EVELINE RUTZ This is far from a few isolated transgressions. It is a shocking case of abusing the system. Entire sheets of signatures were allegedly falsified. This calls into question the legitimacy of popular initiatives, which evidently only came about because of illegal business practices. It also means votes were held that actually should not have taken place. The newspaper “Tages-Anzeiger” reported in September 2024 that signature forgery was suspected to have occurred on a large scale. Companies that collect signatures commercially are in the dock. These professional collectors are mainly used when plans for a popular petition seem destined to fail, i.e. when committees have trouble collecting the required 50,000 or 100,000 signatures within a limited time. Proponents of a civic duty initiative, for example, enlisted professional support in early 2023. They hired Incop, a Lausanne-based provider. Incop reportedly collected 10,000 signatures in a month in return for 4.50 Swiss francs per signature. However, the committee was disappointed when many of the signatures turned out to be false: 35 to 90 per cent per commune had to be discarded. The ratio of invalid signatures is usually about 10 per cent. Systematic falsification on a large scale “At first we thought it was just one collector breaking the rules,” said Noémie Roten, co-president of the initiative, in conversation with the “Tages-Anzeiger”. Over time, however, patterns emerged indicating systematic fraud. The names and addresses were usually accurate – they can be taken from post boxes – but the birth dates did not match. Individual persons were entered up to five times and with different handwriting. In June 2023, the committee reported a criminal offence to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. Since then, it has emerged that this was not a one-off: “Signatures have been invented, falsified or copied on a large scale for many other initiatives and referendums.” In fact, signature creation has become a lucrative business in recent years. Before the pandemic, prices were between 1.50 and 2.50 francs. It has since risen to 7.50 francs per sigSignature fraud shocks Switzerland Thousands of signatures have allegedly been forged to initiate votes. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is taking action against commercial signature collectors. The scandal has rocked trust in direct democracy – and strengthened the case for e-collection. nature, although the collectors receive only a certain proportion of that sum. It was in 2019 that the authorities first became aware of the possibility that fraud was being committed; suspicious activity was initially detected in the French-speaking part of the country, where a number of these companies are based. The canton of Vaud teamed up with other cantons in the west of Switzerland and turned to the Federal Chancellery (FCh). In 2021, Neuchâtel decided to ban commercial signature collection. After the pandemic, instances of irregularities being reported to the FCh kept growing, including from the German-speaking part of the country. Insider criticises lack of action by the authorities The signature fraud impacts central instruments of political co-determiNoémie Roten helped to get the ball rolling – her committee filed a claim for fraud in 2023. Photo: Keystone Collecting signatures for any popular initiative is hard work. Pictured here: activists in Lausanne drumming up support for the Fair Food Initiative, which failed at the ballot box. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / January 2025 / No.1 26 Politics
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