Abstract
The Franchise in Irish Unification Referendums
Highlights
The Belfast / Good Friday Agreement provides that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, north and south
Part 1 considers what principles may be derived from existing sources on who should be able to vote: we first consider whether the Agreement, unlike the Northern Ireland Act 1998, specifies who should be allowed to vote in Northern Ireland, concluding that it does not, beyond the vague requirement that ‘the people of Northern Ireland’ are the relevant electors
29 Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, annexed to Council Decision 76/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of 20 September 1976, Article 9 as inserted by Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2018/994 of 13 July 2018, Article 1(3). 30 Venice Commission Code of Good Practice on Referendums, Section II.[2]
Summary
The Belfast / Good Friday Agreement (hereafter ‘the Agreement’) provides that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, north and south. The Agreement emphasises that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of ‘a majority of the people of Northern Ireland’ Part 1 considers what principles may be derived from existing sources on who should be able to vote: we first consider whether the Agreement, unlike the Northern Ireland Act 1998, specifies who should be allowed to vote in Northern Ireland, concluding that it does not, beyond the vague requirement that ‘the people of Northern Ireland’ are the relevant electors. In Part 4, we step back from the detail of the previous analysis, and set out arguments for and against two possible options for determining who should be able to vote in a Northern Ireland referendum held under Schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
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