2021 Bigician constitutional referendum

A constitutional referendum was held in Bigicia on 26 September 2021, following the 2021 general election and the reform process that started with it. More than 8 million (75%) were in favour, while around 3 million (28.9%) opposed the changes; 60.9% of 18 million eligible voters turned out to vote.

Background
The new constitution was intended to replace the many constitutional laws of the High Council era, the Fundamental Laws of the Realm, and turn Bigicia into a constitutional monarchy by removing many of the King's powers and giving the Parliament a foundation on where to build the democracy and rule of law. The feat of creating a democratic system without breaking the structures of power of the state was made possible by the approval of the Political Reform Act of 2020, passed by the High Council and approved by King Torrhen III as the last Fundamental Law. The new constitution was drafted by a committee of jurists in collaboration with the Minister of Justice Hadiya Sarlamin, the High Magister of Bigicia and it took five months to be completed.

Before the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Gindyr Founrath sent a letter to leaders of parliamentary parties in order to invite them to a consultation on the referendum, the Republicans being the only party to decline the invitation. On 16 September 2021, the common judiciary committees of the two chambers of the Parliament approved the referendum, the Parliament did so the next day in a non-binding vote. Even though the opposition requested several articles to be introduced related to regional autonomy, government MPs disagreed, thus the report was adopted with 259 votes in favour, 9 votes against and 1 abstention.

Support and opposition
The Republican Party announced right after the vote on 16 September 2021 that they'll boycott the referendum, not agreeing with the form of government proposed by the Constitution writers. The Merid-Ciupa Concordat (MCC) was also not pleased with the final form of the Constitution text but stayed neutral and advised its voters to vote 'YES' on the referendum ballot because the kingdom ultimately needs a fundamental law.

Results per region
As expected, many Ciupean minority voters rejected the 2021 Constitution for being tone deaf regarding regional autonomy. The Republican voters boycotted the vote in a large number. Founders and Reform Party strongholds voted for 'YES' in huge numbers.