In the light of art. 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the nation as a sovereign has the right to steer the state’s policy, express an opinion on governing of the state, as well as co­decide with the state organs in the governing process. The nation is a source of power and may assume the role of an arbitrator in conflict situations between constitutional state organs but also in disputes between the subjects of the political scene, which is reflected in the targeting of the activities of public authorities according to the will expressed via a referendum. Due to the introduction of the principle of nation sovereignty in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, it seemed that a nationwide referendum was bound to become an important instrument allowing the expression of opinions and formulation of decisions by the sovereign.

On the basis of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the binding effect of the result of the vote in a nationwide referendum depends on attainment the attendance threshold. This threshold was determined as participation in a referendum of more than half of persons entitled to vote. The systemic argumentation in favor of establishing this threshold proves to be weak and unconvincing. The constitutional regulation is characterised in this scope by inconsistency in the form of not covering the constitutional referendum by the requirement of the attendance threshold. Furthermore, the desire to ensure the legal effectiveness of the outcome of the vote in the referendum results in extending time of the vote in the referendum. The conclusion includes the proposal to introduce an amendment to the Constitution consisting in resigning from the threshold in question.

October 15, 2023 – a celebration or failure of direct democracy?

This publication aims to present the most important problems that occurred in connection with the referendum, which, despite numerous voices of opposition, took place on October 15, 2023. It was also the day on which elections to the Sejm and Senate were to be held. Therefore, the authors decided not to refer to or comment on the extensive discussion of doctrinal issues related to the referendum, but to address only the practical dimension of the vote held in order to formulate de lege lata conclusions. The subject of the analysis was the issue of the validity and binding nature of the referendum, as well as the issue of the refusal of the voter to collect the referendum ballot in connection with the implementation of the principle of secrecy of the vote, which provokes many controversial assessments.