ABSTRACT
Regarding the authorities able to be removed through a recall referendum, a study developed by U. Serdult and Y. Welp identified only five countries in the world in which all the elected authorities could be removed by direct recall referendum (Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela and Taiwan). A very particular model is applied in California where the recall referendum takes the form of an election in which the people can decide to remove the authority, and in case of selecting this option also elect the replacement in the same election. In Romania, the recall referendum of president Traian Basescu on 29 July 2012 was called after the impeachment voted by the parliament, and accordingly was an indirect recall. The origins of the institution can be traced back to the Roman Republic, where tribunes were occasionally recalled. Recall can be direct, when activated by signature collection, or indirect, when activated to ratify a removal already decided by the council or parliament.
