Bougainville Referendum Explained: Part Seven

The 2014 UNDP Report on Peace and Development notes that the importance of the need for clarity in the question or questions asked cannot be underestimated: It is well understood that, deliberately or by carelessness, how the question is put can affect the result. When Australians were asked about the abolition of the monarchy, it is probable that a majority favoured this step, but the question as framed faced them with a choice about how to replace the British monarch as head of state. This issue divided the republican vote. In Kenya in 2010 the question Do you approve of the proposed constitution? was arguably less clear than one showing that the choice was between the existing constitution and the proposed one.