The most important issues that relate to the state or public life of a particular country can be submitted to a referendum. This is the name of one of the ways of direct expression of the will of citizens, which is carried out in the form of voting. True, the authorities do not always heed the desire expressed by the people: the most striking example in Russian history can be called the referendum, which was held in 1991. On it, 76% of the population voted for the Soviet Union to be preserved, but despite this, it collapsed. But this is also provided for by law - it can be carried out simply in order to find out the position of citizens on a particular issue.
Of course, many people do not even know what a referendum is, because this way of finding out the opinion of the people is used extremely rarely. This is due, first of all, to the high cost of its implementation. It is necessary to put forward issues that are important for the country to such a vote, and its future fate and development path will depend on the choice of people.
Depending on characterquestions raised, the referendum can be constitutional (in this case, the possibility of amending the Constitution or adopting a different version of it is considered) and legislative (the reason for voting is a bill). At the same time, the wording of the problem should be clear, the question and the answers provided cannot be twofold. The Constitutional Court or citizens of the Russian Federation who know what a referendum is and have the right to take part in it have the right to take the initiative so that a popular vote is held. In the latter case, the initiative must be taken by at least 2 million people, which will be confirmed by the signatures of each person.
The procedure for organizing voting is described in legislative acts. Thus, the procedure for holding a referendum provides that in the event of an initiative to organize the will of the people, documents are submitted to the CEC, analyzed there within 15 days, and then transferred to the President, who decides on holding a vote.
The ballots intended for voting indicate the question raised and 2 possible answers: “For” or “Against”. In addition, the filling rules are written on it, so even those who did not know what a referendum is should not have problems. If there are several questions in the ballot, they are separated by horizontal lines. The vote is considered valid if more than ½ of the citizens were able to take part in it, and the decision is considered adopted if more than 2/3 voted for it.
The legislation, which describes what a referendum is, provides that this method of expression of will can be national or local, that is, carried out throughout the country or in a single municipal district. In the latter case, only residents of the region in which it is held can take part in it. Thus, issues related to the adoption of the charter of the district, the structure of self-government bodies, changes in the boundaries of the territory, issues of early termination of the powers of the local head of self-government or a representative body can be put to the local vote. It's good if residents are familiar with the concept of "local referendum": for example, an essay was written at school on this topic, and they do not need to be explained how important it is and why they need to take part in it.
