Interior Min.: Referendum law needs revision

The Ukraine referendum on Wednesday shows that the Netherlands' referendum law needs revision, according to Home Affairs Minister Ronald Plasterk. Plasterk is not trying to invalidate the "no" result of Wednesday's referendum on the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine, he said to broadcaster NOS. The preliminary results show the referendum was valid and the government will "have to deal with" the no-vote. But according to him, some of the rules are confusing and should be revised for future referendums. In particular the Minister wants to look at the 30 percent minimum turnout for a referendum to be valid. He feels that this may have played a part in people deciding not to vote. So the 61 percent of voters who voted "no" in yesterday's referendum, actually represents only about 20 percent of all Dutch voters. He feels that the minimum could serve better if attached to a minimum number of people who voted "no".