Secession and Intelligibility of a Referendum Question (RQ) – from Québec to Scotland (1980–2014)
Secession and Intelligibility of a Referendum Question (RQ) – from Québec to Scotland (1980–2014)

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the evaluation of norms and principles of an intelligible referendum question (RQ) from Québec’s biased formula in 1980 until the clearly constructed wording of the question for independence referendum held in Scotland in 2014. In this text, for the purpose of evaluation of whether a formula was biased or intelligible, the criteria introduced recently by the Electoral Commission in the UK were employed. Specifically, it means that the RQ shall be clear and simple, to the point, unambiguous, neutral and avoid misleading voters. Apart from biased RQs in 1980 and 1995 in Québec referendums, the following six referendums on independence were carefully selected for the investigation. Secessions and attempted secessions in the European context are represented by the cases of Montenegro, Catalonia, and Scotland, while the post-colonial secessionist units from larger states apply for Eritrea, East Timor and South Sudan. The findings were surprising in several aspects. First, liberal-democracies in the West totally failed to formulate intelligible RQs when they were constructed unilaterally by secessionists. On the contrary, if the RQ was formulated under international supervision, the formula submitted to voters was far more intelligible, also in most post-colonial cases. There is no evidence of a strong impact of principles linked to a clear and intelligible RQ evaluated in Canada and in the UK on the formulation of a concrete RQ on independence.

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