Who’s afraid of a referendum? Italy faces one in December, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy has promised two if he wins the presidential election next year, but as the recent shock votes in Britain, Colombia and Hungary show, the risks are high.
In London, ex-prime minister David Cameron hoped to use a popular vote on whether Britain should remain in the European Union to rein in a belligerent anti-EU wing of his own Conservative Party – but it spectacularly backfired.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had no better luck, calling a referendum this month on a historic peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), only to see it rejected by voters.
 Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban also bet and lost: his anti-migrant referendum was declared invalid after failing to obtain the necessary turnout.
 But with more than 98% of those who did cast their ballots saying “No” to an EU migrant quota plan, he could spin it as a victory of sorts.
 Switzerland seems to be exception that proves the rule, with its citizens voting every three months on popular initiatives, presented by parties or citizen groups, and referendums put forward by the state.
In cases like Italy, referendums are seized as a chance for a protest vote, according to political scientists. They are seen as an opportunity for people to vent.
Sarkozy has been accused of hoping to exploit that fact to revive his flagging campaign by cashing in on the emotionally-charged issues of immigration and Islam with his proposed referendums.
 Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is well aware of the dangers he faces with his December 4 ballot on constitutional reform, aimed at streamlining the political system and increasing government stability.
 Having said months ago that he would resign if voters reject the reform, he is now scrambling to insist it is not a personality contest.
 “I know I’m not the most likeable person in the world,” he admitted in a television interview last week. “But voters who cast their ballots based on likeability clearly have little interest in the good of the country.”
 It may be too little, too late.
 “Renzi is running a risk. He was counting on using the referendum to consolidate his political power, but his wavering – presenting it as a vote on his fate, then back-peddling – is harming him,” says Domenico Fracchiolla from Rome’s Luiss University.
 There are few referendums in which voters actually answer the question posed, and Italy is no exception, commentators say.
 “The December 4 vote is not about constitutional reform, an issue most Italians know nothing about,” according to La Stampa daily.
 “The real question, the one they’ll be answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to, is: “Do you still have more faith in Renzi than in his opponents?”