It looks as though the attempt to petition the U.K. government to annul the results of the Brexit vote has come to an abrupt halt. The government rejected a petition that called for the results of the referendum if turnout was less than 75 percent or the result was not decided by at least 60 percent of the vote. On June 23, the U.K. voted "leave" by a 52 to 48 percent margin. Turnout was 72 percent.
The government has to issue a response to all petitions that receive over 100,000 signatures. The petition to annul the results received over 4.1 million signatures. Ironically, the petition was created prior to election day by a "leave" supporter.
In the Foreign Office's official response to the petition stated that no thresholds for victory nor turnout were ever in the terms of the original referendum, and thus, the result is valid and must be respected.
The Foreign Office said: “The EU Referendum Act received Royal Assent in December 2015. The Act was scrutinised and debated in Parliament during its passage and agreed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Act set out the terms under which the referendum would take place, including provisions for setting the date, franchise and the question that would appear on the ballot paper. The Act did not set a threshold for the result or for minimum turnout.
“As the Prime Minister made clear in his statement to the House of Commons on 27 June, the referendum was one of the biggest democratic exercises in British history with over 33 million people having their say.
“The Prime Minister and Government have been clear that this was a once-in-a-generation vote and, as the Prime Minister has said, the decision must be respected. We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the Government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations.”
Good. Democracy isn't about do-overs if an election doesn't go the way a person wants. Turnout was very high and people voted in a fair and free election. There's not much else to say.
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