What is a Volksentscheid?
A Volksentscheid, or referendum, allows Berliners to vote directly on proposed legislation and political issues outside regular elections, or to trigger an early election. Anyone who is eligible to vote in elections to the Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) is also eligible to take part in a Volksentscheid.
A Volksentscheid can only take place after a successful Volksbegehren, which is a petition for a referendum. A proposed law or other proposal is adopted if a majority of those voting support it and at least one quarter of all eligible voters vote in favour. This currently corresponds to around 620,000 people. Higher thresholds apply to amendments to the Berlin Constitution: at least two-thirds of those voting and at least half of all eligible voters must approve the proposal – currently around 1.2 million people.
Since 2008, eight Volksentscheide have taken place in Berlin. In 2014, Berliners voted against development on Tempelhofer Feld, while in 2021 they voted in favour of bringing large housing companies into public ownership. The most recent Volksentscheid took place in 2023. The initiative to make Berlin climate-neutral by 2030 failed because only 18.2 percent of eligible voters supported it, falling short of the required 25 percent.
