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Switzerland's direct democracy system - Coggle Diagram
Switzerland's direct democracy system
Switzerland has a population of 8.2 million people
24% are foreign nationals, spread across 26 cantons
The fundamental principle of direct democracy is that all citizens take part in decision-making and there’s a strong respect for minorities
Unfortunately, this wasn’t extended to women, who were not given the vote until 1971 (and even until 1991 in the case of one canton)
The Swiss political scene is dominated by four main parties
the Swiss People’s Party
the Social Democrats
the Liberals
the Christian Democratic Party
In recent years, the Green Party has emerged, as well as a small number of minority parties
The “Anti PowerPoint Party”, for example, was a political party in Switzerland that worked to decrease the use of PowerPoint in professional presentations
They claimed that PowerPoint software was economically harmful
Popular votes can be held up to four times a year
The Federal Council decides a couple of months in advance which proposals will be voted on and releases the dates of the votes even earlier.
Currently all the dates have been fixed from now until 2034
Back story
The democratic roots of Switzerland travel in many directions and cross several centuries
During the Renaissance, humanists striving for freedom from Rome offered different interpretations to religion that were closer to the needs of people and political independence.
The three main reformist streams
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Ulrich Zwingli
John Calvin
show the roots of direct democracy in the country’s religious past, as they veer from an intransigent theology to an open and humanistic outlook.
Centuries later, Friedrich Schiller celebrated the fight for Swiss independence from foreign occupiers in his masterpiece William Tell, which underpins a bottom-up democracy
Meanwhile, some cantons such as Ticino decided to join the Confederation just to enjoy religious freedom after the Napoleonic wars
Switzerland’s Federal Constitution was completely changed in 1874
The importance of the cantons was lessened in favor of the country’s central administration
People moving between cantons were given full voting rights after three months, which was beneficial to those moving from rural areas to big cities at the time, and referendums at a federal level were introduced
The revision of the constitution had to be voted on too, of course, and was approved with 63% of the vote
Instrument of direct monarchy
There are three instruments of direct democracy,
mandatory
popular initiative
optional
A vote must be held on any amendment to the constitution resulting in a mandatory referendum
A double majority, meaning the consent of a majority of the people and of the cantons is required to amend the country’s constitution
Citizens can launch a popular initiative to demand a change to the constitution
Any Swiss citizen who is eligible to vote can sign a popular initiative and a group of at least seven citizens (the initiative committee) can launch their own popular initiative
Before a vote is held on a popular initiative, the initiative committee must collect 100,000 valid signatures in favour of the proposal within a period of 18 months.
The Federal Council and Parliament will recommend whether the proposal should be accepted or rejected
For the proposal to be accepted a double majority is needed
If it is accepted, new legislation or an amendment to existing legislation is normally required to implement the new constitutional provision.
Popular initiatives were introduced at federal level in 1891
Two hundred popular initiatives have been voted on since then, but only 22 have been accepted
n 2016, a popular initiative to give everyone in the country a basic income made it to the referendum stage, but was rejected by 76.9% of voters
A popular initiative proposing six weeks of holiday a year for workers was also rejected at the polls
One of the closest votes in recent history was in 2002 in a popular initiative referendum, started by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party
Less than 50.1% of voters rejected proposals to curb the number of asylum seekers entering the country – just 3,000 more than those who were in favor of the initiative
Power to the people
While parliament passes new legislation and amendments to existing legislation, citizens can call for a referendum on new laws and against certain international treaties. This right to request an optional referendum is an important element in Swiss direct democracy
For such a referendum to be held, either eight cantons must request it (this is a cantonal referendum) or 50,000 signatures from eligible voters must be collected within 100 days.
The new law comes into force if a majority of those voting say yes (a simple majority). If the majority vote no, the current law continues to apply
This type of referendum was introduced in 1874. Since then, 180 optional referendums have been held, 78 of which have been unsuccessful
Roughly 65% of Swiss citizens are satisfied with their government, according to Cheryl A. Fain’s book Modern Direct Democracy in Switzerland and the American West. Nevertheless, according to Idea International, Swiss voter turnout in 2015 amounted to just 48.4% of the eligible electorate
Stefan Rey, from the Institute of Political Science at Zurich University, claims that democracy gives people more satisfaction, even if they don’t exercise their rights
Direct democracy has a curious effect on voter turnout – it seems the more of a voice people have, the less often they turn out to vote