Bangladesh polls include a referendum. Not a good idea, there or anywhere else

People of Bangladesh will cast two votes today. One to elect their parliament, the other to agree or disagree with a long list of ‘reforms’ in a referendum. That’s odd because a referendum usually seeks a yes/no response to one important question. A laundry list referendum – say, 70% income tax, five-day week, free grain – is either deception or a farce. But it saves Yunus and friends from holding multiple referendums – or is it referenda? Even British MPs, with all their referendal practice, couldn’t make up their mind on that during a discussion in 1998.  

More than Brits, Swiss are masters of the referendum. They held 148 between 1981 and 1999. India hasn’t held one since 1975, Pakistan’s last was in 2002. Does that make Swiss democracy more ‘perfect’ than ours? In principle, perhaps. But in practice, we must judge by outcomes. Poor, mostly unlettered and newly independent India gave every man and woman the right to vote in 1950. In Switzerland, men rejected voting rights for women in a 1959 referendum. It took another referendum 12 years later to right that wrong. 

So, yes, referendums are closest to democracy’s roots, but representative democracy guided by experts has clear advantages. Most contemporary issues – should India have more nuclear power plants, and should those be fuelled with thorium? – are too complex for the electorate. Govts can try to inform people about policy pros and cons, but such five-minute knowledge is no substitute for professional expertise. Also, referendums mostly happen when govt is afraid to take a stand. Recall Kerala’s 2016 offer to hold a referendum on women’s entry at Sabarimala. That same year, Britain voted 52% for and 48% against Brexit – clearly a bad move in hindsight.

The bigger problem with referendums is that they skew strongly towards the majority view. So progressive measures – decriminalising same-sex relationships, for instance – are bound to fail in a popular vote. In Ireland, a 1983 referendum outlawed abortion, although only 54% of the public voted. Besides, voters can be swayed through campaigns, as happened before Brexit. Often, votes are cast not on the issue but for or against the party in office. Which is why govts seldom hold referendums unless they are sure of winning. Referendums no doubt have their uses – for example, letting Goa decide whether it wanted to be a UT or part of Maharashtra in 1967 – but they should be rare and specific.

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