Abstract
In the social sciences, the attention is drawn to the relationship between instruments of direct democracy and signature requirement, because the latter may block the activity of citizens. Therefore, this paper focuses on signature requirements of local citizen’ initiatives (LCI), which is also analyzed from the perspective of the principle of equality. We identify: the legal threshold of support (LTS) and the actual threshold of support (ATS). The legal threshold is construed as the statutory requirement of support (quantified or specified as a percentage), whereas the actual threshold of support is the quotient of the number of signatures required and the total number of residents in a given district. With respect to the LCI, a district is an area of a municipality, poviat and voivodship. The ATS is an indicator used by us to study the principle of equality.
Highlights
The purpose of this paper is to present the local citizens’ initiative (LCI) in Poland, in particular the so-called signature requirements
The lowest actual threshold of LCI support is applicable in Warsaw (0.0168%) and the largest voivodship (0.0185%), while the highest – in the smallest municipality (7.67%) and the smallest poviat (1.4391%)
Signature requirements of the CI in the European Union (EU) are low compared to small municipalities in Poland
Summary
The purpose of this paper is to present the local citizens’ initiative (LCI) in Poland, in particular the so-called signature requirements. The concept and value of local self-government as well as participation of citizens in exercising power and making decisions have been the subject of numerous scholarly publications. They mainly presented examples of local residents’ activity, changing the countenance of a city or a region, yet the absence of their broader involvement. Young residents of one of the cities in Poland actively engaged in the project of organizing a Hip-Hop festival Using social media, they promoted the project among young people who voted for it under the citizens’ budget procedure. We employ the comparative legal method only to the extent necessary to outline the background of the title phenomenon
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