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Areferendum on amendments to the Waters Act was held in Slovenia on 11 July 2021. According to the environmental activists and the domain experts, the provisions of the law would have detrimental effects on the environment and on clean water.[1] With one of the highest turnouts in recent history, the Act was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters.[2]
In March 2021, the National Assembly passed the Waters Act, despite strong criticism from the experts and civil society.[3] While Slovenia’s Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning claimed that the provisions of the Waters Act prohibited the construction of industrial facilities and private buildings on the banks of rivers and lakes, the environmental activists instead stated that say the changes to the 37th paragraph would loosen the rules and allow construction of hotels and malls in coastal areas and on river and lake banks, polluting the sources of drinking water.[4]
Per article 90 of the Constitution, 40,000 voters can require the National Assembly to call for a referendum to reject a law that was ratified by the Assembly. The law is rejected if a majority of voters who have cast valid votes vote against the law, provided at least one fifth of all qualified voters have voted against the law.[5] A minimum of 20% of the voters (around 343,000 voters of about 1.7 million registered voters) are required to cast a valid "no" vote for a negative result of the referendum to be valid.
Following amendments to the Water Act, environmental organisations collected 52,230 signatures calling for a referendum,[1] exceeding the 40,000 signatures required to force a referendum on the law. The referendum was scheduled to take place on 11 July 2021.[4][6]
In the referendum campaign, both sides claimed that they want to protect clean water. According to Andrej Vizjak, the Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, stated that the law prohibits construction of factories and private houses on the shore, a provision already contained in the existing law. The new law would also improve flood management and prevention. This position was supported by the government parties, Slovenian Democratic Party, New Slovenia, and Modern Centre Party. On the other hand, the environmentalist groups warned of several legal loopholes that would actually allow construction of facilities on the shores, including restaurants and hotels, and prevent access to the shore to general public. The opponents to the law included the experts in water management, opposition political parties, as well as research organizations, Faculty of Civil Engineering of University of Ljubljana, and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.[7][8][9][10][11] The opponents of the law claimed that the flayer that the government parties sent to the citizens was full of inaccuracies and was aimed at confusing people.[12] The ombudsman warned that the law was passed too fast and without involvement of experts, which prevented the public to get involved in shaping the law.[13]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| For | 104,793 | 13.40 |
| Against | 677,119 | 86.60 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,850 | – |
| Total | 783,762 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,698,642 | |
| Source: National Electoral Commission (99.97% counted) | ||
The voter turnout was the second highest for a referendum to repeal a law, only behind the 2007 privatisation referendum, at 58%, that was held together with the runoff of the presidential election.[14]
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See also: Elections in Yugoslavia | |
