2012 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum

Background

Prior to the 2011 referendum on abortion, Regent Alois had threatened to veto the change to the law to allow voluntary abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy even if the referendum passed.

The question was agreed on 9 February, and 1,732 signatures were collected between 29 March and 9 May. Of these, 1,726 were declared valid, exceeding the 1,500 required to force a referendum. The Landtag rejected the law on 23 May by a vote of 18 to 7 and subsequently set the date of the referendum.

Proposed changes

The proposed changes would have modified articles 9, 65, 66 and 112 of the constitution. Article 9 stated "Every law requires for its validity the sanction of the Prince", and would have been amended to add "or approval in a referendum." From Article 65, the following sentence would have been deleted: "If the sanction of the Prince is not received within six months, it shall be deemed to be denied."

Campaign

As a result, an initiative called "Damit deine Stimme zählt" ("So that your voice counts") was launched to change the constitution to prevent the Prince from vetoing legislation approved in referendums. To counter the campaign, opponents of the change set up a group called "Für Gott, Fürst und Vaterland" ("For God, prince and fatherland"; which is the motto of Liechtenstein as well as its National Police).{{cite web| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/liechtenstein-for-god-the-prince-and-the-country/article4384292/ | title=Liechtenstein: 'For God, the prince and the country' | website=Glode and Mail | date=1 July 2012 | accessdate=3 July 2012 | author=Copley, Caroline

The Princely family threatened to veto the referendum if it resulted in a vote in favour of removing the veto, whilst Alois threatened to resign if it passed.

Results

References

References

1. (July 2012). "Liechtenstein, 1 July 2012: Decreased veto of the Prince".
2. (18 September 2011). "Liechtenstein, 18 September 2011: deadline solution to abortion".
3. (11 February 2012). "Liechtenstein royals rejects plan to remove veto".
4. (2 July 2012). "Liechtenstein votes to keep royal veto".