Resolution 2538 (2024)1Provisional version

Promoting the revised Code of Good Practice on Referendums

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 2251 (2019) “Updating guidelines to ensure fairreferendums in Council of Europe member States” in which, taking note that the process of revision of theguidelines had already started, it asked the European Commission for Democracy through Law (VeniceCommission) to take into account the increasing use of referendums, the rise of digital media and thechanged nature of political campaigning.

2. Through this text, the Assembly wished to provide an input to the work of the Venice Commission,having taken note that, in recent years, the process and/or the fairness of the outcome in a number of nationalreferendums had been questioned and that, in other cases, important innovations had been introduced, theknowledge of which could benefit legislators in all member States.

3. The Venice Commission emphasised the need for referendums to respect the rule of law and, inparticular, to comply with the legal system as a whole, especially with the procedural rules on constitutionalrevision. It also warned against the use of referendums to bypass important constitutional safeguards, such asthe requirement for a qualified majority in parliament. As regards the substance of the proposed changes, theVenice Commission was concerned that most of these referendums were aimed at concentrating powers andreducing democratic control by parliament. On that basis, the Venice Commission initiated the process ofrevision of the Code of Good Practice on Referendums and in June 2022 it adopted the Revised Code ofGood Practice on Referendums (“Revised Code”).

4. The Revised Code responds to the Assembly’s concerns and takes into account developments withrespect to a number of referendums which have been held by Council of Europe member States in recentyears.

5. The Revised Code declares that it “does not intend to determine whether and under whichcircumstances recourse to referendums is desirable as such. The answer to this question varies according tothe nature of the constitutional system and tradition. It belongs to national constitutional law to establishwhether referendums are at all foreseen, what their scope is, and what procedure must be followed to holdthem. However, a number of guarantees are necessary to ensure that they genuinely express the wishes ofthe electorate and do not go against international standards in the field of human rights, democracy and therule of law.”

6. The Revised Code includes the Guidelines on the Holding of Referendums as well as an ExplanatoryMemorandum, which refers, when necessary, to the various items of the Guidelines in order to elaborate ontheir content and background. The Guidelines contain the Principles of Europe’s electoral heritage, theconditions for implementing these principles, and specific rules.

7. The present resolution is intended to elaborate on those aspects of the guidelines that are specific toreferendums. Accordingly, it does not comment on the principles and general rules applicable to bothelections and referendums.

1. Assembly debate on 15 April 2024 (9th sitting) (see Doc. 15940, report of Committee on Political Affairs andDemocracy, rapporteur: Ms Isabel Meirelles). Text adopted by the Assembly on 15 April 2024 (9th sitting).

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