The Moosburg referendum on the ELA expansion is invalid because the quorum was not met.
One club is now criticizing the outcome - and criticizing even more.
Moosburg
- The Moosburgers were able to vote by referendum on Sunday on the expansion plans of the Pfrombach container company ELA. As reported, the decision failed to meet the required approval quorum of 20 percent and is therefore invalid. The association Mehr Demokratie Bayern is now taking this as an opportunity to criticize and appeal to politicians: In order to strengthen direct democracy, the association is calling for the approval quorum for referendums to be reduced and for postal voting documents to be automatically sent in advance.
The turnout on Sunday was 20.42 percent - and thus, according to the association, well below the Bavaria-wide average of 51.3 percent.
A total of 1904 people voted “Yes” in the referendum, which corresponds to an approval quorum of 13.72 percent and is thus well below the required quorum of 20 percent.
"As a result, the failed referendum in Moosburg shows again that the quorums for referendums are too high," says a press release by the association.
"Especially in the community size class between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, which also includes Moosburg, every fifth referendum falls short of the required quorum of 20 percent", Susanne Socher, state manager of Mehr Demokratie Bayern, is quoted as saying.
Association calls for lower hurdles for approval quorums
If the approval quorum was too high, the direct participation of people was restricted.
The association therefore calls for the quorum for municipalities in the size category mentioned to be reduced to 12.5 percent.
"Moderate quorums of approval give the people in the municipalities greater leeway to make a binding contribution." With the proposal of More Democracy, the referendum in Moosburg would have been successful, Socher continued.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
The criticism of the association is also aimed specifically at the Moosburg city elite: "Despite a corona incidence of 491 in the district, the mayor decided against the option of additional postal votes." According to the association, this would not only have been in the interests of health, but would also have increased participation in the referendum.
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, many municipalities have automatically sent the election documents for referendums to all households." This practice has contributed to the fact that voter turnout has increased and fewer decisions have failed due to the quorum.
"We therefore demand that election documents be sent to all households in the future, regardless of the pandemic."
The last successful referendum was ten years ago
Overall, the association gives the Moosburg town hall a bad report in terms of direct democracy.
"In nine out of twelve direct democratic procedures, referendums were classified as inadmissible, not even submitted or failed in the referendum due to the quorum."
The only successful referendum in Moosburg took place in 2011.
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