Edited by Richard Albert, Xenophon Contiades, Alkmene Fotiadou (Hart Publishing 2017, 416 p.)
Due to a backlog caused by the Covid-19-epidemic, the Swiss electorate had five proposals on its plate on September 27, 2020. In most cantons and
by Prof. Markus Kern / Fabian Schmid, University of Bern
On February 9, 2020, two proposals were up for decision by the Swiss electorate:
– the Popular Initiative claiming “more affordable homes” as well as
– a referendum concerning a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in criminal law
The Popular Initiative was rejected by 57.1% of the Swiss population and by all but 4½ of the cantons, whereas the amendment of criminal law was clearly accepted by a majority of 63.1% of the voters. Electoral turnout was at 41.7% resp. 40.9%.
by Tímea Drinóczi, Professor, University of Pécs, Faculty of Law, Hungary
Illiberal states emerging in Europe, such as Hungary and Poland, are still constitutional democracies, which are shaped peacefully by populist politicians from a more substantial form of constitutional democracy that prioritizes (liberal) constitutional values through the use of populist style of governance, abusive constitutionalism, and autocratic legalism.[1] In our cases, the minimum requirements of a constitutional democracy, such as the rule of law, human rights, and democracy, have been defectively worded in a constitution, or poorly implemented or enforced.
