A constitutional referendum was held in

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

on 1 July 2012Liechtenstein, 1 July 2012: Decreased veto of the Prince
Direct Democracy concerning limiting the extensive veto powers held by the

Prince of Liechtenstein The prince regnant of Liechtenstein (german: Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein) is the monarch and head of state of Liechtenstein.Principality of Liechtenstein Family - Die fürstliche Familie (in German) The Liechtenstein family, after which t ...

. The proposals were rejected by 76% of voters.

Background

Prior to the 2011 referendum on abortion, Regent

Alois Alois (Latinized ''Aloysius'') is an Old Occitan form of the name Louis. Modern variants include ''Aloïs'' (French), ''Aloys'' (German), ''Alois'' (Czech), '' Alojz'' ( Slovak, Slovenian), ''Alojzy'' ( Polish), ''Aloísio'' (Portuguese, Spanish ...

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 A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

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." Article 65 would have had the sentence "If the sanction of the Prince is not received within six months, it shall be deemed to be denied" removed.

Campaign

As a result, an initiative called "''Damit deine Stimme zählt''" ("So that your voice counts") was launched to change the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

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

threatened to resign if it passed.Liechtenstein votes to keep royal veto
The Local, 2 July 2012

Results

References

{{Liechtenstein elections 2012 referendums Referendums in Liechtenstein 2012 in Liechtenstein Constitutional referendums July 2012 events in Europe