South Tyrol
Campaign to improve direct democracy
In Germany Mehr Demokratie has successfully used a certain strategy to improve direct democracy: A referendum was initiated bottom-up. The aim was to improve the regulations on direct democracy. So we introduced the local referendum with triggering a ballot in the federal states of Bavaria and Hamburg. Since our campaigns the citizens enjoy exceptional fair regulations and use them often (see report Bavaria).
In December 2005 the right to initiate referendums was introduced in South Tyrol (see report). Now the Initiative for More Democracy (Initiative für Mehr Demokratie) will use this law. It aims to improve the regulations introduced in 2005.
This is necessary as the legislator’s decision was obviously influenced by a fear of giving people too much influence. The table compares the actual regulations with the proposals of the initiative.
Comparison
| current regulation | proposal |
| 13.000 signatures within 3 months | 7.500 signatures within 6 months |
| no right of independent information | the right to receive independent information covering all positions concerning the issue |
| no initiatives on administrative acts allowed; these acts may establish major projects | initiatives on administrative acts are included; in addition, citizens can also trigger such referendums on the level of districts |
| no guarantee for a fair procedure | introduction of rules to guarantee a fair procedure: right to legal advice, equal treatment of both positions by the authorities |
| no possibility to decide about the payment for politicians | citizens can decide about the payment for politicians |
| no possibility for an alternative proposal by the parliament | the parliament may propose an own motion in the referendum, which is a compromise between the proposals of the initiative and the applicable law. |
| regulations for signature gathering complicated | citizen friendly regulations for the signature gathering |
Draft schedule and challenges
The official campaign should be launched in spring 2007. Thus the application for the referendum has to be made in December 2006. There are still a lot of tasks to be completed. The initiators will build up a broad alliance between different NGOs supporting the initiative. A draft of the law has to be developed and local partners have to be gathered.
If the initiative will be successful in preparing the campaign, the year 2007 might see a powerful call for more democracy in South Tyrol.
