In brief
Faroese constitutional referendum unlikely to be held in the short term
Vote was foreseen in 2018, parties unable to agree on wording of legislative text
One of the problems while discussing the text was how to set the Faroese constitution in agreement with the Danish Constitution.
Passing its own Constitution would have opened the legal door for Faroese independence from Denmark.
With a Faroese parliamentary election being scheduled for summer 2019 at the latest, not enough time is now left to agree on the text and to call the vote.
The Faroese government is currently made up by two pro-independence parties (Republic and Progress) plus a third one which supports continued ties with Denmark (Social Democratic Party). Republic leader Høgni Hoydal said ensuring enlarged self-government for the Faroe Islands will be one of his party’s priorities for the next legislative term. On the other hand, social democratic voters are quite divided over the need to change the current status quo.