"Lateral thinkers" want to recall Bavaria's state parliament with a referendum

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The Bavarian State Parliament

Photo: Peter Kneffel / picture alliance / dpa

The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior has approved a referendum initiated by a "lateral thinker" alliance to dissolve the state parliament.

In October, those entitled to vote can sign for parliament to be recalled.

The Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday that a corresponding application had been approved.

Should more than a million eligible voters sign from October 14th to 27th, the referendum would take the threshold into the state parliament.

"Bayerischer Rundfunk" and "Süddeutsche Zeitung" had previously reported.

According to Article 18 of the Bavarian Constitution, the state parliament can "be recalled by referendum at the request of one million citizens entitled to vote".

This means that in the end there could theoretically be a referendum in which those eligible to vote could decide to recall the state parliament with a simple majority.

The applicant is the »Bündnis - Landtag - Abberufen«, which among other things consists of several »lateral thinker citizens' movements«.

Their argument: Parliament disregards the Bavarian Constitution, the MPs merely nodded off the government's policy.

The Ministry of the Interior approved the petition for a referendum on July 27 after it became clear that the requirement of at least 25,000 signatures had been met.

as / dpa