Voting has begun in Russia’s 2024 presidential election. It will continue until Sunday, and in many ways will be unique in the country’s history. It is the first presidential vote to take place since the constitution was updated, in 2020. This ‘zeroed’ the previous terms of the current head of …
Read More »Head of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Region orders preparations for referendum on joining Russia
Zaporozhye Region will hold a referendum on whether to secede from Ukraine and request joining Russia, the head of its administration announced on Monday. Evgeny Balitskiy said that he had signed an order to organize the plebiscite during a regional forum held in the city of Melitopol. Over 700 representatives …
Read More »UK PM rejects Scottish independence referendum, citing Ukraine
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday rejected a request by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to hold a legally binding referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. With Johnson fighting for his political life in London, he told Sturgeon that rising costs, Covid-19, and Britain’s support for Ukraine are more …
Read More »Sweden to reject referendum on NATO membership
Sweden does not plan to hold a referendum on the subject of NATO membership if its Parliament approves of the measure, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced on Thursday, suggesting that putting the matter to a vote would be a “bad idea.” “I don’t think it is an issue that …
Read More »Referendum to join NATO not required – EU leader
The president of Finland, which borders Russia, says the widespread support for NATO expressed in recent opinion polls could pave the way for joining the US-led military bloc without a referendum. The attitude of the Finns towards NATO membership took a U-turn following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “NATO needs to …
Read More »Kremlin responds to Zelensky’s referendum idea
Russia has said that Kiev’s idea to put peace deal terms up for a referendum will only hurt the ongoing talks. Moscow launched a military campaign against Ukraine late last month. “We’re convinced that putting [the terms] before the public at this moment can only undermine the negotiations that are …
Read More »Ukraine says any deal with Russia would be put to a referendum
While hinting at progress in talks with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that any “historic” compromises his negotiators agreed upon would be subject to approval by the entire country in a referendum. “I explained to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes, and …
Read More »Ukraine ‘does not rule out’ Donbass referendum – Zelensky
Zelensky was speaking to Kiev’s 1+1 TV network, following a call with the French President Emmanuel Macron. He was referring to Donetsk and Lugansk, which have been largely controlled by separatists, with Russian support, since shortly after the Kiev Maidan in 2014. “I do not rule out a referendum on Donbass …
Read More »Viktor Orban’s LGBTQ referendum could spell the end of Hungary’s membership of the EU, or the end of his premiership
Hungary’s relationship with the European Union took another turn for the worse today, as Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, announced he would be putting his controversial child-protection laws out to a referendum. According to LGBTQ rights groups and some other EU member states, these laws, which came into force …
Read More »Five years after the Brexit referendum, we have an imperfect deal from an imperfect PM, but I’m still sure we made the right call
I have to admit that I didn’t think we would win the Brexit referendum. I believed it had come too soon. I had always been convinced that the UK would one day leave the European Union, but I thought it would occur at some point in the 2020s. On the …
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