What it takes for a referendum to be fair

Popular votes are held not only in democracies such as Switzerland, but also in semi-democratic and authoritarian countries. Can such referendums ever be fair? What does Switzerland have in common with dictatorships around the world? Above all, a fondness for popular votes. “Nowadays, almost every dictator holds elections,” says Robin Gut, a political scientist at the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau. They create an appearance of democratic legitimacy. But sham elections are costly and need lots of people: an opposition which poses no real threat, a party structure, candidates. Involving large numbers of people creates unpredictable risks. “You don’t have all these problems with a referendum,” says Gut, who researches how non-democratic and semi-democratic states use plebiscites. Referendums are popular with dictators because they can easily determine the topic, the wording of the question and the timing – unlike elections, which are held at regular intervals. At the same time ...