2042 Morranian Constitutional Referendum

The **2042 Morranian Constitutional Referendum** was held on May 15, 2042 as a binding plebiscite on Speaker Wilhelm De Croo's proposed constitutional reforms to transfer power from the presidency towards a new office of prime minister. The proposal was defeated by 63% of the population, leading to the collapse of De Croo's cabinet and the holding of snap elections weeks later.

After the 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis, a coalition of opposition parties came to power in January 2040 and formed a cabinet headed by Speaker Wilhelm De Croo (PvdA) and President Kairos Hemlock (DPV). One of the first major proposals of the Hemlock administration was the National Reform Act of 2040 - the act drastically reshaped the Morranian constitution and gave the government the ability to hold referenda for the first time. In the afternoon of March 16, 2042, Speaker Wilhelm De Croo and the leaders of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Worker's Political Alliance, and the Progressive Party held a joint press conference to announce their proposal for a constitutional reform package which would see the presidency stripped of all executive functions and reduced to a ceremonial head of state. Under the proposal, a new post of prime minister would assume the executive powers of the president and speaker, with the latter also reduced to a purely procedural position. Having been unaware of the proposals made by members of her government until their publication, President Kairos Hemlock remained silent on the issue until March 18, 2042, when she held a press conference alongside Vice President Fachnan Opus to decry the proposals as "a blatant attack on our democracy and government" - it has been suggested that Vice President Opus was behind Hemlock's aggressive tone towards De Croo's proposals, and indeed many of Hemlock's speeches in the aftermath bore the linguistic style of Opus' writing.

Despite not having the support of the Democratic Party of the People or the Liberal Party, Speaker De Croo was able to pass through legislation to allow him to hold a referendum with the backing of opposition parties; De Croo's reliance on the VVD and APA to pass the required legislation severely harmed his personal approval ratings and that of the Party of the Labourers. Whilst many in the media expected President Hemlock to block the legislation, she unexpectedly signed it into law on March 29, 2042 after publicly claiming to not want to cause a constitutional crisis; leaked internal communications show that in fact, Fachnan Opus had persuaded Hemlock to allow the referendum and instead interfere with the results to make it such a defeat that De Croo cannot claim legitimacy for his government, thereby removing De Croo without being seen to be personally responsible.

Following the return of election results, which showed a 63% rejection of Speaker De Croo's proposals, a growing movement began to emerge both from the general public and in the National Assembly demanding that De Croo resign from office after his "spectacular miscalculation" of the public mood. Despite this, Wilhelm De Croo publicly remained defiant and refused to resign, instead alleging that he had seen evidence of electoral fraud conducted by the non-partisan Electoral Commission and made several unsubstantiated claims that there was an elite conspiracy against him and his government. Following an assault on commission chief Willena Barrow outside her house on May 20, 2040 by a left wing extremist, the Electoral Commission's executive committee collectively resigned citing De Croo's "malicious and deliberate attacks on democracy". Whilst Speaker De Croo claimed the committee's resignation as a victory, the move was near universally condemned by party leaders, whilst President Kairos Hemlock cautioned the move would lead to an undermining of democracy. Amid the crisis, party leaders from across the coalition were invited to the Presidential Palace by President Hemlock in the evening of May 21st to discuss nominating a replacement speaker. On May 22, 2042, Kairos Hemlock gave a speech to politicians in Brussels where she gave an ultimatum to De Croo to resign or face early elections in which the Party of the Labourers (PvdA) would likely loose a significant amount of seats.

## See Also

* National Reform Act of 2040
* De Croo Ministry
* 2042 Avalonian Constitutional Referendum - a similar referendum held a month prior