) under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and also the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The referendum resulted in 51.9% of voters being in favour of leaving the EU. Although legally the referendum was non-binding, the government of that time had promised to implement the result, and it initiated the official EU withdrawal process on 29 March 2017, meaning that the UK is due to leave the EU before 11PM on 29 March 2019, UK time, when the two-year period for Brexit negotiations expires.
This national electoral calendar for the year 2016 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
This national electoral calendar for the year 2017 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic on 7 and 8 October 2016, with a second round on 14 and 15 of October. The first round was held alongside regional elections and several municipal referendums, notably in a referendum in Brno on the location of the town's train station.
The European Union Referendum Act 2015(c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made legal provision for a pre-legislative advisory referendum to be held in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, on whether it should remain a member state of the European Union or leave it. The bill was introduced to the House of Commons by Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary on 28 May 2015. The Act was subsequently passed by 316-53 votes on its third reading in the Commons on 7 September 2015 and was approved by the House of Lords on 14 December 2015, and given Royal Assent on 17 December 2015 and came partly into force on the same day and came into full legal force on 1 February 2016.
Brno central station referendum, 2016, is a municipal referendum on the location of Brno Main Railway Station, in Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic and the way of its future modernisation. Citizens will vote on whether to retain the station at its current location and modernise it, or replace it with a new station at another location. The result of the referendum binds only local government. Nevertheless, it also indirectly affects government organs in the Czech Republic through the already existing system of contractual obligations. The date of referendum is set on 7 and 8 October 2016, the same day as regional elections.
The 2016 Plebiscite on Democratic Renewal was a non-binding referendum on electoral reform held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island between 27 October – 7 November 2016. This was the second electoral reform referendum to be held in Prince Edward Island, following a vote to maintain the status quo in 2005. The referendum asked which of five voting systems residents would prefer to use in electing members to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island. The referendum, after four instant run-off rounds, indicated mixed member proportional representation was the preferred choice with 55.03% support on the final ballot.
This national electoral calendar for the year 2018 lists the national/federal direct elections to be held in 2018 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. Specific dates are given where they have been known.
Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic on 5 and 6 October 2018 alongside municipal elections, with a second round held on 12 and 13 October 2018. The Conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) won the election with 10 seats. Governing parties ANO 2011 and the Czech Social Democratic Party were heavily defeated, winning only 1 seat each. The Communist Party lost its last seat in the Senate when Václav Homolka failed to be re-elected, meaning the party would be without representation in the Senate for the first time in the history of Czech Republic. The election was considered the first major win for the opposition to Andrej Babiš' Cabinet. Commentators including Josef Kopecký also noted ODS confirmed their position as the main opposition party, ahead of the Czech Pirate Party.
