Recently it became known that the attempt of the newly elected President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez (Iván Duque Márquez, took office on August 8, 2018) to involve the population of the country in the fight against corruption failed.
A recent referendum on whether to adopt a number of anti-corruption measures, including tougher penalties for corruption offenses, an obligation to report income, and a simultaneous reduction in politicians' salaries, failed to garner the minimum required number of votes. 11.7 million Colombians turned out for the referendum, approximately 99% of whom voted in favor of the reform. However, the necessary threshold for the referendum's results to be recognized is 12.1 million people (1/3 of the registered electorate)
Although the organizers and human rights activists who have been preparing for the referendum for the past two years are disappointed by this outcome, the very fact that such a significant number of people were able to participate in the vote is evidence of the desire for change on the part of the population and is considered an event that cannot but have an effect on the current political situation in the country. Despite the lack of real support for the initiative on the part of the ruling party and the statements of some opponents of the reform that the country already has enough strict rules and codes, the high level of support for the referendum in Colombia is high.
Colombia is not the only country where the fight against corruption is becoming a nationwide initiative: in Romania, for example, since the beginning of 2017, mass protests by citizens against the government's attempts to weaken the judicial system and "give free rein" to corrupt officials have been ongoing.
To date, as a result of the ruling party's behind-the-scenes activities, a number of legislative amendments have been adopted in the country, the most high-profile of which is the almost complete removal of the country's leader's authority to appoint top prosecutors, including the head of theNational Anticorruption Directorate (NAD), and the subsequent resignation of NAD headLaura Kovesi, who led the proceedings against dozens of corrupt politicians and officials.
In July 2018, largely as a result of mass citizen protests, Romanian PresidentKlaus Iohannis pledged to consider holding a referendum on changing the country's judicial system. In response, the country's ruling Social Democratic Party accused the president of violating the constitution, threatened him with impeachment for attempting to prevent Laura Kovesi's removal from office, and promised to hold a counter-referendum in support of the leader's resignation.
Although in Romania the population has not yet succeeded in changing the current situation, in some countries popular initiatives have had real results in the context of the fight against corruption. In Hungary, for example, proposals byGábor Vágó of the opposition partyLehet Más a Politika (LMP) to increase the statute of limitations for corruption offenses received about 5,000 signatures on the first day. Simultaneously with the Supreme Court's approval of the referendum, the Parliament submitted a similar initiative to amend the law on corruption.
However, referendums related to anti-corruption initiatives may not only represent the will of the people, but may also be used by the country's top officials as a tool to increase their ratings. For example, recently elected Peruvian President MartinVizcarra's proposal to hold a popular vote on transforming the country's judicial system and banning private funding of political parties is, according to some speculations, his attempt to distance himself from the corrupt political class in the eyes of the population. In recent years, Peru's political class has also been the subject of a referendum on corruption.