Licence fee vote: 50.09 percent to scrap it, but it legally binds no one

Austrian public broadcaster ORF reports that on Sunday the Slovenian people voted to abolish the RTV fee, the mandatory contribution that funds public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, with barely 50.09 percent of the vote. That backs the proposal of the centre-right government, which stems from an initiative by the pro-Russian, populist party Resnica (Truth), ORF reports.

The result is tight, so actual abolition is uncertain, according to ORF. The referendum is not legally binding. If the government did abolish the fee by law, ORF estimates a new referendum could follow, in which supporters of the fee would have the same chances of success. Polls had in fact predicted a clear majority for abolition.

At 9.18 in the morning, Kleine Zeitung published a piece titled "Tight race" and wrote that abolition of the fee had been narrowly rejected in Sunday's referendum, but that postal ballots had not yet been counted. By 9.59, ORF was already reporting a majority for abolition with 50.09 percent. Two Austrian outlets thus reported opposite results within a little over an hour, which shows how thin the margin was.

The fee referendum was not the only one. The government of Prime Minister Janez Janša called it together with referendums on two other proposals, in order to prevent the success of an opposition referendum on changes to procedures at parliamentary inquiry committees, writes ORF. In ORF's assessment, it did not succeed: the law was rejected with 51.13 percent of the vote. Turnout reached a record 55 percent. Kleine Zeitung notes that Slovenia held four referendums on Sunday.

The leader of The Left (Levica) and former culture minister Asta Vrecko assessed the outcome as follows:

"Half of Slovenian women and men said today that they still want to keep receiving the bill." (translated)

According to ORF, besides the left-wing opposition, numerous non-governmental organisations and journalists' associations also campaigned to keep the fee. Slovenia is the third European country to vote on a broadcasting fee, ORF adds. Similar attempts in Slovakia and Switzerland failed.

For the reader who pays the bill: according to Austrian sources, nothing changes for now as a result of Sunday's vote. What the government will do is not stated in the sources.