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

– 56 –subject to this referendum (and hence not subject to any referendum at all), whereas cantonallaws can still be challenged through a referendum (art 49, 1 lit. a CC; art. 47 old CC). In thenew constitution, however, regulations concerning the wages <strong>of</strong> civil servants and teachers areexplicitly exempted from the referendum (art. 49, 2 CC). On the other hand, the scope <strong>of</strong> theoptional referendum has been widened as international and intercantonal treaties are nowsubject to it if their content is nomothetic (art. 49, 1 lit. b). <strong>The</strong> increase in the time availablefor collection has caused an increase in the subindex <strong>of</strong> the statutory referendum, which isalso reflected in the total index (see table 9).<strong>The</strong> electorate <strong>of</strong> Graubünden also voted on a new constitution both on the 18th <strong>of</strong> May andthe 14th <strong>of</strong> September, 2003 63 , which took effect on the 1st <strong>of</strong> January, 2004. Similar to thedevelopment observable in other cantons, the mandatory statutory referendum was replacedby an optional referendum in the new constitution. This new optional referendum is bothapplicable to cantonal laws and to treaties whose stipulations are nomothetic. <strong>The</strong> requirement<strong>of</strong> 1,500 signing supporters out <strong>of</strong> the electorate must be met within 90 days after publication.This constitutional change will cause the subindex <strong>of</strong> the overall statutory referendum to fallfrom its old level <strong>of</strong> 6 points from 2004 on.Observable in the canton Aargau is one <strong>of</strong> the cases in which the scope <strong>of</strong> the optionalmandatory referendum was broadened at the expense <strong>of</strong> the mandatory statutory referendum.On the 2nd <strong>of</strong> June, 2002, the electorate <strong>of</strong> Aargau opted for a revision <strong>of</strong> art. 63, 1 lit. a CC.This amendment led to an abolishment <strong>of</strong> the old unconstrained mandatory referendum byincluding an absolute majority constraint and by adding 'laws' as a new field <strong>of</strong> application <strong>of</strong>the optional referendum. Additional potential applications <strong>of</strong> the optional referendum are laiddown in art. 63, 1 CC (except for lit. e), which also include (among others) decrees <strong>of</strong> theGrosser Rat, already known in the old constitution. <strong>The</strong> constitutional requirements for takingthe optional statutory referendum remained unchanged (3,000 signatures in 90 days). As theindex <strong>of</strong> direct democracy takes into account the statutory referendum for laws rather than fordecrees, a decline in the level <strong>of</strong> the overall index <strong>of</strong> statutory referendum occurred due to thischange, which also transmits to the total index (see table 9).63 Because the <strong>of</strong>ficial result <strong>of</strong> the first popular vote on the vote system for electing the Grosser Rat appeared tobe scanty and changed after a recount in May 2003, it was decided to hold a second popular vote inSeptember 2003 for reasons <strong>of</strong> clarification (personal communication with Mr. FRIZZONI (10/09/2004)).