In Switzerland, religion is a cantonal matter. Cantons decide on the relationship between religion and politics. This has created a patchwork of different systems across Switzerland. In April 2018, the government of Geneva introduced new rules designed to further protect religious freedom and preserve religious neutrality in its public institutions, known as laïcité or secularity laws. Laïcité […]
Swiss democracy continues to suffer from low participation
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2018 Democracy Index classified only 20 out of 165 countries as having fully functioning democracies in 2018. 14 were in Europe. Globally, democracy remained stable in 2018 according to the report. Only 4.5% of the world’s population (12% of countries) lives in a fully functioning democracy. Overall, the ranking shows a […]
Swiss to vote on gun law changes
After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, the EU decided to tighten firearms laws in member states and nations with EU agreements, such as Switzerland. Unhappy, a group of gun owners decided to launch a referendum against the pending changes. According to the organizers, the required number of 50,000 signatures has been presented […]
Break-away Swiss town likely to revote
After the town’s current administration declared the 2017 vote result, dubbed “Mouxit”, invalid last week, a tripartite gathering of town leaders and representatives from the cantons of Bern and Jura, convened to look into the issue, according to RTS. Last week, the 18 June 2017 referendum result was deemed invalid based on allegations including propaganda, […]
Swiss vote results on self-determination, cow horns and welfare fraud – 25 November 2018
Today, Swiss voters voted on self-determination, cow horn and welfare fraud investigation initiatives. Both the self-determination and cow horn votes were rejected by 66.2% and 54.7% of voters respectively. Majorities in all cantons voted against the self-determination initiative. While most cantons were against providing extra financial support to farmers keeping livestock with horns, five cantons had majorities in favour of it. The cantons of […]
Swiss law, not foreign judges vote
This vote, also known as the Self-determination initiative, goes before Swiss voters on Sunday 25 November 2019. It aims to fundamentally change the way Switzerland deals with conflicts between its constitution and the nation’s web of international agreements. If accepted, Swiss constitutional law would trump any conflicting international law or agreement. This would mean that […]
Swiss cow horn vote this weekend
This Sunday, Swiss voters will decide whether farmers who leave horns on livestock should get an additional subsidy from Switzerland’s taxpayers. The initiative does not aim to ban horn removal. The share of hornless cows and goats has increased over the last twenty years to around three quarters of cows and a third of goats. […]
Swiss town’s vote to leave canton invalidated
In 2017, 51.7% of voters in Moutier, a French-speaking Swiss town of around 7,000 people, voted to leave the predominantly German-speaking canton of Bern and become part of the canton of Jura, a process expected to be completed by 1 January 2021. In Switzerland, changing canton is a big deal involving changes in tax rates, […]
New Swiss broadcasting fee starts next year
After a referendum in March 2018 threatened to axe Switzerland’s costly broadcasting fee, the government put forward a counter proposal, which was adopted when 71.6% of voters voted to keep the fee. On 1 January 2019, the lower fee contained in the government’s plan will come into force. Next year, instead of CHF 451, each […]
Investigating suspected welfare cheats – Swiss vote on where to draw the line
On 25 November 2018, Swiss will vote on whether to accept laws allowing detectives to uncover welfare fraud. Currently, there is nothing specific in Swiss law covering the practice. In the past, investigators have been used to gather evidence on disability and accident beneficiaries. Between 2009 and 2016, detectives were used on around 220 investigations […]
