Norma sobre referendos obligatorios

Mandatory referendum rule

Purpose

Some decisions are too fundamental, too costly or too hard to reverse to leave to the governing bodies alone. This rule lists them and requires that each be confirmed by a vote of all members before it takes effect. Unlike an initiative or an optional referendum, no petition is needed: the vote is automatic.

Definitions and scope

• Referendum: a vote of all members entitled to vote in elections to the assembly, held under the same rules on registration, secrecy and counting as those elections.
• Competent body: the assembly, council or other body that adopts the decision in the first place; the referendum confirms or rejects its decision but does not amend it.
• Common assets: land, buildings, funds and rights held by the polity or in trust for its members.

This rule applies to decisions of every body of the polity, including bodies that act under delegated powers, so that a listed decision cannot be avoided by assigning it to a subsidiary body or splitting it into smaller parts. The independent review body decides, on the request of any member, whether a decision falls within Article 1.

Article 1. Decisions subject to mandatory referendum

The following take effect only after approval in a referendum:

1. any amendment to the charter;
2. joining, leaving or changing the terms of a federation or confederation;
3. the sale or long-term lease (over 25 years) of land or assets held in common;
4. borrowing that would raise total debt above 50% of the average annual revenue of the previous three years.

Article 2. Procedure

1. The decision is adopted by the competent body in the usual way, then published with the date of the referendum, which is held between 60 and 180 days later.
2. The council publishes an explanatory statement. Any group of 1% of members may add a statement of opposing views of the same length.
3. The decision is approved if a majority of votes cast are in favour.

Article 3. Effect

1. An approved decision takes effect on the date it states, or 30 days after certification.
2. A rejected decision may not be resubmitted in substantially the same form for two years.

Article 4. Double majority for federal and charter questions

Where the polity is composed of member units (districts, communes or member communities), charter amendments and decisions under Article 1(2) also require a majority of the units, each unit counting as approving if a majority of its own voters approve. This protects smaller units against being outvoted by the largest.

Article 5. Additional subjects

1. Any new recurring levy, or an increase in the rate of an existing levy of more than one fifth in a single year, is subject to mandatory referendum.
2. The delegation of binding decisions to an autonomous automated system, as defined in the AI system register rule, is subject to mandatory referendum.

Article 6. Safeguards

1. Referendums are scheduled on no more than four fixed dates a year, so that members are not called repeatedly and several questions can share one ballot.
2. Each question concerns one subject; the independent review body may split a question that combines unrelated subjects.
3. A referendum may not remove or reduce an entrenched right; such proposals follow the entrenched-rights procedure instead.
4. In an emergency declared under the emergency powers rule, a decision listed in Article 1 may be applied provisionally for at most 120 days, during which the referendum must be held; if it is not held or is lost, the decision lapses.