A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new law. In some countries, it is synonymous with a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question.
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election, and may be a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball used to record decisions made by voters.
Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.
Since the introduction of parliamentarism in Sweden, six national referendums have been held. Legal provisions for referendums were introduced in 1922, one year after the adoption of universal suffrage. The Constitution of Sweden provides for binding referendums, but all referendums held as of 2012 have been non-binding. The latest referendum, on adopting the euro, was held on 14 September 2003.
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.
Latvia elects on national level a legislature. The Saeima has 100 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation with a 5% threshold. An unmodified Sainte-Laguë method is used to allocate seats. The parliamentary elections are held on the first Saturday of October. Locally, Latvia elects municipal councils, consisting of 7 to 60 members, depending on the size of the municipality, also by proportional representation for a four-year term.
Elections in Hungary are held at two levels: general elections to elect the members of the National Assembly and local elections to elect local authorities. European Parliament elections are also held every 5 years.
Voting in Switzerland is the process by which Swiss citizens make decisions about governance and elect officials. The polling stations are opened on Saturdays and Sunday mornings but most people vote by post in advance. At noon on Sunday, voting ends and the results are usually known during the afternoon.
Following the 2005 electoral reform referendum, British Columbia held a second referendum on electoral reform in conjunction with the provincial election on May 12, 2009. In 2018, another referendum was held. As in 2005, voters in 2009 were asked to express themselves on the BC single transferable vote electoral system (BC-STV) proposed by the British Columbia Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform to ensure more proportional representation in the provincial Legislative Assembly. British Columbians were asked which electoral system should be used to elect legislators: the existing first-past-the-post electoral system or the proposed STV system.
A constitutional referendum was held in the Republic of Dahomey on 5 January 1964. The main issues were changing the system of government to a presidential system, scrapping term limits for the president, and having a unicameral parliament. The referendum passed with 99.86% of voters approving the changes. Turnout was 92.1% of the 1,051,614 registered voters.
A constitutional referendum was held in Benin on 2 December 1990. The main issues were changing the political system to a multi-party system, with a secondary issue as to whether there should be age limits for the President. The referendum passed with 93.2% of voters approving the change to a multi-party system and 73.3% in favour of age limits.
The New Zealand voting system referendum, 2011, was a referendum on whether to keep the existing mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system, or to change to another voting system, for electing Members of Parliament to New Zealand's House of Representatives. It was held on Saturday 26 November 2011, in conjunction with the 2011 general election,
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:
The United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, also known as the UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system was held on Thursday 5 May 2011 in the United Kingdom (UK) to choose the method of electing MPs at subsequent general elections as part of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement drawn up after the 2010 general election which had resulted in the first hung parliament since February 1974 and also indirectly in the aftermath of the 2009 expenses scandal under the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and was the first national referendum to be held under provisions laid out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
A referendum on reforming the voting system was held in the Falkland Islands on 3 November 2011. Voters were asked "Do you want a single constituency for the whole of the Islands?" The proposal required a two-third majority in both of the islands' constituencies, but was rejected by 58.78% of voters overall; in Stanley it was narrowly approved by 50.2% of voters but in Camp it was widely rejected, with 84% voting against. Turnout was 70% in Camp and just 39% in Stanley.
A constitutional referendum was held in Uruguay on 24 November 1946, alongside general elections. Two options for amending the constitution were put to voters, but both were rejected.
A three-part referendum was held in Poland on 6 September 2015. Voters were asked whether they approved of introducing single-member constituencies for Sejm elections, maintaining state financing of political parties and introducing a presumption in favour of the taxpayer in disputes over the tax law.
A referendum on electoral reform took place by mail-in ballot between October 22 and December 7, 2018, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. This was British Columbia's third referendum on electoral reform since 2005.
A referendum on reforming the electoral system is scheduled to be held in the Falkland Islands on Thursday 7 November 2019. Voters will be asked if they want to replace the two existing electoral constituencies with a single constituency for the whole of the Islands.
