The Impact of Direct Democracy on Society - Universität St.Gallen

– 38 –available for collection is now regulated at the constitutional level and not (exclusively)through a cantonal law (art. 3, 3 LIRR for the old constitution; art. 137, 1 LEDP since 1 Jan,1999). Hence, the index <strong>of</strong> direct democracy is unaffected. As the number <strong>of</strong> signatures forlaunching a constitutional initiative is significantly higher than the number necessary for astatutory one (10,000 vs. 7,000), it is now more difficult for the people to induce a change inthe requirement <strong>of</strong> the time period for collection than prior to the new constitution. At thispoint, it should be noted that the information in T/S 1999, p. 343, on the signaturerequirement for the statutory initiative in the proposed constitution does not reflect thenumber actually set in the new constitution.<strong>The</strong> canton Waadt also experienced the introduction <strong>of</strong> a new constitution, which entered int<strong>of</strong>orce on the 1st <strong>of</strong> September, 2003. As in many other cases, however, only small institutionalchanges were introduced through this process. <strong>The</strong> time period for collecting signatures foreither initiative was increased from 3 months to 4 months (art. 79, 2 CC) 55 ; however, thenumber <strong>of</strong> signatures was augmented to 18,000 for a total revision <strong>of</strong> the constitution butstayed the same for the partial revision and the statutory initiative. Since the index <strong>of</strong> directdemocracy does not take into account a total revision <strong>of</strong> the constitution (which occurs lessthan once in a human lifetime on average), it is not affected by that latter change.Nevertheless, the subindices for either initiative should increase from 2004 onwards. Inaddition, as in many other cantons and in contrast to the old legal setup, the time period forcollecting signatures is now regulated at the constitutional level. As, however, therequirements for changing a cantonal law and amending the constitution are identical inWaadt, regulating such an issue in the constitution does not weaken the institution-settingpower <strong>of</strong> the people. <strong>The</strong> old regulatory setup facilitated, in theory, changes by the parliamentto their advantage because cantonal laws were then subject only to an optional statutoryreferendum. <strong>The</strong> cantonal parliament, however, has never abused its power in the pastbecause, in political practice, the stipulation <strong>of</strong> 3 months has remained unchanged, at leastsince 1978 56 .Finally, the people <strong>of</strong> Neuenburg also totally revised their old constitution and voted on a newone on the 16th <strong>of</strong> October, 2001, which took effect on the 1st <strong>of</strong> January, 2002. In the new55 <strong>The</strong> new constitutional stipulation contradicts the time limit laid down in the cantonal law on political rights(art. 92, 1 LEDP). <strong>The</strong> Grand Conseil <strong>of</strong> Waadt, however, amended this law on the 5th <strong>of</strong> April, 2005. Thisrevision will come into force after a delay <strong>of</strong> 40 days if the electorate <strong>of</strong> Waadt does not carry out a statutoryreferendum to overrule this change.56 See T/S 1999, p. 375 cont. for an account <strong>of</strong> the institutional development <strong>of</strong> the initiative.