Iceland – Constitutional referendum

On Saturday, Iceland held a consultative referendum on a set of proposed constitutional revisions.

There is a nice article about the proposed revisions on ConstitutionMaking.org. It is worth remembering that the referendum on the proposed amendments was consultative. The parliament will make the final decision. However, it is difficult to imagine parliament going against the will of the people. The English text of the proposed constitutional revisions is here.

The referendum asked six questions. Here is the report on the provisional results from mbi.is:

  • 1. Do you wish the Constitution Council’s proposals to form the basis of a new draft Constitution? Yes: 65.9% No: 34.1%
  • 2. In the new Constitution, do you want natural resources that are not privately owned to be declared national property? Yes: 81.0% No: 19.0%
  • 3. Would you like to see provisions in the new Constitution on an established (national) church in Iceland? Yes: 57.4% No: 42.6%
  • 4. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution authorizing the election of particular individuals to the Alþingi more than is the case at present? Yes: 76.4% No: 23.6%
  • 5. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution giving equal weight to votes cast in all parts of the country? Yes: 56.2% No: 43.8%
  • 6. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution stating that a certain proportion of the electorate is able to demand that issues be put to a referendum? Yes: 70.8% No: 29.2%

So, even though the results are provisional, the constitution has clearly been agreed. It is now up to parliament to agree it formally and, presumably, to take account of the votes for the other more specific questions.

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