Popular initiative

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A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. The hurdles the petition has to meet vary between countries, typically signatures by a certain number of registered voters.

In direct initiative, the proposition is put directly to a plebiscite or referendum, also called a Popular initiated Referendum or citizen-initiated referendum.

In an indirect initiative, the proposed measure is first referred to the legislature, and then if the proposed law is rejected by the legislature, the government may be forced to put the proposition to a referendum. The proposition may be on federal level law, statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment, local ordinance, obligate the executive or legislature to consider the subject by submitting it to the order of the day. In contrast, a popular referendum that allows voters only to repeal existing legislation.^[1]

By type

Direct initiative

A direct initiative places an initiative measure directly on the ballot for voters to pass or reject. The measure is not submitted to the legislature for support first.

Indirect initiative

An indirect initiative is voted on by a legislature after sufficient signatures are collected from the voting population. In most areas the measure is submitted to a subsequent popular vote only if amended by the legislature.

Agenda setting initiative

An agenda setting initiative is a measure submitted by petition to a legislature for consideration. The legislature may choose to approve or reject the proposal without a public vote.^[2] This form or initiative is more common than a legally binding direct or indirect initiative.

By country

Overview

Americas

Brazil

In Brazil, a popular law initiative requires two conditions be met before it is sent to the National Congress: signatures from at least 1% of national registered voters and at least 0.3% of the people allowed to vote from each of at least five of the 27 federal unities (the 26 states plus the federal district). If both conditions are met, Congress is obliged to discuss and vote on holding the initiative.

Canada

British Columbia

The Canadian province of British Columbia has a citizen initiative law known as the Recall and Initiative Act.

In the

The United States has no initiative process at the national level, but the initiative is in use at the level of state government in 24 states and the District of Columbia,^[6] and is also in common use at the local government level.

Several proposals have been made to institute a national referendum. The

The modern system of initiatives and referendums in the United States originated in the state of South Dakota, which adopted initiatives and referendums in 1898 by a popular vote of 23,816 to 16,483. Oregon was the second state to adopt and did so in 1902, when the Oregon Legislative Assembly adopted it by an overwhelming majority. The "Oregon System", as it was at first known, subsequently spread to many other states, and became one of the signature reforms of the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). Almost every state currently in the union utilizes some sort of State Question or Initiative. A contemporary issue that is commonly decided through this method is the legalization of marijuana.

Asia

Philippines

People's initiative to propose amendments to the constitution is enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution under Article XVII Section 2, which states:

Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.

This provision is further protected by Republic Act 6735 or The Initiative and Referendum Act.^[8] The law defines initiative as:

1. A petition to propose amendments to the constitution.
2. A petition to propose enactment of national legislation.
3. A petition to propose enactment of local resolution or ordinance on regional, provincial, city, municipal, or barangay level.

The law also provides indirect initiative defining the exercise of people's initiative through a proposition sent to congress or local legislative body for action.

Europe

European Union

The rejected Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE) included a limited indirect initiative right (Article I-46(4)). The proposal of introducing the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) was that 1,000,000 citizens, from minimal numbers of different member states, could invite the executive body of the European Union (EU), the European Commission, to consider any proposal "on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Constitution." The precise mechanism had not been agreed upon. Critics underlined the weakness of this right of initiative, which did not ultimately entail any vote or referendum.

A similar scheme under the same name, European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), has been put forward in the now ratified European

It remains to be seen if the ECI evolves into a full initiative or remains in its present state of a de facto petition.[13]^[14]

Finland

Since 1 March 2012, Finnish citizens with suffrage have had the constitutional right to send a citizens' initiative (Finnish: kansalaisaloite, Swedish: medborgarinitiativ) to the Parliament of Finland. An initiative must begin with at least five citizens as sponsors, and it must consist either of a direct proposal for a new law or of a motion to initiate the drafting of a new law by the relevant government department, as well as present reasons for doing so. A single initiative may not contain proposals on more than one specific legislative issue.

Proposed initiatives are published on a website maintained by the Finnish Ministry of Justice, where they may be electronically signed; signatures are also collected on paper. If an initiative is able to attract the signatures of a total of 50,000 citizens within six months, it is forwarded to the Finnish Parliament for consideration; otherwise, it will lapse. The Parliament treats citizens' initiatives according to normal parliamentary procedure, that is, they are debated and considered in committees and they may also be amended or altered; the Parliament is not restricted to passing or rejecting them as they are.

The first initiative to pass the 50,000 mark did so already a few months after the "kansalaisaloite" first became possible. The initiative demanded the ending of fur industry in Finland, but failed to pass in Parliament. The first initiative to be accepted by the Parliament was the citizens' initiative known in Finland as "Equal Marriages Law", which is also known by its campaign slogan, #Tahdon2013 (#IDo2013). This initiative was accepted by the Parliament during the 2011-2015 parliamentary session, though political debate, decision-making and drafting of the new law continued on to the next parliamentary session. The new law took effect on 1 March 2017^{[15][circular reference]}. To date, a total of 24 citizens' initiatives have reached the 50,000 mark, with 20 of them having been either rejected or accepted in Parliament - so far, only two have been accepted: the aforementioned "Equal Marriages Law" and the "Motherhood Law" from 2015/16^{[16][circular reference]}.^[17][18]

France

A limited, indirect form of local initiative was added to the

Germany

All German states have the right to initiative.^[19] However, there is no constitutional citizens' initiative in Germany at a federal level.

Ireland

The

Citizens' legislative initiatives are a constitutional right in Poland, defined in Article 118, paragraph 2, of the 1997 Polish Constitution. The paragraph gives legislative initiative to any group of at least 100,000 citizens with voting rights to the Sejm, the lower house of Polish parliament. The detailed procedure is defined in a law dated 24 June 1999.^[33]

Under Article 5 of the 24 June 1999 law, citizens wishing to launch an initiative must create a committee of at least 15 members, which becomes a legal person. The committee must prepare the draft bill and collect at least 100,000 signatures (Article 2). Under Article 12 of the law, if there is "justified doubt regarding the authenticity of the required number of signatures of citizens, then within 14 days of the lodging of the list of signatures, the Marshal of the Sejm must request the National Electoral Commission to verify the signatures. The electoral commission has 21 days to carry out the verification.^[33]

One of the best known citizens' initiatives in Poland is the pair of 2015/2016 anti-abortion and pro-abortion initiatives which were accompanied by the Black Protest marches coordinated by women's rights groups.^[34]

In October 2022,

According to Article 74 of the Romanian Constitution,[37] groups of at least 100,000 Romanian Citizens with suffrage that reside in at least one quarter of all the counties and with a minimum 5,000 signatures per county have the right to send a Citizens' Initiative which must be considered by the legislative body (Initiatives that address fiscal or international matters are not covered by this right). If the initiative concerns changing the Constitution, Article 150 of the Constitution^[38] states that the group must include at least 500,000 Romanian Citizens with suffrage who reside in at least half of all the counties, with a minimum of 20,000 per county. Article 151 of the Constitution^[39] also states that any amendments brought to it, must be also approved by means of a National Referendum.

Switzerland

The

While there is no mandate for a referendum following directly from such an initiative, the UK government has a system whereby citizens can set up online petitions, which are considered by a committee. Any petition which reaches 10,000 signatures triggers a response from the government and those which reach 100,000 signatures will almost always require the government to consider holding a debate (with some exceptions, such as whether a similar issue has been debated recently, or a debate for that issue is scheduled) on the matter in the House of Commons. Only British Citizens or individuals resident in the UK are allowed to start a petition or be a signatory. Petitions can be initiated via a specialist website, which also contains guidance on when petitions will, and will not, be debated. On occasion, some petitions which are signed by fewer than 100,000 people are still debated.^[41] Examples of issues which have been debated in parliament via this system are various issues surrounding Brexit and a petition calling for United States President Donald Trump's state visit to UK to be cancelled.^[42]

Oceania

New Zealand

In New Zealand a vote initiated by the public is called a citizen initiated referendum. These are non-binding referendums on any issue in which proponents have submitted a petition to Parliament signed by ten percent of all registered electors within 12 months.

See also

• Recall election
• Legislative referral
• Popular referendum

References

Sources

• Constitutional Convention (August 2013). "Fourth Report of the Convention on the Constitution: Dáil Electoral System". Ireland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2016.

Citations