We had a situation in the UK where a Prime Minister asked the country a question. The country voted and then the government spent six months and an awful lot of money going from court to court asking how legally binding the country's decision was and whether they could legally ignore it !
In many nations that would have been enough to have seen a public uprising calling for the head of those who were trying to overrule a decision they had made.
It was a clear indication that even western governments can't be trusted with what we call Democracy. A real eye-opening for many who take their freedom of choice a bit too casually !
Self-centred doesn't really cover it ! it was a blatant attempt to change something that had been democratically decided by an entire nation !
Had they been successful, who knows what they might have been able to do in the name of their country ?