2019 Uruguayan constitutional referendum
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Do you vote YES on the Constitutional Reform project that encourages the law to regulate night searches by judicial order; that those who were sentenced for certain crimes must serve the sentences in their entirety; establishes the penalty of permanent reclusion before the commission of certain serious crimes that may be reviewed by the Supreme Court after 30 years of imprisonment and creates the National Guard with powers and duties of public security? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Uruguay portal |
The 2019 Uruguayan constitutional referendum, officially referred to as the referendum for constitutional reform on security matters (Spanish: plebiscito de reforma constitucional en materia de seguridad), took place alongside general election of that year, on 27 October 2019, to ask the electorate whether a constitutional reform in public security should be approved. The proposed amendments to the Constitution would create a national guard, forbid early release for some serious crimes, introduce life sentences for crimes of rape, sexual abuse or homicide of minors as well as aggravated homicide of adults, and allow the police to conduct night raids.[1][2] The referendum resulted in 46.8% of the votes cast in favor of amending the Constitution; however, not reaching the necessary 50%, the amendment was not approved, being rejected by 53.7% of the votes.[3]
Following a call by Senator Jorge Larrañaga, a movement to collect signatures was organized under the slogan "Vivir sin Miedo"(Spanish for "Living without fear"), with the aim of making changes to the public security legislation. Finally, enough people signed the proposal and the Electoral Court validated it. The most notable aspects of the proposed reform are summarized below:[4]
- Creation of a National Guard (military) with members of the Armed Forces,
- Compliance with sentences (prohibition of early release for certain serious crimes),
- Reviewable life sentence
- Night raids (currently, the Uruguayan Constitution only allows daytime raids even with a court order).
The proposal was very controversial.[5] The validation of the referendum was a few months before the presidential primaries were held — in which its promoter, Jorge Larrañaga, barely received 78,450 votes and was third in the National Party.[6] Because of this, many candidates strongly objected to the initiative. Furthermore, the Institute of Human Rights came to question the validity of the initiative itself.[7]
