Nationwide referendum 2023


self-organized | non-profit | democratically

Germany needs more co-determination at federal level by the population. In order to show politicians that we can't do it without us, we support the ABSTIMMUNG21 project: self-organized referendums on burning issues of our time. The next nationwide referendum will take place in September.

Awesome, over 100,000 registrations - thank you! What's next? The voting documents are now being printed and will be in your mailbox by mid-September at the latest.

The topics

The three topics to be voted on are:

There is a broad debate in society as to whether and in what form language should be gender-sensitive. Some see it as an expression of equality, while others see it as absurd paternalism. Can it be prescribed how the public service media and authorities express themselves?

Discuss this voting issue in a House Parliament.

Unlike in scientifically oriented medicine, there are no long-term studies on the effectiveness of many naturopathic treatments. Nevertheless, many people state that they have had positive experiences with alternative healing methods. opportunity or danger? The voting topic aims to ensure that naturopathic treatments are considered equivalent to scientifically oriented medicine, that costs are covered and that more research funds are made available for these areas.

Discuss this voting issue in a House Parliament.

The concept of the “substitute vote” is intended to prevent votes from being lost: two parties would be elected. If the favored party fails the 5 percent hurdle, the vote automatically goes to the second party specified. As a result, more smaller parties could end up in the Bundestag and well-known big ones would have more competition. Would that make voting more attractive again?

Discuss this voting issue in a House Parliament.

What is ABSTIMMUNG21 ?

Democracy must be actively lived every day. Because people are only convinced of it if they actively participate in it and can help shape it. Otherwise they have the feeling that politicians are not listening and that decisions are being made without considering the realities of life of the citizens. These thoughts led to the founding of openPetition 13 years ago and the launch of a petition platform to give citizens a voice in politics.

The ABSTIMMUNG21 association is also convinced that Germany needs more citizen participation. That's why they organize nationwide referendums on burning issues of the time themselves - until votes at federal level are legally anchored.

In 2021, the first self-organized referendum was held in an alliance of over 30 non-profit organizations. This was the largest campaign to date to introduce referendums at the federal level. Then as now, we at openPetition supported this idea. Because we are of the opinion that citizen participation has many facets and only their interaction can strengthen our modern democracy.

Nun geht die Aktion in die zweite Runde: Im August werden die Wahlunterlagen verschickt, im September wird gewählt und die Ergebnisse werden im Oktober verkündet. Mit jeder neuen Abstimmung sollen mehr Menschen mobilisiert werden, damit das Gewicht der Ergebnisse noch stärker wird. Machen Sie mit!

Help us to make nationwide referendums possible! In order to be able to finance voting booklets, election documents & postage, we depend on donations.

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A joint project with ABSTIMMUNG 21 e.V.