A referendum over four questions was held in
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
on 25 May 2014.
History and background
In 2012 the authorities of Kraków decided to launch a bid for the
2022 Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...
. Although Kraków City Council had initially refused to submit the city's bid to a referendum, growing opposition to hosting the Olympics, in particular by the initiative "Kraków Przeciwko Igrzyskom" ("Krakow Against Games") has forced Kraków city mayor to change his mind and announce on 24 March 2014 that the bid would be submitted to a referendum. Three more questions were subsequently added by the Kraków City Council, which also changed the initially planned date in June to 25 May 2014, in order to coincide with the European Parliament election, thus improving chances for bigger participation.
According to Polish law, a local referendum is binding if at least 30% of eligible voters cast their votes.
Questions
The referendum was held on 25 May 2014 over 4 questions:
*1. Are you in favour of holding the
2022 Winter Olympic Games in Kraków?
*2. Are you in favour of building
metro in Kraków?
*3. Are you in favour of creating a
CCTV monitoring system in order to improve public security in Kraków?
*4. Are you in favour of building more
bicycle paths in Kraków?
Results
Voter turnout was 35.96%, with the result that the referendum was valid and binding. The results were as follows:
*Question 1 on Winter Olympics:
"Yes": 30,28%;
"No": 69,72%;
Result: rejected
*Question 2 on the metro:
"Yes": 55,11%;
"No": 44,89%;
Result: approved
*Question 3 on CCTV monitoring:
"Yes": 69,73%;
"No": 30,27%;
Result: approved
*Question 4 on bicycle paths:
"Yes": 85,20%;
"No": 14,80%;
Result: approved
Aftermath
Shortly after the official results of the referendum Kraków's mayor announced that the city would withdraw its bid for the Winter Olympics.
Oświadczenie Prezydenta Jacka Majchrowskiego w sprawie wyników referendum lokalnego
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krakow referendum, 2014
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
2014 elections in Poland
2014 referendums
21st century in Kraków
May 2014 in Poland