La evolución de la jurisprudencia constitucional en materia de referendos autonómicos

Abstract

This article analyses the evolution of the Spanish Constitutional Court case law in relation to regional referendums throughout the last decade. The main rulings on this issue are considered here, from the 103/2008, on the notorious Ibarretxe case, to the recent one 51/2017, which annuls the Catalonian Law on popular consultation processes adopting the form of referendums. The writer critically examines the arguments on which these rulings are based, paying special attention to the changes that the Constitutional Court doctrine has experienced and arguing in favour of the Autonomous Communities ruling over referendums by which they can gather the opinion of the population on matters within their competences. Finally, essential drawbacks of calling for a secession referendum under the current constitutional law are also discussed.

Keywords

• direct democracy
• secession
• popular consultation
• self-determination
• regional referendum
• citizen engagement