Two ways to reach a popular decision There are two ways to initiate a nationwide vote in Switzerland; either via popular initiative, or via referendum. A popular initiative is when someone wants to enshrine a new idea in the constitution. This is contingent on collecting 100,000 valid signatures from eligible voters within 18 months. Once this has been done, there is a popular vote. A referendum occurs when someone wishes to amend or repeal a parliamentary decision. This also entails a popular vote. A referendum requires 50,000 signatures within 100 days. (ERU) camp. “There would be more control over the content,” says Amelle Ako from the civic movement Campax. No more sheets of paper would have to be sent by post and laboriously checked. The whole process would become simpler, argues the campaign boss of Campax. The Federal Council has addressed the opportunities and risks of e-collecting. It wants to enable restricted, practical attempts and has commissioned a pre-project to that end. This scandal is a boon to those who favour a purely digital solution. “E-collecting can restore faith in the proper application of political rights,” says Ako. nation. Hence the size of the resulting fallout, with talk of “a politicaldemocratic earthquake” and a “massive loss of confidence”. “The dimensions are shocking”, says Daniel Graf of the Foundation for Direct Democracy. There had been indications Swiss Green Party. “Being paid per signature is a strong incentive to cheat.” All you have to do is write down names from post boxes to earn a lot of money in a few minutes. “It is a problem – and it could be changed by paying an hourly rate, for example.” The real victims of this behaviour becoming public knowledge are those who volunteer to collect signatures. People on the street are now more mistrusting of them. “We used to get 20 to 30 signatures per hour; now, we only get 10 to 15.” Daniel Graf can relate to that. “Many people aren’t sure whether they have signed with an engaged member of the public or a paid collector – and they don’t know what will happen with their data.” When the legal grounds are lacking to fight the abuse effectively, the commercialisation aspect must be banned. “We shouldn’t forget what makes our direct democracy strong: voluntary engagement.” Self-regulation instead of laws Politicians have steered clear of a ban until now. The Federal Chancellery now wants to act. It wants to strengthen monitoring and control, is counting on self-regulation and has initiated a permanent exchange among all the parties involved. They are to put together a code of conduct by spring 2025. Parliament will also discuss more stringent requirements for commercial providers, a ban and a duty of disclosure for committees. Members of parliament across the political spectrum are also proposing the launch of a pilot e-collecting scheme. This would involve using the e-ID trust infrastructure, which will be available for test purposes from 2025. Digital collection can substantially increase security when providing signatures, argues the e-signature Daniel Graf of the Foundation for Direct Democracy calls it a “democratic earthquake”. Photo: Keystone of manipulation by commercial firms for some years. “But I assumed they were isolated instances, which – if necessary – would be subject to criminal proceedings.” But the cantonal departments and the FCh missed the chance to combat the misconduct early and effectively. No results were falsified The businesspeople involved stand accused of electoral fraud. This is a serious offence and can lead to a fine or a custodial sentence of up to three years. However, the cases in question do not actually involve falsified results. It is possible that popular petitions were illegitimately put to the vote. Nonetheless, the voters had the last word, as ever. “No bill that the people didn’t actually want was accepted,” as political scientist Michael Hermann puts it. No ballot or voting papers were tampered with, so no results were falsified. “That would have been much more serious.” The current system facilitates fraudulent conduct, argues Rahel Estermann, General Secretary of the Swiss Review / January 2025 / No.1 27
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