A Volksbegehren, or a petition for a referendum, allows Berliners to bring about a Volksentscheid. Anyone aged 16 or over who has had their main residence in Berlin for at least three months and holds German citizenship is eligible to take part. Through a Volksbegehren and the subsequent Volksentscheid, participants can put proposed legislation and political questions to a public vote or trigger an early election.
A Volksbegehren takes place in two stages. First, the organising body – often a citizens’ initiative or civil society organisation – must have the estimated costs of their proposal assessed and then collect signatures. A proposed law or other proposal requires 20,000 signatures, while a constitutional amendment or an initiative to trigger an early election requires 50,000.
Once the organisers have met these requirements, they can apply to the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport (Senatsverwaltung für Inneres und Sport) to formally initiate the Volksbegehren. The authorities then assess whether the application is admissible. The proposal is subsequently submitted to the Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus, or AGH), which has four months to adopt it. If the AGH rejects the proposal, the organisers can request that the Volksbegehren proceed.
The second stage is the Volksbegehren itself. The organisers have four months to collect another round of signatures. The Volksbegehren is successful if at least 7 percent of eligible voters support it – currently around 170,000 people. For a constitutional amendment, signatures from at least 20 percent of eligible voters are required, currently around 490,000 people. If the required number is reached, a Volksentscheid is held.
