A nineteen-part referendum was held in the Northern Mariana Islands on 2 March 1996. Voters were asked whether they approved of constitutional amendments of each chapter, with a separate vote on each.[1] All amendments were rejected.

Background

A 1993 referendum resulted in a vote in favour of electing a Constitutional Council, which was subsequently elected in March 1995. The Council developed amendments to 19 chapters of the constitution.[1]

The referendum was originally scheduled to be on 4 November 1995 alongside general elections. However, it was later postponed to allow voters more time to familiarise themselves with the amendments.[1]

As well as a majority of votes in favour, each amendment also had to receive at least two-thirds of the vote in favour in two of the three Senate constituencies to be approved.[1]

Results

Only two sets of amendments, to chapters 5 and 15, received a majority of votes in favour.[2][3] However, in both cases the requirement to get a two-thirds majority in two of the three Senate seats was not achieved.[2][3] The amendments to Chapter 15 were the only changes to receive two-thirds support in any Senate constituency.

Question For Against Invalid/
blank		 Total Registered
voters		 Turnout Senate seats
Votes % Votes % For Against
Chapter 11,69841.262,41758.744,11510,09203
Chapter 21,52136.562,63963.444,16003
Chapter 2, articles 16 and 171,56038.362,50761.644,06703
Chapter 31,45137.422,42762.583,87803
Chapter 41,91446.282,22253.724,13603
Chapter 52,13653.571,85146.433,98703
Chapter 61,53637.172,59662.834,13203
Chapter 71,76444.922,16355.083,92703
Chapter 81,60338.702,53961.304,14203
Chapter 91,57538.672,49861.334,07303
Chapter 101,54637.672,55862.334,10403
Chapter 111,58138.512,52461.494,10503
Chapter 121,72741.312,45458.694,18103
Chapter 131,02424.663,12875.344,15203
Chapter 141,76042.632,36957.374,12903
Chapter 152,28456.591,75243.414,03612
Chapter 171,61039.372,47960.634,08903
Chapter 181,43935.432,62364.574,06203
Chapter 191,71742.542,31957.464,03603
Source: Direct Democracy

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.