Referendum

A direct vote by the electorate on a specific proposed law, policy or constitutional change, rather than a decision left to elected representatives. It is the central mechanism by which direct democracy operates at national scale, since a referendum lets the electorate decide the substance of a question directly rather than only choosing who will decide it. Referendums may be mandatory, required by a constitution before certain changes such as a constitutional amendment can take effect, or optional, called by a government, a legislature or a threshold of citizen petition known as an initiative; and their results may be binding on government or merely advisory. Switzerland holds referendums more often and on a wider range of subjects than any other country, a practice rooted in its cantonal tradition of direct citizen lawmaking, while the United Kingdom has used national referendums sparingly and on constitutional questions, on continued membership of the European Communities in 1975 and on leaving the European Union in 2016. Because a referendum bypasses the ordinary legislative process to put a question directly to voters, it is generally paired with direct democracy as its most visible national-level tool, distinguishing it from the representative mechanisms, elections of legislators and executives, that structure ordinary day to day governance.