2016: Year of Shocking Referenda Results

2016 is likely to be remembered as the year of shocking results for national referenda.

One hundred days ago, voters in the UK decided to leave the European Union (EU) in what's come to be called the Brexit referendum. (The vote for withdrawal was a slim majority, 51.9% of the vote.)

Now, voters in Colombia--also my a slim majority, 50.2%--have voted to reject a peace deal with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The deal would have ended the last remaining war in the Western Hemisphere. One article says that in those areas of the country where the casualties have been highest, the vote for peace was over 90%. The referenda has been defeated nonetheless.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]



[The picture is from the cited CNN article. If this attribution is inadequate and posting it violates copyright law, I will pull it down. But I think it well evokes the emotions associated with the Colombian vote. The woman pictured opposed the peace deal and was reacting positively to its defeat.]