referendum

And since France and the Netherlands voted "no" in two referendums in 2005 it has been unable to agree on its own constitution.

Mr Berlusconi said he would boycott the referendums.

But because it was turned down in the French and Dutch referendums, the treaty has not been ratified.

Referendums, in which voters approve or reject laws already passed by a legislature, were the least radical change.

Now the risk of a two-speed EU, with Sweden and Denmark in the outer lane, has led to speculation about fresh referendums in both countries.

cols, which twice held referendums on independence and came within a few thousand votes of winning one of them in1995.

He pointed out that they would require referendums in at least four countries.

Italy's billionaire premier suffered a defeat in Italian local elections in May and a setback in a series of referendums weeks later.

Dissent, whether expressed through referendums, elections or the debating chambers of national parliaments, will have only a limited impact.

Matching results in the other three referendums suggested that they had turned into a big vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

Since 2005 there have been elections for the presidency, too, replacing the previous embarrassingly unanimous referendums.

On June 12th-13th he suffered his third and most significant political defeat in less than a month, when he lost a clutch of referendums.

Two controversial referendums , calling for Taiwan to apply for membership in the United Nations, also fell well short of passage.

In this Californian election voters had to decide on three new types of balloting: referendums, recalls and initiatives.

Since the 1990s, three states have passed referendums barring racial preferences, and four more may do so in November.

Note the results of the recent referendums in California, where voters rejected all budget-balancing proposals.

Second is a procedural dispute over two referendums to be held with the election.

Senior figures point to weak support for the European project in lots of countries and No votes in various referendums.

We can easily see that many Taiwanese people have mixed in many political factors in their understanding and debate of referendums .

Referendums would have been lost in many other countries had their people been given a say.

It is an identity that revolves around neutrality, and, yes, an awkward tradition of citizens' referendums.

Most alarmingly, though, is that the Lisbon Treaty can be extended indefinitely without recourse to further treaties or referendums.

Referendums are often the main instrument.

Residents, for their part, will be able to instigate local referendums on any local issue.

The constitution's grandeur alarmed voters sufficiently that in 2005 it was killed off by referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Increasingly, citizens protest or call referendums instead. Mr zu Guttenberg offered a fresh face.

Those would be good principles to apply to referendums, too.

Mr Cameron has broken the link between Europe and referendums, but he cannot kill the issue altogether.

By contrast, his new position on referendums is sensible and mature: even a climb-down is preferable to madness.

Around a dozen national referendums have now been held on such EU issues as new treaties and whether to join the euro.

Enroll on the Electoral Register and vote at Federal and State elections and referendums.

BY-ELECTIONS are often dramatic referendums on the government of the day.

In the past the suitability of referendums for large-scale democracies and democratic polities has been called into question.

They want to promote openness and citizens' participation, in part by making referendums binding.

The vote went ahead despite the noes in referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Last month 167 separatist-minded towns and villages held informal referendums.

And referendums can reject treaties (just ask the Irish).

Pending referendums, 12 big cities outside London could have elected mayors by 2013.

Since 1990 Germans have made more than 200 bids to hold state-level referendums, compared with fewer than 30 in the three previous decades.

Referendums have shown that almost all want to stay that way.

Elections, after all, are more unsentimental referendums on the future than they are judgments on the past.

The immunity law was upheld in two referendums, in 1989 and 2009.

Since unification in 1990, referendums in these two tiers have become possible in all 16 states.

For the first time in history, initiatives and referendums thus became a regular part of national, as opposed to local, governance.

Yet the EU has a deep fear of referendums.

When we mention referendums, many people think of political standpoints, blue-green confrontation, and even election stunts.

In 1980, Quebec held the first referendums for this sovereignty-association scheme by 40. 44% to 59. 56%.

Or staging Europe-wide referendums, so that a single country cannot hold the other 26 to ransom?

This year nearly a score of presidential or parliamentary elections or referendums have been scheduled among the 53 members of the AU;

The practice and its meaning of the referendums during the French Revolution

enrol on the Electoral Register and vote at Federal, State, Territory and local government elections and referendums ;

Countries hold almost twice as many referendums as they did 50 years ago

referendums, in which they can reject acts of their legislature;