More than 100 million people across the world were called to the ballot stations on the last weekend of september 2017. From New Zealand to Germany, citizens were about to make decisions not just about their representatives but also on important issues.
While New Zealanders offered a challenging result with a yet unclear government on September 23, more than 60 million German voters were called to decide about the composition of their federal parliament on Sunday, September 24. In many cities and states around the country citizens are also invited to vote on initiatives and referendums. One such initiative takes place in the German Capital Berlin, where the future of the iconic Tegel Airport is at stake.
In neighbouring Switzerland voters decided on the federal level on two constitutional amendments and one major law, dealing with old people pension reform and food security. Across the country 22 popular votes at the state level and hundreds of local issues. When it comes to substantive matters related to the development of participatory democracy two cantonal proposals got most attention: in the italian-speaking canton of Ticino of Southern Switzerland and the french-language republic to the far west, Geneva.
Interestingly the Geneva constitutional referendum was about making the use of initiative and referendum rights easier, by lowering the threesholds for qualifying both kind of direct democracy tools both in the state and it’s municipalities. In Ticino a new law was at ballot to include civic education for active citizenship and participatory democracy, bringing this part of the counztry in the forefront of a modern civic curriculum in Switzerland and Europe.
In the week to come controversial popular votes on independence will both be hold in the Kurd region of Irak(September 25) and Catalunya in the northwestern part of the State of Spain on October 1.
