A Democratic Innovation Against Another? Referendum and Sortition in Belgian Parliamentary Debates

Since the 2010s, several Belgian parliaments have begun institutionalizing participatory
democratic mechanisms, most notably sortition—through the creation of deliberative
commissions—and popular votation, supported by the constitutional revision enabling
regional-level popular consultations. These developments raise an essential question about the
relationship between these democratic innovations. This study aims to analyze how
parliamentarians simultaneously engage with the concepts of referendum and sortition in the
course of parliamentary debates surrounding these mechanisms. Do members of parliament
perceive sortition and referendums as mutually exclusive? To what extent do they consider
voting and deliberation compatible, and under which conditions? What legal and institutional
constraints shape the implementation of participatory models that combine deliberative
practices with instruments of popular vote? The central research question can thus be articulated
as follows: how do Belgian parliamentarians oppose or combine sortition and referendums in
parliamentary debates?
Empirically, the research examines parliamentary debates and proposals relating to sortition
and referendums across four legislatures: the Walloon and Brussels Parliaments, which have
been legally empowered to organize non-binding popular consultations since 2014 and have
been institutionalizing sortition since 2019 ; and the Federal House of Representatives and
Senate, where discussions on incorporating random selection into institutional reforms have
emerged since 2013 and where constitutional provisions regarding referendums may be revised.
Through a comparative analysis of these parliamentary initiatives, the article identifies the
democratic imaginaries underpinning the institutionalization of participatory mechanisms. It
demonstrates how references to referendums are strategically mobilized—whether to
legitimize, postpone, or contest the integration of sortition within representative structures.
Ultimately, the findings contribute to broader debates on the reconfiguration of democratic
legitimacy and the evolving interplay between votation, deliberation, representation, and
populism in contemporary governance.