Tuesday, 13 September 2016 - 08:06
PVV wants four binding referendums a year
The PVV wants to hold four binding referendums a year in the Netherlands. According to leader Geert Wilders, this will be good for democracy, NOS reports.
The Netherlands introduced consultative referendums in the country last year. In such a referendum, the public can vote on whether or not to implement a law, but the government does not have to adopt the outcome of the referendum. So far there was only one referendum on an association agreement between the European Union and the Ukraine.
The PVV wants to go further. Not only does the party want referendums to be binding, but Wilders also wants the public to be able to chose a topic on which to hold a referendum. He wants it to be possible to hold a referendum on anything, not only laws. Wilders used EU membership as an example.
According to Wilders, citizens have less and less confidence in politics and they disagree with decisions made in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament. He thinks that referendums will work well because politicians will act differently when people can correct them.