Referendums as route to electoral reform -- not often Canberra and NZ stand out as successes

Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems has list of instances of Electoral Reform since 1985. Relatively few of these electoral reforms were produced by referendum

Most of these are national electoral systems. (italics indicates non-national instances)

60 instances of elected reform are given but only 34 were to do with PR.

The changes to PR are listed below.

Only five of them (one being a sub-state situation) were done after referendum.

FVC says among major countries prior to 1985, only one instance of electoral Reform done after referendum -- Switzerland 1918.

France 1985 change to list PR

France 1986 change to Two-Round System (TRS)

(neither of these changes were endorsed by referendum)

Bulgaria 1991 change to list PR

Canberra (Aus. territory) 1992 change to STV through referendum (former list PR was dropped)

New Zealand 1992 change to MMP through referendum

(also affirmed in referendum in 1993, re-affirmed in 2011)

Albania 1992 switch to MMP

Italy 1993 switch to MMP through referendum

Colombia 1993 switch to list PR

Jordan 1993 switch to SNTV

Latvia 1993 switch to list PR

Venezuela 1993 switch to MMP

Moldavia 1994 switch to list PR

South Africa  1994 switch to list PR

Sierra Leone  1996 switch to list PR

Algeria 1997 switch to list PR

Bolivia  1997 switch to MMP

Liberia  1997 switch to list PR

Macedonia  1998 switch to list PR

Italy 1999 switch to SML through referendum. not enacted

SML = MMP with the 25% "top-up" seats going to best losers.

(voters 90 percent in favour of change but voter turnout just shy of 50 percent threshold)

Croatia  2000 switch to list PR

Rwanda 2003 switch to list PR

Iraq 2000 switch to list PR through referendum

BC 2005 switch to list PR through referendum not enacted

PEI 2005 switch to list PR through referendum  not enacted

Afghanistan 2005 switch to SNTV

Cambodia 2005 switch to list PR

Congo (Brazzaville) 2006 switch to list PR

Iraq 2005 switch to list PR through referendum

Krygystan 2005 switch to list PR

Russia 2005 switch to list PR

Albania 2005 switch to list PR (dropped MMP adopted in 1992?)

Ukraine 2006 switch to list PR

Ontario 2007 switch to list PR through referendum  not passed

Serbia 2008 switch to list PR

Italy 2009 switch to Bonus through referendum

St. Vincent and Grenadines 2009 switch to list PR through referendum "not enacted"

United Kingdom 2011 switch to AV through referendum not passed

Italy 2015 switch to TRS

(Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems, p. 371-375)

successful use of referendum to get PR 1985-2015

Canberra (Aus. territory)

New Zealand 1992/3

Italy 1993

Iraq 2000

St. Vincents 2009

FVC says

only two of 38 OECD countries have brought in proportional representation by referendum: Switzerland in 1918 and New Zealand in 1992 (first PR election in 1993)

(https://yukonassembly.ca/sites/default/files/2022-01/scer-35-submission-2022-01-26-fairvotecanada-writtensubmission.pdf)

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