The popular initiative for the removal from office of the Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, got the final go-ahead, after the confirmation of 1.7 million signatures collected by the promoters of the popular initiative. Californian law provides for the possibility of calling on popular initiative an election for removal from the governor’s office, which however requires the collection of at least 1.49 million signatures. The local press reports that just 43 signatures out of more than 1.7 million were found to be irregular at the end of a verification process that lasted over a month: the completion of this step will necessarily lead to elections by the end of 2021.
According to the latest opinion polls conducted in the state, most voters support the removal of the Democratic governor.
Newsom has seen its popularity plummet over the course of its tenure: first as a result of policies that have helped to lower the standard of living and urban decay in the major centers of California; then with a response to the pandemic centered on drastic distancing policies social and closure of entrepreneurial activities, which the governor has however personally violated on more than one occasion. And finally, due to administrative scandals like the billion-dollar unemployment benefit fraud that surfaced in the state earlier this year.
Newsom’s initiative is the second of its kind successfully undertaken in California history: in 2003 a similar initiative led to the removal from office of then Governor Gray Davis, succeeded by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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