“There are other ways to promote referendums and strengthen the power of Parliament and the oppositions”

2023-12-07 13:30:05

There is plenty of referendum news this fall. On October 14, Australians rejected by referendum a constitutional amendment aimed at providing the country with a consultative body representing Aboriginal and indigenous populations. On October 15, Poles voted ahead of the legislative elections on four questions in a referendum seeking to discredit the opposition to the Law and Justice party (PiS).

The introduction of a repeal referendum has been at the heart of the current election campaign in the Netherlands. Emmanuel Macron announced on November 5 that he wanted to simplify the use of the referendum and broaden its fields of application, before delaying, due to lack of political consensus on the issue. If, in Australia and the Netherlands, the referendum acts as a counter-power, Emmanuel Macron’s project strengthens, as in the Polish case, the influence of the executive and harms democratic quality.

Degradation, weakening, personalization

This project is part of a long plebiscite tradition of French elites. The desire to allow the president to submit a draft law to citizens for their opinion allows him, in fact, to bypass the parliamentary opposition when the latter is uncooperative. Conversely, when the electorate is hostile, the president can also get around it by going through parliamentary channels.

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The president’s support for this plebiscite tool coincides with the loss of the absolute majority in the Assembly. This is not a coincidence of timing but a strategic desire. Emmanuel Macron thus joins the Hungarian Victor Orban, the Pole Andrzej Duda and the British David Cameron in the long list of leaders using the referendum to strengthen their political agenda. With the consequences that we know all too well: degradation of democratic quality, weakening of counter-powers and personalization of politics.

There are, however, other ways to promote referendums and strengthen the power of Parliament and the oppositions. To understand the differences between the types of referendums, it is appropriate to look at the central question of the origin of the proposal submitted to the ballot box.

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In the Australian case, no constitutional reform project can be valid without the consent of all citizens. The Prime Minister therefore decides neither on the relevance of organizing a referendum, nor on the wording of the question. In this case, we speak of a compulsory referendum, since it must be triggered for any constitutional revision. This is validated if it obtains the majority of votes from parliamentarians and voters.

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