A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls appear in the constitution in ancient Athenian democracy.Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 43.4 Even where they are legally available, recall elections are only commonly held in a small number of countries including Peru, Ecuador, Taiwan, and Japan. They are considered by groups such as ACE Electoral Knowledge Network as the most rarely used form of direct democracy.
Process The processes for recall elections vary greatly by country and can be originated in different ways. Initiating a recall can be done in two ways: Indirect (also known as a "Mixed" or "Top-down" recall): A recall may only be triggered by an official authority such as a government, parliament, or president. Direct (also known as a "Full" or "Bottom-up" recall): A recall may be triggered by the public directly as a popular initiative.
Financial costs The scheduling of a recall outside of normal elections causes additional expense. For example, the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election cost taxpayers $300 million for an election that the governor won 61.9% to 38.1%.
Voter turnout Many recall elections take place in off-years, resulting in much lower voter turnout than regularly scheduled elections. Participation quorums can reduce voter turnout due to no-show paradox and strategic abstention. Media coverage can increase voter turnout.
By country
Argentina The recall referendum arrived in Latin America shortly after its introduction at the US subnational level, in 1923 and 1933, to Cordoba and Entre Ríos provinces, respectively, both in Argentina. There, recall exists at the provincial level in Chaco (introduced in 1957), Chubut (1994), Córdoba (1923, 1987), Corrientes (1960), La Rioja (1986), Rio Negro (1988), Santiago del Estero and Tierra del Fuego (1991); other provinces include it for their municipalities, namely, Entre Ríos (1933), Neuquén (1957), Misiones (1958), San Juan (1986), San Luis (1987). It is also included in Buenos Aires City (1996).Welp, Yanina (2018) "Recall referendum around the world: origins, institutional designs and current debates", in Morel, Laurence & Qvortrup, Matt. Compendium on Direct Democracy. Routledge.
Canada An attempt at introducing recall legislation for Canada's federal Parliament was brought in October 1999 by Reform Party opposition member Ted White through a private members bill entitled Bill C 269, the Recall Act (An Act to establish the right of electors to recall members of Parliament.).https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/36-2/bill/C-269/first-reading/ BILL C-269 However, the legislation stalled and did not progress past first reading.
As such, no nation-wide recall statute exists, but two provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, have recall laws on the books.
Alberta The province of Alberta enacted recall legislation for members of the Legislative Assembly in 1936 during the Social Credit government of William Aberhart. The legislation was repealed after a petition was introduced for the recall of Aberhart himself.
In 2020, the Government of Alberta announced it will introduce a bill allowing recall elections for members of the Legislative Assembly, municipal governments, and school boards. This bill, Bill 52, was passed and received royal assent on June 17, 2021, and came into effect on April 7, 2022.
New Brunswick Recall was available in New Brunswick in the early 20th century. A successful recall election took place in Saint John in late 1918.
British Columbia British Columbia's Recall and Initiative Act, enacted in 1995, provides a process for recalling members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Voters in a provincial riding can petition to have their member of the Legislative Assembly removed from office once said MLA has been in office for at least 18 months. If over 40 percent of registered voters in the riding sign the petition and the petition is validated by Elections BC, the chief electoral officer informs the speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the member in question that the member has been recalled and their seat vacated. A by-election is called by the lieutenant governor of British Columbia as soon as possible to fill the vacant seat. The recalled MLA is permitted to run in the by-election for their former seat. Twenty-six recall petitions have been launched ; of the six completed petitions returned to Elections BC, five were rejected for having too few valid signatures. The sixth, on the recall of MLA Paul Reitsma, was halted after Reitsma resigned in 1998 during the secondary verification stage.
Colombia In Colombia, the recall referendum was included by the constitution in 1991. The constitutional replacement was launched as an answer to the movement known as la séptima papeleta (the seventh ballot), which requested a constitutional reform to end violence, narcoterrorism, corruption and increasing citizenship apathy. The definition of recall referendum in relation to programmatic vote was approved. It obliges candidates running for office to register a government plan which is later on considered to activate the recall. Since the time the mechanism was regulated by Law 134 in 1994, until 2015, 161 attempts led 41 referendums and none of them succeeded since the threshold of participation was not reached. In 2015, a new law (303/2015) reduced the number of signatures required to activate a recall referendum (from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the total of votes obtained by the elected authority) and the threshold (dropping from the 50 per cent to the 40 per cent of valid votes on the day of the elections of the challenged authority). The change in the regulation, also quickening the registration of promoters, led to a considerable increase in the number of attempts.
Cuba According to its constitution, Cuba is a socialist republic in which all members of representative bodies of state power are subject to recall by the masses. As a principle of soviet democracy, similar recall provisions have been included in the constitutions of many other communist countries, including that of the Soviet Union. Although allowable according to law, in practice the right of recall was never used.
Ecuador Article 105 of the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador provides for recall of all elected officials:
Germany
Mayoral recalls Mayors may be recalled in 11 out of the 16 states of Germany. In a majority of these states recall elections are indirect, meaning that they only take place after a motion of no confidence from the municipal council of the city. A supermajority vote is normally needed to start the recall process from the council. Four states also allow the direct recall, where citizens may sign a petition to trigger the recall vote. +Process of recalling mayors in GermanyStateYear of introductionRequires either:Turnout requirement of recall vote (Percentage of Voters)Signatures (percentage of citizens)Municipal councilors vote 199315–20%2/325%1993 Not available2/330%1996 Not available3/425%1999 Not available2/333.33%199915–20%2/325%1994 Not available2/330%1994 Not available2/330%199433.33%3/450%1994 Not available3/430%199720%2/320%1994 Not available1/230%SourceGeissel, Brigitte & Jung, Stefan. (2018). Recall in Germany: explaining the use of a local democratic innovation. Democratization. 25. 1358-1378. 10.1080/13510347.2017.1398735. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327748229_Recall_in_Germany_explaining_the_use_of_a_local_democratic_innovation
State parliaments The recall of members of the state parliaments of Germany exist in five states; Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, and Rhineland-Palatinate. All of these states only allow for the recall of the entire legislature by triggering a new election, the recall of individual members is not allowed.
Article 18, Section 3 of the Constitution of Bavaria provides, that the entire Landtag can be dismissed by referendum on petition of 1 million citizens, with elections of a new Landtag to be held up to six weeks after the recall referendum.
India
Kiribati Section 59 of the Constitution of Kiribati provides for a majority of electors in a district (who were electors of the district at the time of the original election) to sign a petition requesting a recall election. The recall election must not occur less than 6 months after the original election or a failed recall attempt. If the recall election is successful another election to fill the seat must be held within 3 months.
Latvia Article 14 of the Constitution of Latvia enables the recall of the entire Saiema, though not of specific representatives:
Article 14: Not less than one tenth of electors has the right to initiate a national referendum regarding recalling of the Saeima. If the majority of voters and at least two thirds of the number of the voters who participated in the last elections of the Saeima vote in the national referendum regarding recalling of the Saeima, then the Saeima shall be deemed recalled. The right to initiate a national referendum regarding recalling of the Saeima may not be exercised one year after the convening of the Saeima and one year before the end of the term of office of the Saeima, during the last six months of the term of office of the President, as well as earlier than six months after the previous national referendum regarding recalling of the Saeima.
The electors may not recall any individual member of the Saeima.
Mexico
In Mexico, the State of Yucatán was the first to introduce the recall in 1938. The mechanism, which had never been used, was declared unconstitutional 72 years later by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. A similar mechanism introduced in Chihuahua in 1997 was also declared unconstitutional and consequently eliminated from law. Despite these precedents, the recall was later included in the states of Oaxaca (1998), Morelos (2011), Guerrero (2013), Zacatecas and Aguascalientes.
New Zealand Early policies of the New Zealand Labour Party included support for "the recall".Proposed platform, 1916.
Peru Recall regulations were introduced in Peru by the Democratic Constituent Congress (Congreso Constituyente Democrático) which drafted a new constitution after Alberto Fujimori's autogolpe in 1992. Between 1997 and 2013, more than 5000 recall referendums were activated against democratically elected authorities from 747 Peruvian municipalities (45.5% of all municipalities). This makes Peru the world's most intensive user of this mechanism.
Philippines Article 10 of the 1987 constitution of the Philippines allows for the recall of local officials. The Local Government Code, as amended, enabled the application of the provisions of the constitution. Elected officials from provincial governors to the barangay (village) councilors are potentially subject to recall. At least 15% of the electorate in a specific place must have their signatures verified in a petition for the recall to take place.
The president, vice president, members of Congress, and the elected officials of the Bangsamoro cannot be removed via recall.
Above the barangay level, there had been eight recall elections, of which at least 2 led to a successful recall of an incumbent; the most recent recall election was the 2015 Puerto Princesa mayoral recall election.
Switzerland While recalls are not provided for at the federal level in Switzerland, six cantons allow them: Bern: Recall of the executive and legislative has been possible since 1846. 30,000 signatures (4% of all adult citizens) are required to trigger a recall referendum. There has been one unsuccessful attempt to recall the executive in 1852 (the 'Schatzgelder' affair).