Constitutional Act of Denmark (1953) (excerpts related to Referendum) (English)
THE CONSTITUTIONAL
ACT OF DENMARK
OF JUNE 5, 1953
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PART III
§20
(1) Powers vested in the authorities of the Realm under this Constitutional Act may, to such extent as shall be provided by statute, be delegated to international authorities set up by mutual agreement with other states for the promotion of international rules of law and co-operation.
(2) For the enactment of a Bill dealing with the above, a majority of five-sixths of the members of the Folketing shall be required. If this majority is not obtained, whereas the majority required for the passing of ordinary Bills is obtained, and if the Government maintains it, the Bill shall be submitted to the electorate for approval or rejection in accordance with the rules for referenda laid down in section 42.
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PART IV
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§29
(1) Any Danish subject who is permanently domiciled in the Realm, and who has the age qualification for suffrage as provided for in sub-section (2) of this section shall have the right to vote at Folketing elections, provided that he has not been declared incapable of conducting his own affairs. It shall be laid down by statute to what extent conviction and public assistance amounting to poor relief within the meaning of the law shall entail disfranchisement.
(2) The age qualification for suffrage shall be as determined by the referendum held under the Act dated March 25, 1953. Such age qualification for suffrage may be altered at any time by statute.
A Bill passed by the Folketing for the purpose of such enactment shall receive the Royal Assent only when the provision for altering the age qua-lification for suffrage has been submitted to a referendum in accordance with sub-section (5) of section 42, and which has not resulted in the rejection of the provision.
PART V
§42
(1) Where a Bill has been passed by the Folketing, one-third of the members of the Folketing may, within three weekdays from the final passing of the Bill, request of the President that the Bill be submitted to a referendum. Such request shall be made in writing and signed by the members making the request.
(2) Except in the instance mentioned in sub-section 7, no Bill which may be submitted to a referendum (see sub-section (6)), shall receive the Royal Assent before the expiration of the time limit stated in sub-section (1), or before a referendum requested as aforesaid has taken place.
(3) Where a referendum on a Bill has been requested the Folketing may, within a period of five weekdays from the final passing of the Bill, resolve that the Bill shall be withdrawn.
(4) Where the Folketing has made no resolution in accordance with sub-section (3), notice that the Bill is to be submitted to a referendum shall be given without delay to the Prime Minister, who shall then cause the Bill to be published together with a statement that a referendum is to be held.
The referendum shall be held, in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister, not less than twelve and not more than eighteen weekdays after the publication of the Bill.
(5) At the referendum votes shall be cast for or against the Bill. For the Bill to be rejected, a majority of the electors who vote and not less than thirty per cent of all persons who are entitled to vote, shall have voted against the Bill.
(6) Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be submitted to decision by referendum.
This provision shall also apply to the Bills referred to in sections 9, 8, 10, and 11, and to suchresolutions as are provided for in section 19, if existing in the form of a law, unless it has been prescribed by a special Act that such resolutions shall be submitted to referendum. Amendments to the Constitutional Act shall be governed by the rules laid down in section 88.
(7) In an emergency a Bill which may be submitted to a referendum may receive the Royal Assent immediately after it has been passed, provided that the Bill contains a provision to this effect.
Where, under the rules of sub-section (1), one-third of the members of the Folketing request a referendum on the Bill or on the Act to which the Royal Assent has been given, such referendum shall be held in accordance with the above rules. Where the Act is rejected by the referendum an announcement to that effect shall be made by the Prime Minister without undue delay, and not later than fourteen days after the referendum was held. From the date of such announcement the Act shall become ineffective.
(8) Rules for referenda, including the extent to which referenda shall be held in the Faroe Islands and in Greenland, shall be laid down by statute.
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