The chairman of the Icelandic parliament’s constitutional and supervisory committee has said she thinks it is not unlikely that the country’s proposed new constitution will be put to a national referendum.
The chairman says that her committee will likely finish discussing the constitutional council’s ideas in February and told RÚV she does not see it as unlikely that a majority of the committee will be in favour of a referendum.
The Alþingi constitutional and surveillance committee has been working through the constitutional council’s ideas for a new constitution since the autumn and chairman Valgerður Bjarnadóttir says that the work is going well.
The committee has received around 70 written remarks and some 200 requests for the constitutional council’s proposals to be sent unchanged to a referendum. Valgerður says that that idea has been discussed several times by the committee members. She says it is possible the committee will schedule the referendum to go ahead at the same time as this year’s planned presidential election.
“Yes, I don’t find that unlikely, but I cannot judge for others, but I don’t think it unlikely that there will be a majority in favour of that on the committee,” Valgerður said.
The constitutional council’s recommendations are in 114 articles and it is not clear whether voters would be asked for their opinion on all of them at the same time, or if they would be asked about each individually.
If the constitutional referendum is to go ahead with the presidential election at the end of June, Alþingi must pass a bill to authorise the plebiscite before the end of March. The results of the referendum would presumably shape the draft new constitution document; but that document itself will not be put before Alþingi for debate and voting until this autumn at the earliest.
This is not a new constitution, only a idea for a new constitution.
It may become a constitution one day, but it takes a referendum to make that happen, the parliament will vote on it, but they can not change it after it is approved by the public, so whether they do it before or after the referendum makes no difference.
The people decide, and there is no way around that.
This idea for a constitution was created by a constitutional council hand picked by the PM after a very controversial Constitutional assembly elections who the Supreme court deemed illegal, for many good reasons.
The draft for a constitution is now in the hands of the Icelandic parliament’s constitutional and supervisory committee where holes will be drilled into it for the maggots to crawl in.
When they are finished there will be a plot to sell this to Icelanders, and i would not be surprised, if they try to squeeze this trough along with the president elections, most likely with a similar scam that was run when the constitutional assembly was elected.
http://stjornlagarad.is/english/
Of course a new Constitutiuon has to be brought before the people to vote on it…how can it be otherwise recognized or be respected by the people?
I would give it rather more time and do it right, than finish it from last Fall to june now in a hasty vote!
Don’t mix the presidential- with the constitutional vote. take the time andf do it right (this time).