■ Authority to initiate constitutional amendment procedure

Who should be allowed to initiate a constitutional amendment?

(a) Parliamentary Initiative

In line with the first denominator, the right to initiate a constitutional amendment procedure is generally vested with the national legislature. Nevertheless, constitutions vary greatly with regard to the threshold within parliament: In some constitutions, a single member might initiate the process, in others a certain percentage of members is required (ranging from 5% - 50% + 1 vote). A further additional approach is to allow parliamentary parties to introduce an initiative, regardless of whether they would otherwise meet the percentage-threshold. The decision which option to prefer might be interlinked with the way parliamentarians are elected. It could be based on whether a member had been directly and individually elected to represent his / her constituency or whether members have been taken from the respective party lists. 

(b) Additional Initiators

Quite a number of constitutions do not restrict the right of initiative to the national legislature or parts thereof, but also allow the executive to initiate the process. Including the executive straight might promote transparency, and does not require it to convince aligned members of parliament to start the process. The downside of such an extension of initiators might be that the executive is more tempted to present a ready made draft to be quickly channelled through parliament. In some countries, the people can initiate an amendment procedure if a certain number so requests. Such an inclusion assists the idea of having the constitution as a living document, being open to consider the people’s concerns. Since a successful initiation requires a certain amount of prior campaigning, it also might serve as an early seismograph on people’s ideas. 

In federal states, a representative organ of the sub-unit(s) also generally has the right to suggest amendments, be it through the 2nd legislative chamber at the national level, be it through one or more parliaments from the sub-units.   

See the supplement for

Provisions on the Initiative to Amend the Constitution