In many countries citizens has the right to propose new legislation or amend existing legislation, provided that your initiative meets several conditions.
Legislative initiative is a tool that allows the public to propose new laws or amend existing laws. If you wish to put forward draft legislation for the parliament’s consideration, you can do so, provided that enough people support your proposal. Citizens may launch initiatives not only to propose new laws, but also to amend or withdraw existing laws. For example, in Latvia, draft legislation can be submitted to the parliament by at least one tenth of the electorate. If the parliament rejects the draft legislation, a mandatory referendum must take place.
note The number of electors amounting to one tenth of the electorate is determined by the number of the eligible voters at the time of the last parliamentary election.
The main stages for submitting a legislative initiative are:
- the creation of an initiative group that drafts the legislative proposal and submits it to the Central Election Commission for registration
- the collecting of signatures of one tenth of the electorate within 12 months after the registration of the initiative at the Central Election Commission
What are the requirements with which your initiative must comply?
The criteria for submitting and registering legislative initiatives in Latvia are laid down in the Law on National Referendums, Legislative Initiatives, and the European Citizens’ Initiative. You can also refer to the guide from the Central Election Commission.
Any citizen eligible to vote for the parliament has a right to take part in a legislative initiative. All the collected signatures must be verified by one of the authorities or institutions listed in the Law on National Referendums, Legislative Initiatives, and the European Citizens’ Initiative.