Comparison of National and Local Referendum Legislation from 2014 to the Present

Abstract

The new Act CCXXXVIII of 2013 on the Initiating Referendums, the European Citizens’ Initiative and Referendum Procedure, adopted in December 2013, sought to regulate the rules of the initiative and the procedure of national and local referendums in a uniform manner, unless the different circumstances of the national and local levels justified a distinction. Over the past nine years, the legislator has amended the law several times. This study highlights seven of them. The question is whether the legislator has succeeded in keeping in mind and preserving the unified objective of the amendments with regard to referendum procedures, or whether this has been obscured by the need to remedy as soon as possible the regulatory dysfunctions that have emerged in the course of the application of the law. The analysis in this study leads to the conclusion that the latter is the case. Without exception, the amendments to the referendum act were triggered by practical experiences and challenges related to the national referendum, many of which also aroused strong public interest. The legislator attempted to respond quickly and effectively to these challenges, which basically met expectations and solved the problems that arose. In the meantime, however, in the absence of similar practical difficulties or a similar level of national policy, the parallel amendment of the local referendum procedure has not been implemented, despite the clear justification for consistent legislation. These shortcomings should certainly be addressed.