Zwentendorf an der Donau is a small market municipality in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is located at 48°21′N15°54′E, in the Tulln Basin on the southern bank of the Danube. The place attained public attention as the site of the only Austrian nuclear power station, which was completed but never went into operation. In a referendum on 5 November 1978, a narrow majority of 50.5% voted against putting the Zwentendorf nuclear plant into operation.
Bulgaria elects on the 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 often no one party has a chance of gaining power alone and parties must work with each to form governments.
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 24 April 1983. The result was a victory for the Socialist Party, which won 90 of the 183 seats. However, the Socialists lost the outright majority they had held since 1971, prompting Bruno Kreisky to stand down as SPÖ leader and Chancellor in favour of Fred Sinowatz. The SPÖ stayed in office by entering into a coalition government with the Freedom Party of Austria, which at this point was a liberal party. Voter turnout was 93%.
The Dürnrohr power station is a thermal power station in Lower Austria.
A constitutional referendum was held in France on 5 May 1946. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new draft Constitution proposed by the Constituent Assembly elected in 1945.
General elections were held in Belgium on 8 November 1981. Voter turnout was 94.5% in the Chamber election and 94.6% in the Senate election. Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community. They were the first elections after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. This contributed to the success of the socialist parties and the green parties.
Freda Meissner-Blau was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party.
Hildegard Breiner is from Vorarlberg, Austria, where she and her late husband led the anti-nuclear campaign against Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant in the 1970s. In 1978, an unprecedented 85 percent of the voters in Vorarlberg cast their votes against Zwentendorf, tipping the scales of the nationwide referendum. In the second half of the 1980s, Hildegard Breiner played a major role in opposition to the nuclear reprocessing plant Wackersdorf to be built at Wackersdorf in neighbouring Bavaria, Germany. In 2004, Hildegard Breiner received the Nuclear-Free Future Lifetime Achievement Award.
Construction of the first Austrian nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf on the Danube, about 30 kilometres upstream from the capital, Vienna, began in 1972. Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was designed as a boiling water reactor with a capacity of 700 MW(e), that was expected to generate about 10% of the Austrian electricity production.
The Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was the first commercial nuclear plant for electric power generation built in Austria, of 3 nuclear plants originally envisioned. Construction of the plant at Zwentendorf, Austria was finished but the plant never entered service. The start-up of the Zwentendorf plant, as well as the construction of the other 2 plants, was prevented by a referendum on 5 November 1978, in which a narrow majority of 50.47% voted against the start-up.
In the 1960s the Austrian government started a nuclear energy program and parliament unanimously ordered a nuclear power plant built. In 1972, the German company KWU began construction of the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant boiling water 700 MWe reactor. In 1976, two years prior to the nuclear power plant opening, the government began a program to educate its citizens on the benefits and safety of nuclear power. However, this campaign began a public discussion that led to large demonstrations against the Zwentendorf plant in 1977.
A non-binding referendum on nuclear power was held in Sweden on 23 March 1980. Three proposals were put to voters. The second option, the gradual phasing out of nuclear power, won a narrow plurality of the vote, receiving 39.1% of the ballots cast to 38.7% for option 3. Option 1 was the least popular, receiving only 18.9% of the votes.
A referendum on building a coal-fired power plant was held in Slovenia on 10 January 1999. Voters were asked whether they approved of the construction of the TET3 coal-fired power plant. The proposal was rejected by 79.8% of voters, although voter turnout was just 27.3%.
Three referendums were held in Liechtenstein during 1925. The first on 13 September was on the subject of the Lawena power plant and was approved by 56.1% of voters. The second and third were held on 13 December and concerned two proposals on civil order, the Gassner Initiative and a counterproposal from the Landtag. The Landtag's proposal was approved by 81.7% of voters, whilst the Gassner Initiative was rejected by 89.1%.
Two referendums were held in Liechtenstein during 1947. The first was held on 10 January, on an initiative to reduce the rate of taxation, backdated to 1946, and was approved by 58.7% of voters. The second was held on 15 June concerning the law on power plants, and was approved by 91% of voters.
Two referendums were held in Switzerland in 1887. The first was held on 15 May, asking voters whether they approved of a federal law on spirits, and was approved by 65.9% of voters. The second was held on 10 July, asking voters whether they approved of an amendment made to article 64 of the federal constitution, and was approved by 77.9% of voters and 20.5 cantons.
Ten referendums were held in Switzerland in 1984. The first three were held on 26 February on introducing tolls for HGVs (approved), introducing tolls for national routes (approved) and a popular initiative "for a real civilian service based on a proof through demonstration" (rejected). The next two were held on 20 May on popular initiatives "against the abuse of bank client confidentiality and bank power" (rejected) and "against the sellout of the homeland" (rejected).
Ten referendums were held in Switzerland in 1990. The first six were held on 1 April on four popular initiatives, a federal resolution on viticulture and an amendment to the federal law on the organisation of the federal judiciary. The four popular initiatives were all related to roadbuilding; "Stop the concrete – for a limitation on road making," "for an autobahn-free countryside between Murten and Yverdon," "for an autobahn-free Knonauer Amt," and "for a free Aarelandschaft between Biel and Solothurn/Zuchwil." All six were rejected by voters.
Eleven referendums were held in Switzerland during 2003. The first two were held on 9 February on federal resolutions on reforming the referendum process and changing the cantonal contribution to financing hospital medication. Both were approved. The last nine were all held on 18 May on two federal laws on the Swiss army and civil defence, and seven popular initiatives; "yes to fair rents", "for one Sunday a season free from motor vehicles–a test for four years", "health has to be affordable", "equal rights for the disabled", "electricity without nuclear power", "for prolonging the ban on new nuclear power stations" and "for a sufficient provision of vocational education". Whilst the two laws were approved, all nine initiatives were rejected by voters.
Events in the year 1990 in Switzerland.
