Registration of popular initiatives

Collective petitions (popular initiatives) are registered by the initiators. Initiators may be any person entitled to vote in Liechtenstein.

Initiatives may relate to the constitution or a law. They can be submitted in the form of a simple suggestion (simple initiative) or an elaborated draft (formulated initiative). They can be justified. The inclusion of a withdrawal clause is permissible.

An initiative whose implementation results in either a one-off expenditure of CHF 500,000 or a longer-lasting annual burden of CHF 250,000 for the state, which is not provided for in the Finance Act, must be accompanied by a proposal for coverage.

When submitting a formulated initiative, the legal guidelines must be observed.

Preliminary examination

Initiatives must be submitted to the government for examination and publication. Signatures collected beforehand are not considered.

The government examines whether the initiatives submitted to it comply with the constitution and existing treaties. It forwards its report and submissions to Parliament. Parliament considers the initiative petition at its next session.

If Parliament finds that an initiative complies with the constitution and the existing treaties, it declares it admissible.

Next step: collecting signatures