Anniversary of the Bavarian Constitution: flagging at the town hall in Sulzbach!

Anniversary of the Bavarian Constitution: flagging at the town hall in Sulzbach!

Today, December 1, 2025, a significant event is being celebrated in Sulzbach-Rosenberg: the anniversary of the referendum on the adoption of the Bavarian Constitution. The occasion is marked by the flagging of the town hall to commemorate a historic moment that took place in 1946 when the Bavarian population voted for moderate regulations in popular legislation. This laid the foundation for direct democracy in Bavaria and increased citizens' participation in political decisions.

The instruments of direct democracy in Bavaria, as enshrined in the Bavarian Constitution of 1946, enable citizens to actively participate in political processes at the state and local level. This legislation provides for popular legislation as a supplement to representative democracy and includes mechanisms such as referendums and referendums that have existed since the Bamberg Constitution of 1919. As Wikipedia makes clear, citizens can even use these instruments to recall the Bavarian state parliament.

Direct democracy in Bavaria

The process of popular legislation in Bavaria is three-stage: First, an application for approval is submitted, followed by a referendum and finally a referendum. To initiate a referendum, at least 25,000 signatures are required and the issue must not concern the state budget. As soon as the referendum is approved, citizens have two weeks to register. If the state parliament rejects the proposed law, a referendum will take place.

For constitutional changes, a quorum of approval of 25% of all citizens entitled to vote applies as de.wikipedia.org as the regulation, which also applies to the dismissal of the state parliament through a referendum. This requires one million signatures and a majority of valid votes in the referendum.

Civic engagement

At the local level, citizens have other instruments at their disposal, including citizens' petitions, referendums, citizens' applications and citizens' assemblies. These regulations were incorporated into the Bavarian Constitution in 1995. The citizens' initiative process is two-stage and typically requires between 3% and 10% of citizens' signatures for approval. From 1995 to 2010 there were 1,694 referendums and 981 referendums in Bavaria, of which around 50% were decided in the spirit of the initiators.

In view of the development of direct democracy in Bavaria since the constitution of 1946, which has included 14 referendums to date - including 10 on constitutional amendments - the importance of these instruments is reaffirmed. The events for the flagging of the town hall in Sulzbach-Rosenberg are a significant step towards active civic engagement.