The buzz word is referendum

We know it is too early to start reminiscing about the year but there is one event which dominated and continues to dominate the world in 2016. And that is ‘referendum’.

The common theme which came out of all these referendums is that and many of these shocked the world with their unexpected outcomes, where voters used it as an opportunity to punish unpopular governments.

Apart from Brexit, New Zealand , Switzerland, Thailand, there were two which happened recently – actually two of them on the same day, 2nd Oct but in different parts of the world.

One was the referendum in Hungary where people were asked to vote on whether to have a quota system for resettling the refugees. The majority, 98% voted for a ‘no’. This was a vote against EU which actually was hoping to see a ‘yes’. But all this voting and majority came to a naught because the voting itself was declared invalid. Why? Because only 43.9% of the Hungarians turned up to vote while their law demands 50% to validate a referendum.

The other one happened in Colombia where the voters rejected a peace deal to end the country’s bitter 52-year civil war. This was truly shocking. Their government had actually brokered a peace deal with FARC, the country’s largest left-wing guerrilla group, which settles a range of issues such as political power and drug trafficking. 

We might see the last referendum of the year on 4th Dec, 2016, in Italy. This is for a constitutional reform as the Govt failed to get 67% endorsement in parliament, which was needed for constitutional reform.