2008 Latvian pensions law referendum

2008 Latvian pensions law referendum

23 August 2008

Are you in favor of the legislative project to amend the National Pensions Act?
OutcomeProposal failed due to low voter turnout
Results
Choice
Votes %
Yes 333,799 96.38%
No 12,524 3.62%
Valid votes 346,323 99.75%
Invalid or blank votes 859 0.25%
Total votes 347,182 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 1,516,097 22.9%

A referendum on amendments in the pensions law was held in Latvia on 23 August 2008.[1] It failed due to low turnout, as 453,730 votes (half of the votes cast in the previous parliamentary election) would have been necessary to make it valid.[2] If it had succeeded, minimum pensions would have been tied (until the end of 2009) to the government-set subsistence benefit level with a higher coefficient than earlier, in effect tripling the minimum pension from 50 lati to at least 135 lati. The referendum was strongly supported by an organisation called Society for Different Politics, which aimed to become a political party.[3]

Results

Latvian pensions law referendum, 2008
Choice Votes %
Referendum failed No 12,524 3.61
Yes 333,799 96.15
Invalid or blank votes 794 0.23
Total votes 346,323 100.00
Turnout required 50.00
Registered voters/turnout 1,516,097 38.16
Source: CVK, C2D

References

  1. ^ "Interactive investor – the UK's number one flat-fee investment platform".
  2. ^ "Earth Times: Show/227677,latvian-populist-referendum-on-pensions-fails-to-gain-quorum.HTML". Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
  3. ^ http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1276862&lang=EN[permanent dead link]