Top 158 Referendum Quotes & Sayings

The referendum was clear: the British people voted to leave the single market and to take back control of our borders.

Douglas Carswell accused all political parties of "deliberately cultivating the impression" that there would be a referendum.

I am logically in favour of a referendum. It would be the only legitimate way.

In May 1961, South Africa was to be declared a Nationalist Republic. There was a white referendum, but no African was consulted.

Actually, I never wanted an E.U. referendum, and I think those who called for it will one day wish they hadn't.

When the Canadian confederation took place in 1867, a lot of people in Quebec said, 'Could we have a referendum?' They said, 'Oh, no. In the British tradition, the Parliament can do anything, excluding changing a man into a woman, and, therefore, no referendum' - and that was that.

Generally, Senate races are not a referendum on the president or on any one issue but a choice between the two candidates on the ballot.

No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.

The Government has boxed itself in by trying to codge together this weird fake Brexit in the hope of committing people to somehow delivering on the referendum result.

In general, I believe it's fine to have impassioned conversations about Gwyneth Paltrow, but those of us who do so should admit it's a recreational activity and not a moral referendum.

If you want to know how old you look, just walk into a French cafe. It's like a public referendum on your face.

The good thing about not calling it a Constitution is that no one can ask for a referendum on it.

I don't understand why Italians should be bound to Brussels's choices without being able to express themselves through a referendum.

Funny to watch these Senators switching back and forth on Prohibition. Politics is a great character builder. You have to take a referendum to see what your convictions are for that day.

Initiative and referendum make government more responsive to its citizens, neutralize the power of the special interests and stimulate public involvement in state issues.

I'm going to devote myself full time to securing and then winning a referendum on leaving the E.U.

If tomorrow morning Brussels should decide to let Turkey in, Italians wouldn't be free to oppose it, neither in Parliament nor through a referendum. A

Speaking to people in all parts of the country, it has become clear to me that there is a definite appetite for the option to reject Theresa May's Brexit and hold a referendum.

Hey, the bait is here. Get in Quebecers, get in the lobster trap, and then we'll close the door. And you'll have a referendum no matter what.

I was pretty vocal about being anti-Brexit before the referendum vote.

I voted Remain, but I also believe in democracy. The 2016 referendum was the largest popular vote in the U.K.'s history and it cannot be ignored.

Drafting a constitution is only the first step. The constitution has to be granted legitimacy by open discussion and a fair, representative referendum.

The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.

If we had a consensus we wouldn't have to go to a referendum.

Should National Security Issues be decided by a Local Referendum?

If you want a referendum, vote for the others. Or, in certain cases, you can stay at home, you don't vote and you could find yourself with a referendum by default because you didn't exercise your vote.

Although economic grievances were critical in delivering the referendum result, Brexit has fomented an all-out culture war.

If there are further steps to European integration, the people should have their say at a general election or in a referendum.

As president, I have the right to call a referendum based on a law that the Catalan parliament has approved.

The people have already determined Chechnya's status at the referendum - it is a unit of the Russian Federation. Its political status is not to be discussed any more.

A defensive referendum is for avoiding war and to help keep the Taiwanese people free of fear.

A referendum is almost always a device by which governments get the voters to endorse what they wanted to do all along.

Any reform of that fundamental nature, potentially constitutional, it has to go to the people. It has to be a be a referendum, and that's why it was a plebiscite in all of the provinces in which it's been attempted.

I absolutely disagree that it was an illegal annexation: a referendum was held, and residents of Crimea chose to rejoin Russia.

REFERENDUM, n. A law for submission of proposed legislation to a popular vote to learn the nonsensus of public opinion.

In the referendum - which was still decided to take place by the Crimea's old parliament - the majority of citizens voted for belonging to Russia. This is democracy, the people's will.

Maybe this will be the beginning of a trend? Flat taxes, cutting foreign aid, a referendum on Europe, grammar schools. Who knows?

I am delighted to accept the chairmanship of Vote Leave, to help ensure that the organisation is fully prepared for the start of the referendum campaign.

I don't want to go to prison... but there is nothing they can do to me that will make me stop this referendum.

I've repeated it 100 times and I'm going to look you in the eye, tonight, Mr. Couillard: there will be no referendum as long as Quebecers aren't ready.

We must have serious dialogue between Catalonia and the Spanish state on a referendum, on independence, and on how a separation from Spain - if that's what the Catalan people choose - would be accomplished.

It's an uncomfortable fact that leaving the European Union in a way that is true to the referendum result is becoming harder and harder to deliver.

People of India deserve to be complimented for making the 2014 elections a referendum on the misrule of the Congress-led UPA and demonstrating their faith in a proven new leadership.

I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost, and by seven to three.

It's best to think of these as two things - they're related, but there's different dynamics going on with each of them. A key difference is Abyei is contested territory. We still do not know whether Abyei is going to belong to the new country of South Sudan or effectively the new country of Sudan, the northern part. That was supposed to be decided by a referendum in January; that referendum never happened, so it was being dealt with through political negotiations.

The decision on whether there is another referendum is down to the Scottish people.

The Government have made it clear that the constitutional treaty will be ratified in the UK only after a referendum.

Boris [Johnson] and Dave [Cameron] gnawed each other's testicles [during the Tory civil war which blighted the EU referendum].

I actually don't believe in governance by referendum. I believe that we have a democracy, that we elect people to make decisions.

No, a euro referendum will not be part of a government programme if we get the chance to form one.

There must be no attempts to remain inside the E.U., no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum.

Whatever may have been suggested by some Leavers during the referendum it must be clear now that the Brexit process is immensely complicated.

The E.U. referendum was promised by a Conservative Prime Minister fearful of losing votes and of mass defections to UKIP.

Boycotting the referendum is a possible option ... because we believe that participating in the voting might be a useless act.

We should not replicate the situation where one country is in a situation to hijack the rest of Europe because they organize a referendum.

Within the constitution there is the word "referendum." You can change the constitution by referendum. But we have not yet called for a referendum. As of today, we have not yet organized any meeting or discussions on how to change the constitution.

On principle, I always support the opinion of a population who express themselves through a referendum.

Every re-election campaign is a referendum on the incumbent. Every. Single. One.

It is a necessary precondition for the success of a referendum that there should be broad community consensus and bipartisan support for it.

I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abortion.