Basque Referendum

Judgment 103/2008 (11 September 2008) (2008)

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Basque Referendum

Spain Constitutional Court
Judgment 103/2008 (11 September 2008) (2008)

KS

Facts

The Basque region of Spain was an autonomous community with executive and legislative branches but was also governed by the Spanish constitution. In 2008, the Basque parliament and the Basque lehendakari (or president) (collectively, the defendants) instigated a process to ask citizens of the autonomous region to vote on two questions related to self-determination. The Basque parliament passed a law articulating the two questions to be voted on by the Basque electorate. Subsequently, the Basque president convened the consultation to allow voting on the two issues. The Spanish government (plaintiff) filed suit to prevent the consultation vote, arguing that the consultation was an unconstitutional referendum as the Spanish constitution gave exclusive authority to convene referendums to the Spanish executive state. The Basque authorities argued that the law passed by the Basque parliament was simply a nonbinding consultation and not a referendum that would be subject to the restrictions of the Spanish constitution. Furthermore, the Basque government argued it possessed the autonomous authority to convene nonbinding popular consultations as an activity of a self-governing institution.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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