Direct democracy
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Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative d
A Landsgemeinde, "cantonal assembly", in the canton of Glarus on 7 May 2006, Switzerland. Landsgemeinden are public voting gatherings, and are one of the oldest examples of direct democracy.
In Switzerland, with no need to register, every citizen receives the ballot papers and information brochure for each vote and election and can return it by post. Switzerland has various directly democratic instruments; votes are organized about four times a year. Here, the papers received by every citizen of Berne in November 2008 about five national, two cantonal, four municipal referendums, and two elections (government and parliament of the City of Berne) of 23 competing parties to take care of at the same time.
Practicing direct democracy – voting on Nuit Debout, Place de la République, Paris
Mandatory referendum
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A mandatory referendum, also known as an obligatory referendum, is a referendum that is legally required to be held under specific circumstances. This is in contrast to an optional referendum, which c
A poster in support of the admission of Switzerland in the League of Nations (1920). Switzerland joined the United Nations in 2002.
