Initiative: In favour of fair traffic financing Currently, not all of Switzerland’s fuel tax is allocated to improving and expanding Switzerland’s infrastructure, some of it flows into the overall Federal budget. Restricting fuel taxes to the road The Swiss People’s party (UDC/SVP) along with representatives from a broad selection of parties and interest groups, want all tax gained […]
Swiss vote on designer baby controversy
The Swiss Evangelical People’s Party (EVP/PEV) has launched an initiative to counter the law on reproductive medicine, which allows all embryos fertilised outside the uterus (in-vitro) to be genetically tested. Under the law, the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) on foetuses in-vitro is possible for carriers of genetically inherited disorders and for patients undergoing regular fertility treatment […]
Free legal advice for asylum seekers. Naive or sensible?
With amendments to asylum law, the Swiss government aims to speed up the asylum process, cut costs and ensure a fairer process for asylum seekers. Current asylum claims can last up to 400 days. The revision sets to cap this at a maximum of 100 days and 140 days in exceptional cases. During this period, asylum […]
Should Swiss families get CHF 75,000 a year to do nothing?
A mixed group of intellectuals, artists and activists are behind the initiative to give an unconditional basic income to every Swiss resident, regardless of whether they work. Supporters say monthly payments of CHF 2,500 CHF for each adult and CHF 625 per child, would enable us to cover our basic living costs and allow us to live […]
New tax to pay for new minimum Swiss income?
20 Minutes. According to 20 Minutes, those behind this June’s vote proposing a minimum income, have come up with a new way to fund it. They want a tax on electronic transactions. The initiative calls for an unconditional minimum monthly income of CHF 2,500 for each adult and CHF 625 for each child. The projected annual cost […]
Making foreigners feel unwelcome in Switzerland. It was worse in the 1970s.
A documentary, called The Schwarzenbach Years (Les Années Schwarzenbach), recounts Swiss disdain for foreigners in the 1970s. Clear parallels can be seen between then and now. The film will be shown at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva on 9 March 2016 at 14:30. Last weekend Last Sunday, close to 59% of Swiss voters rejected […]
After the vote the UDC poster with the black and white sheep gets a makeover
As the Swiss referendum to automatically expel foreign criminals looks set to fail the hashtag #happysheeps has sprung up on Twitter. Here is a selection of Tweets: Quand Twitter se moque de la défaite de l’#UDC #CHvote #UDC > Tous les #happysheeps https://t.co/68pQzov0Pa pic.twitter.com/osLumuPC7T — Le Matin (@Lematinch) 28 février 2016 Résultats acruels du #CHvote […]
Counting the votes. Swiss vote results 28 February 2016.
The votes have been counted. The Swiss Statistics Office charts below show results by canton and district. To display the percentage results for a canton or district click on it. The charts can be switched from canton to district by clicking on the dropdown menu in the top right of each chart. The initiatives to […]
Helping a few at the expense of many – Swiss vote against penalising marriage
The Christian Democratic People’s party (PDC) is the party behind the initiative: “In Favour of Marriage and Family – Against the Marriage Penalty”, which will be voted on this Sunday 28th February. The initiative’s negative overtones towards same-sex couples, as well as its shortcomings, make it hard to support. However, it might help to ignite […]
The referendum that could force commodity traders to leave Switzerland
Farmers worldwide pre-settle food prices with buyers to avoid the risk of being saddled with their harvest with no one to sell it to. This should remain the case, according to the JUSO (Young Swiss Socialists) party. However, with their initiative: ‘Ban on Food Speculation’, the party aims to ban institutional investors from trading in […]
