Latvia

Abstract

While the constitution of Latvia (Satversme) sets out a number of ways for citizens to express their will on the national level, there are important restrictions on the use of these tools. This chapter addresses the existing direct-democratic instruments in Latvia, the legal limits placed on these instruments and the institutional and procedural framework for reviewing compliance with the limits. Two of the instruments that are used most often are the citizens’ agenda initiative and the citizens’ legislative initiative. While there are relatively few limits on the agenda initiative, the citizens’ legislative initiative is restricted by open-ended substantive and formal legal limits. In practice, the main reason for the rejection of citizens’ legislative initiatives is non-compliance with the requirement that the draft must be ‘fully elaborated’ - a requirement that is constantly developed further in legal scholarship and the case law of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.