Recall is the name given to an instrument by which a specified number of citizens can demand a vote of the electorate on whether an elected holder of public office should be removed from that office before the end of his/her term of office. Combining elements of the initiative instrument and a normal candidate election, a recall initiative is launched when a recall motion is filed with the relevant administration. Proponents are then required to gather a specified number of signatures in support of the recall measure. Typically, the number of signatures required will be a proportion of the votes cast for the officer who is the subject of the recall at the last ordinary election to that office. If and when the recall petition acquires enough valid signatures, the issue is put to voters at a ballot to determine firstly, whether or not the officer in question should be recalled and secondly, who should replace the officer if the recall measure is successful.
The recall mechanism is the least common of the three direct democracy mechanisms. Although many US states include provisions for the recall in their constitutions, the mechanism is not used at national level in the US. Provision for the recall mechanism outside the US and at national level is rare, even in countries where direct democracy is widely used (e.g., Switzerland). Having said this, however, in 2004 Venezuela held the first ever presidential recall.
There are sometimes limits on when a recall can proceed – e.g., not in the first or last year of a term – and on who is eligible to vote in the recall; in Colombia, only those individuals who voted in the original election are eligible to vote in any recall.
