By: Janja Strah
SDS President Janez Janša announced on Twitter the number of all collected signatures for the call for a triple referendum (long-term care, bureaucracy, and RTV).
“We collected 157,138 properly authenticated signatures at the administrative units,” wrote Janša.
- Against the abolition of long-term care: 52,182
- Against the proliferation of bureaucracy: 52,280
- Against the politicisation of RTV Slovenia: 52,669
“By far the biggest support for direct democracy so far,” commented Janez Janša on the number of collected signatures.
Zbrali smo 157.138 pravilno overjenih podpisov na upravnih enotah. 🙏💛💙
1. Proti ukinjanju dolgotrajne oskrbe: 52.182
2. Proti bohotenju birokracije: 52.280
3. Proti politizaciji @RTV_Slovenija: 52.669
Daleč največja podpora neposredni demokraciji doslej. #ZaSlovenijo 🙏🇸🇮 🇸🇮🇸🇮 pic.twitter.com/67NoIjtyL1— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) October 6, 2022
For now, it is not entirely clear when the referendum will take place. In order to reduce costs, the SDS wants the triple referendum to be decided at the same time as the second round of the presidential election (November 13th), which does not suit the transition left, as it wants as little participation in the referendum as possible. A certain quorum of participation must be reached in order for the referendum to be valid.
In the SDS, the collection of signatures for the call for legislative referendums began on September 1st, and the 35-day deadline expired on Wednesday. The party did not disclose the exact number of signatures collected at the time they were collected.
After the expiration of the 35-day deadline for collecting signatures, the initiator of the referendum has seven days to submit a request supported by signatures to the Parliament. If this is complete, then the National Assembly has seven days to call a referendum by decree.
According to the referendum legislation, no less than 30 days and no more than a year may elapse from the date of the referendum call to the day of voting. Determination of the voting day, until which more than 45 days have passed since the date of the referendum call, is adopted by the National Assembly with a two-thirds majority of the MPs present.
So far, 20 legislative referendums have been held in the history of the independent country, the last one in July last year, namely on the Water Act. As it turns out, three more are expected in this year’s elections coloured autumn.