Irish voters overwhelmingly agreed to remove the offence of blasphemy from the country’s constitution in Friday’s referendum, held concurrently with the Presidential election. Nearly 65 per cent of voters approved the measure, eliminating an offence that was last prosecuted in 1855. All 40 of the Republic’s constituencies were in favour of the reform, the second […]
Tag: Referendum results
Referendum result: Romania same-sex marriage ban falls foul of low turnout
An attempt to insert a ban on same-sex marriage into Romania’s constitution has failed following very low turnout, which invalidated this weekend’s referendum on the issue. With just 21.1 per cent participation, turnout was well below the threshold of 30 per cent needed to make the decision legally binding. Among those who did cast ballots, […]
Referendum result: Macedonian name change
Voters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia overwhelmingly supported a proposed agreement with Greece to settle the long-running dispute between the two Balkan neighbours – but last Sunday’s referendum turnout failed to clear the 50 per cent hurdle needed to make it binding. Over 90 per cent of those who did go to the […]
Referendum result: Abortion in Ireland
Irish citizens voted by a clear two to one majority yesterday to reform the Republic’s constitution, paving the way for parliamentary legislation to permit abortion for the first time in the state’s history. The strength of the vote in favour of repealing the 8th amendment to the constitution, which banned abortion, was overwhelming across all […]
Referendum result: Swiss vote to keep TV tax
Swiss citizens voted decisively to keep the country’s TV and radio licence fees in today’s referendum, with a majority of 71.6 per cent against a popular initiative to scrap the tax. All 23 cantons rejected the proposal after an unusually hard-fought campaign centred on the high level of the annual fee at CHF 451 per […]
Referendum result: Swiss reject pension reform
Swiss voters voted narrowly against pension reforms in a triple referendum held today, while giving overwhelming support to proposals to improve the country’s food security. The failure of the pension reforms, which would have been financed by an increase in Value Added Tax (VAT), is yet another defeat for attempts to address this controversial topic […]