The Impact of Direct Democracy on Society - Universität St.Gallen

– 43 –Table 4: Mandatory Statutory Referendum Between 1997 and 2003 (cont.)CantonWaadt(old)Wallis(21 Oct 2003)Neuenburg(16 Oct 2001)new constitutionby 1 Jan 2002Neuenburg(old)Genf(21 Oct 2003)Jura(4 July 2000)Article in cant.const.Art. 31, 2Art. 32, 2Effective sinceArt. 79 1 Jan 1979(20 Mar 1977)Remarks1981 (1885) Non-existing(see T/S 1999, p. 369 cont.)1 June 1994 Extraordinary mand. stat. ref for(24 Oct 1993) laws, decrees, and nomothetictreatiessee also T/S 1999, p. 3841 Jan 2002 Non-existing21 Nov 1858 Non-existing(see also T/S 1999, p. 271)1993 Non-existing(see also T/S 1999, p. 230)Extraordinary mand. stat. ref for alldecisions (decrees, laws, etc.) <strong>of</strong> theparliamentSee table 2. In some cases the dates <strong>of</strong> effectiveness were obtained from T/S 1999, particularly for ZH, FR,BS, SG, SO, TG, TI, VD and GE. For some selected cantons information on popular votes on internationaltreaties have also been included.Table 4 describes the existence and scope <strong>of</strong> the mandatory statutory referendum. In manycantons, a mandatory statutory referendum exists that is applicable solely to very specificlaws and contracts but not to all cantonal laws in general. For example, since 1999 inNidwalden, the new mandatory referendum is applicable solely to administrative permissionson subterraneous exploitation or storage (art.52, 6. CC) and in Bern exclusively tointercantonal treaties and alterations in the cantonal demarcations (art. 61, 1 lit. c, d). In suchcases, the mandatory referendum is treated and regarded as nonexistent for the construction <strong>of</strong>the index <strong>of</strong> direct democracy because these special cases do not form part <strong>of</strong> the dailypolitical decision-making process. For this reason, I have usually excluded these mandatoryreferenda on treaties and special issues. Included however are the extraordinary statutoryreferenda because they might shed light on the entire range <strong>of</strong> statutory referenda (jointly withthe optional statutory referendum) that exists in a canton. In general, however, the analysis <strong>of</strong>the mandatory statutory referendum addresses all those applicable to all cantonal laws,decrees and by-laws.