ABSTRACT

The recall referendum is defined as a procedure that allows the voters of a given unit to remove an elected official from office before his or her term is complete (Bowler, 2004). Recall can be defined as a mechanism of direct democracy (MDD), a set of procedures allowing citizens to make political decisions directly through a vote beyond regular elections. The vote can be prescribed by a constitution or a law and, thus, be mandatory; it can be triggered without the collection of signatures by the authorities in power, be it a parliament, a government, or often a president (known as “top-down”); or it can depend on a collection of signatures (known as “bottom-up”) (Serdült and Welp, 2012).