The Use of the Referendum as an instrument to manipulate the public opinion

*The idea of a referendum and how it can be changed from a democratic into an anti-democratic instrument has recently become the subject of discussion for many people, including experts, sociologists, journalists and politicians.

By Dr. Argentina GRIBINCEA

The fact that this problem is an important one today is shown even by the Recommendation 1704 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Referendums: towards good practices in Europe (2005)[1]. In the press and also in scholarly studies, there are references that some regimes are using plebiscites in order to “aneasthetize civic consciousness”. It is a device largely used in the totalitarian states, especially in the post-Soviet ones, as many authors emphasize: “In the former Soviet countries or in the African ones, the referenda conducted by the incumbent regime as a rule resulted in the validation of already taken decisions and in the further weakening of fragile democracies. The appeal to the divided and politically inert nation can result in the extension of number of mandates permited to the heads of states or in the changing of the fundamental law on the basis of suggestions made by the head of the state. The crisis of the rule of law can be made worse by this practice of unfree referenda”[2] or: “The most dangerous attack on democracy comes, strangelly enough, from one of the most democratic devices: the referendum”[3]. The examples can continue. ...

http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/21033/