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2007 Alslandic same-sex Marriage referendum

2007 Alslandic same-sex Marriage referendum
Should the United Provinces of Alsland allow marriage between same-sex couples?
Location	Alsland
Date	15 June 2007 (2007-06-15)
Results Votes % Yes 3,935,311 7001592600000000000♠59.26% No 2,705,508 7001407400000000000♠40.74% Valid votes 6,640,819 7001995600000000000♠99.56% Invalid or blank votes 29,151 6999440000000000000♠0.44% Total votes 6,669,970 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 7,963,944 7001837500000000000♠83.75%
Results by province How the electorate voted, by province. Proportion of the valid poll voting yes:
Source: Alslandic Government

The 2007 Alslandic Same-Sex Marriage referendum took place on 15 June 2007 in Alsland to ask the electorate whether Alsland should legalise same-sex marriages. Prior to the referendum same-sex couples were allowed to enter civil unions and foreign marriages were recognised. The government of Jabik Nieuwenhuis promised a referendum on same-sex marriage in their manifesto for the 2005 legislative election. The referendum resulted in 59.3% of votes being cast in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. The resulting Marriage Act 2007, commonely known as the Metyller Law, was passed nearly unanimously in the Folkssenaat and was signed by head of the Federal Presidency, Onne Monsma on August 11, 2005. The act came into force on November 23 2007 the day after Jabik Nieuwenhuis was removed from office by Onne Monsma. The first same-sex marriage ceremony in Alsland occurred on November 29 2007.

Support and Opposition

Party positions

Position	Political parties
Yes		Worker's Party
		Progressive Alliance
		The Centre
		ASAY
		United Democratic Union
		Greens and Socialists
		Radical
No		Sotirian Union
		Justice Party
		Alslandic Resistance
		National Rally
No official stance		Conservative Party
		Sotirian Democratic Front
		Swathish Movement

Public opinion

Date	Firm	Yes	No	Undecided	Sample size
11–14 June 2007	ANS	55%	42%	3%	1,000
2–8 June 2007	Hjoed	62%	38%	-	1,200
25–30 May 2007	TBD	56%	42%	2%	1,200
26–29 May 2007	Hjoed	60%	40%	-	1,000
19–24 May 2007	TBD	54%	46%	-	1,730
10–14 May 2007	JaAlslân	59%	39%	2%	1,500
2–6 May 2007	Yndyktinkt	66%	30%	4%	1,800
15-20 April 2007	TBD	52%	45%	3%	1,000
4-8 April 2007	TBD	56%	44%	-	1,200
25-27 March 2007	TBD	57%	40%	3%	1,250
20-23 March 2007	Hjoed	60%	40%	-	1,500

Result

National result

2007 Alslandic Same-sex Marriage referendum

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	3,935,311	59.3
No	2,705,508	40.7
Valid votes	6,640,819	99.6
Invalid or blank votes	29,151	0.4
Total votes	6,669,970	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	7,963,944	83.8

Referendum results

Yes: 3,935,311 (59.3%)	No: 2,705,508 (40.7%)
▲

Result by Province

Breakdown of voting by province

Province	Yes		No		Invalid
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Delland	950,928	63.2%	541,668	36%	0.8%
Fawkhamshire	378,737	54.8%	310,315	44.9%	0.3%
Garz	580,737	55.4%	480,104	45.8%	0.8%
Hamptonshire	591,191	61.2%	364,181	37.7%	1.1%
Martiland	284,287	51.8%	260,688	47.5%	0.7%
Middewald	352,279	65.3%	185,040	34.3%	0.4%
Yndyk	378,286	71.3%	149,086	28.1%	0.6%
Zittau	418,866	49.8%	420,592	50%	0.2%

Aftermath

Reactions

Upon the announcement that the yes campaign had won, Premier Jabik Nieuwenhuis said "The message is clear and we as a nation have decided to agree that all humans no matter who they love deserve the same rights as everyone else. I urge both campaigns to come together and work together to pass legislation ensuring same-sex marriage is legalised." Nieuwenhuis later addressed a Yes campaign rally in Yndyk congratulating staff members involved in the campaign.

Head of the Federal Presidency Onne Monsma said "The people and voters have spoken and they have made it quite clear that they wish to legalise same-sex marriage in Alsland. I look forward to working with the legislature to deliver the results of this referendum."

Talk show host Alker Groen proposed to his partner live on air after the results were announced. Groen and his partner converted their civil union to a marriage in December 2007.

Lennard Bernauer who led the No campaign said in a television interview with ANS on the day following the referendum "I'm obviously disappointed with the result but we live in a democratic society and this was a democratic vote. But any law to legalise homosexual marriage must take into account people's religious views, we cannot force churches for example to go against church teachings and practice these acts."

Journalist Gabriel Weiskopf suggested that Zittau should refuse to practice same-sex marriages following the result. Weiskopf said "the voters in Zittau do not agree with same-sex marriage being implemented and [Jabik] Nieuwenhuis should affirm this and allow for the current practice of civil unions for same-sex couples to continue in Zittau." Minister-President of Zittau Konrad Dünhaupt said that the provincial government would respect the referendum result.

The Church of Delland acknowledged the result but reaffirmed it's position that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Reformed Church of Holsteen's Moderator said "The RKH will continue to believe that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman, any changes to the teachings of the church must be voted on by the General Assembly." The Church of Martiland and Lanekirik said "the church is deeply disappointed that the institution of marriage will no longer reflect the Sotirian interpretation that it is between a man and a woman." In 2016 the Church of Martiland and Lanekirik began allowing same-sex marriages.

Criticism

Plans to hold a referendum were criticised by several LGBT rights advocacy groups who called the decision to have the majority vote on the rights of a minority group. During initial debates on holding a referendum, Senator Emo Akkerman who is openly Bisexual said that holding a referendum could set a dangerous precedence for other countries to deny LGBT citizens their rights if a referendum is held. Akkerman voted to hold the referendum during the vote on the issue.

In 2011, Premier Jonathan Fraser criticised the move to hold a referendum saying that the process would have been much faster had the Marriage Act 2007 been voted on in the Folkssenaat where there was overwhelming support for it. Fraser was outed as Gay in 2003 and was one of the most prominent figures within the 'Yes' campaign.

Linkse

The Left De Linkse Die Linke þe Linc Vasak
Abbreviation	L V
President	Jabik Nieuwenhuis
Founder	Jabik Nieuwenhuis
Founded	2022
Preceded by	Workers Party
Newspaper	The Worker
Youth wing	KFJS
Ideology	Democratic Socialism Eco-socialism Factions: Social Democracy
Political position	Left-wing
European Parliament group	Mixed Radical Left
Colours	Red
Folkssenaat	8 / 231
Euclean Parliament	1 / 24
Political parties

The Left Party (Dellish: De Linkse, Weranian: Die Linke, Swathish: þe Linc, Kirenian: Vasak) is a political party in Alsland. It was founded in March 2022 by members of the former Workers Party and defectors from the Progressive Alliance. A Socialist party, it has been described as Left-wing but claims to also represent the Centre-left. In it's political program the party claims to wish to create a Democratic Socialist society and supports the nationalisation of large businesses.

The party has representation in every provincial legislature in Alsland. It has 8 seats in the Folkssenaat and 1 seat in the Euclean Parliament. The party is the direct successor of the Workers Party. Currently 3 of it's Senators and it's 1 MEP defected or were expelled from the Progressive Alliance.

Ideology

The party supports expanding the current welfare state which it claims has been damaged from decades of mismanagement. The party contains a wide variety of ideologies, officially it adheres to a mixture of Social Democracy, Eco-socialism and Democratic Socialism although some minor groups within the party have called for the party to adopt a Left-wing populist platform. The party claims to be the one true party representing the Centre-left following what it calls the Progressive Alliance abandoning the centre-left. After it's founding the party adopted an explicitly Pro-EC position, some members have called for the party to seek membership in the Socialist Alternative for Euclea. Following it's creation the Progressive Alliance said it would attempt to block any attempts of the party to join the SAE. The party has been domestically compared to the Weranian SAPO party. The party opposes the 2022 Deportation powers bill which it has called "explicitly racist", in June 2022 when it was being debated in the Folkssenaat the party ordered it's Senators to walk out in protest.

History

Formation (2022)

The party was formed in March 2022 after the Workers Party dissolved itself. At it's launch conference Jabik Nieuwenhuis was elected as it's interim leader and stated: "Our goal is to give the Alslandic centre-left and left a proper voice in the Folkssenaat that will stand up for all people."