LOCAL REFERENDUM AS A TOOL OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION OF CITIZENS IN THE DECISION-MAKING OF MUNICIPALITIES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
LOCAL REFERENDUM AS A TOOL OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION OF CITIZENS IN THE DECISION-MAKING OF MUNICIPALITIES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Author(s): Filip Hampl
Subject(s): Civil Society, Public Administration, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today)
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: direct participation; local government; local referendum act; municipality; voter turnout;
Summary/Abstract: The local referendum is the only tool of direct democracy in the Czech Republic, allowing citizens to decide on issues falling within the independent competence of municipalities directly. The aim of the paper is to assess the use, voter turnout, binding force, and thematic focus of local referenda as a tool of direct participation of citizens in the decision-making on local issues in the Czech municipalities with respect to their size defined by the population in the period 2006-2019. To fulfil the aim, descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression, classification analysis and correlation analysis have been employed. A total of 288 local referenda were held in the examined period, 193 of them in the municipalities up to 1,999 inhabitants. The results do not indicate a statistically significant relationship between the municipality size and the holding of referenda. On the other hand, the results show a weakly negative correlation relationship between the municipality size and the turnout (the binding force, respectively). The referenda focused on territorial development, environment, alternative sources of power and infrastructure predominate in the municipalities up to 4,999 inhabitants. The referenda on municipal property and public order prevail in the municipalities with 5,000 and more inhabitants.

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