What's the difference between plebiscite and referendum?

Plebiscite


Definition:

  • (n.) A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If we were to have a plebiscite before the end of the year, and you were to reverse-engineer that, it would make interesting speculation about the timing of an election.” Abetz said in January he would need to see whether a plebiscite was “above board or whether the question is stacked” before deciding to heed any result in favour of marriage equality.
  • (2) And, like Faulkner, Ruddick sees democratisation as the remedy – he wants electorate plebiscites for lower house preselections and statewide plebiscites for the upper house.
  • (3) The SNP can now contend that it is not they who are the reckless parochialists To an extent that is not widely appreciated, Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to go for broke by calling for a fresh plebiscite represents a dramatic shift in her strategy.
  • (4) I can’t see they’d be able to ameliorate this.” Malcolm Turnbull’s quest for power leaves him at odds with the electorate | Peter Lewis Read more Xenophon said the aspects of the plebiscite that troubled him were the cost, the amount of “national oxygen” spent on the issue and its non-binding nature.
  • (5) It’s more to do with the politics within the Coalition rather than what I think the community wants, which is to get on with this issue to be dealt with where it ought to be dealt with – and I think that’s the fed parliament.” Asked if his party would pass the plebiscite enabling legislation, Xenophon replied: “Right now it’s a no.
  • (6) But the point of focusing on achieving a clear majority in parliament is to reduce the possibility of a plebiscite,” he said.
  • (7) A spokesman for Tasmanian crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie said she would support going ahead with the marriage equality plebiscite if it was run together with plebiscite questions on Indigenous recognition and euthanasia.
  • (8) Marriage equality could be a reality by end of the year, says George Brandis Read more The attorney general, George Brandis , told Sky News on Sunday the government’s mooted plebiscite on the issue would be held shortly after the 2016 election and before the end of the year.
  • (9) A Senate committee has warned the Turnbull government against a referendum or plebiscite on marriage equality, saying it is “squarely within the parliament’s power” to make a decision.
  • (10) The Coalition has yet to decide if the results of the plebiscite would be binding on its members.
  • (11) The treasurer, Scott Morrison, said the finer points of the plebiscite would be worked through in the usual way.
  • (12) But Abbott carefully kept open both the referendum and plebiscite options when he was asked a direct question about the preferred mechanism on Monday.
  • (13) One of the big flashpoints at the Liberal NSW state council meeting was a push by the Warringah conference to rewrite the party’s constitution to reflect John Howard’s proposal to introduce plebiscites involving all local members to decide on preselections in all state and federal seats.
  • (14) Australian Marriage Equality national director, Rodney Croome, said Shelton’s comments in the blog “expose the real agenda behind his group’s advocacy for a plebiscite which was to delay marriage equality and take it off the agenda”.
  • (15) Opinion polls consistently suggest Australians support marriage equality, but the plebiscite question has yet to be framed and parliament’s attitude to that vote has yet to be properly established.
  • (16) Irish voters are set to back the introduction of marriage equality by a margin of as much as two-to-one next week and become the first country to approve the policy in a national plebiscite, a series of polls indicated on Saturday.
  • (17) The reports of McEwan’s comments on Brexit, originally in English, also varied, with El Mundo saying McEwan had criticised “hasty decisions made through a plebiscite, which remind me of the Third Reich” , while El Confidencial reported him saying : “Brexit has been a real disaster, and I feel bad because we are a parliamentary democracy and I don’t like these decisions adopted by plebiscite which remind me of the Third Reich.” Writing in the Guardian in July, McEwan voiced disbelief at the Brexit vote.
  • (18) Abbott claimed the “disposition” of the party was to have a referendum or plebiscite in the next term – even though only a handful of MPs had raised that idea.
  • (19) Greens senator, Janet Rice, won support to refer the issue of a same-sex marriage plebiscite to the legal and constitutional affairs committee in August.
  • (20) Labor and the Greens say plans to hold a plebiscite on same-sex marriage are “shambolic” and should be abandoned in favour of a parliamentary vote.

Referendum


Definition:

  • (n.) A diplomatic agent's note asking for instructions from his government concerning a particular matter or point.
  • (n.) The right to approve or reject by popular vote a meassure passed upon by a legislature.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) David Cameron has insisted that membership of the European Union is in Britain's national interest and vital for "millions of jobs and millions of families", as he urged his own backbenchers not to back calls for a referendum on the UK's relationship with Brussels.
  • (2) On his blog, Grillo called the referendum results a victory for democracy.
  • (3) A second Scottish referendum has turned from a highly probable event into an almost inevitable one.
  • (4) Canvassing previous Labour voters who were pro-independence or still undecided during the referendum, McGarry hears complaints that the party is no longer socialist and should not have sided with the Tories at the referendum.
  • (5) Instead of healing the nation after a fractious referendum he inflamed the situation.
  • (6) He told MPs that any steps taken to shore up the markets as a result of the referendum would be disclosed afterwards.
  • (7) She said a referendum was off the table for this general election but, pressed on whether it would be in the SNP manifesto for 2016, she responded: “We will write that manifesto when we get there.
  • (8) George Osborne’s eighth budget is unlikely to be a radical affair , as the state of the public finances and the upcoming EU referendum limit the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre.
  • (9) So far, the UK election has thrown up a carnival of peculiar results | Lewis Baston Read more Scotland, of course, is a different story: but David Cameron’s antagonistic response to the 2014 referendum clearly swung a lot of anti-Tory voters towards the SNP.
  • (10) The poll – which sets the stage for a tense and dramatic run to referendum day – suggests that, among the undecideds, more are inclined to vote Remain than Leave.
  • (11) Many saw the Moscow vote as a referendum on competitive elections.
  • (12) This is such an emotional thing in positive terms about the EU.” Marek Prawda, Poland’s former ambassador to the EU and now head of the European commission in Warsaw, says: “For us, being an EU member is the inverse of what was said in your referendum campaign about ‘taking back control’.
  • (13) All of the parties have been trying to use Greece to their advantage.” On Monday, the governing People’s party pointed to the referendum to justify their decision to impose austerity measures during the height of the economic crisis.
  • (14) The referendum shows that democracy really sucks – that democracy does not deliver stability, prosperity [or] responsible government,” Tsang said.
  • (15) The two moves were seen as significant because the Electoral Commission had made clear that secondary legislation, which must be passed before the referendum can be held, should be introduced six months before the referendum.
  • (16) The pound was also down more than 1% against the US dollar to $1.2835, not far off a 31-year low hit in the wake of June’s shock referendum result.
  • (17) He says the Liberal Democrats should change the referendum date if they really want to win.
  • (18) The referendum vote has immense political implications but no direct legal effect.
  • (19) Finally, any sensible person must be aware that Labour will find it impossible to govern if it attempts to ignore the national demand for a referendum.
  • (20) Was that misreading the mood music of the referendum?” He claimed that many Tories had expressed their anger directly to Rudd about the controversial policy, which has since been watered down.

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