A Study on the quorum problem caused by simultaneous referendum and election

Recently, it has been proposed in politics to hold both referendums and elections at the same time for cost reduction. However, there are several additional legal issues to be considered regarding the simultaneous referendum and election, unlike when the referendum is held alone. First of all, if both are held at the same time, there is a high possibility that the election results will be distorted due to controversy over the pros and cons of the referendum. Eventually, the problem that the referendum is not harmonized with representative democracy will intensify. On the other hand, the following can be pointed out as more specific problems. In the referendum, the Constitution sets the participation of a majority of voters in the vote as part of the approval requirement. Therefore, the right to reject a referendum constitutes a very important part of the right to referendum guaranteed by the Constitution. However, if the election and referendum are held at the same time, the participation of the referendum is also compulsory for those who wish to participate only in the election. Therefore, the right of these voters to vote is violated. As an alternative, it is possible to consider ways to improve the process so that voters can decide whether to participate in the referendum separately from the election. However, in this case, there is a problem that the voter's intention to participate in or not participate in the vote is clearly disclosed to the outside, that is, the secret of the vote is violated. Therefore, it is also possible to consider adding a ‘no vote column’ to the ballot of the referendum in addition to the existing yes and no columns. In elections, a system similar to the system of placing a separate ‘NOTA(None Of The Above)’ on the ballot is introduced in the referendum. However, these alternatives do not provide a sufficient solution to concerns that the election results may be distorted by referendums held simultaneously with the election. Therefore, in principle, it is most ideal for elections and referendums to be held at different times. Nevertheless, if it is inevitable to conduct elections and referendums at the same time due to costs, an alternative from a longer-term perspective should be prepared through amendments to the provisions related to the referendum in the constitution.