Pioneers in Switzerland

In Switzerland, democratic instruments first appeared at the cantonal level (cantons are the sovereign entities—sort of like states—that together form the Swiss Federal State) in the 15th century. In the canton of Graubünden, for example, several municipalities were able to buy their freedom from feudal overlords and introduce their own courts. These communities joined together into leagues for mutual defense and local self-determination.

Coat of arms of the “League of God’s House” and the diocese of Chur (Image Credit: © Sidonius)

The “Referendum” Is Invented

These early confederations of communities required inter-regional coordination. Envoys walked from village to village with backpacks full of documents to convey negotiating positions on common issues. The envoys would return with agreements and present them to the citizens of their village for acceptance or refusal. This “bringing back” of the documents is the origin of the term “referendum” (Latin: “re” = “back,” “ferre” = “bring”).

Emblem of the three leagues on a residential building in Valchava, Switzerland (Image Credit: © Adrian Michael)

Switzerland’s First National Referendum

The arrival of French troops in the late 18th century sparked a radical upheaval in Switzerland’s political system. Under Napoleon, the independent cantons were centralized into a republic overseen by France.

Switzerland’s first national referendum was held under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1802, Napoleon organized the first nationwide popular vote in Switzerland. The people were asked to decide on the Second Helvetic Constitution, which was intended to pacify the country; 72,000 people voted in favor of the constitution, 92,000 against it. This count meant the constitution was approved–as Napoleon considered every nonvoting Swiss to be a yes voter (and the majority did not participate in the referendum at all…).

With the “Act of Mediation”, the Swiss cantons got back their autonomy.

Facing a popular backlash after the constitutional referendum, Napoleon backed down. He concluded that centralized government didn’t fit Switzerland. In 1803, he promulgated a new constitution known as the “Act of Mediation,” which returned autonomy to the cantons. The cantons used that autonomy to pursue democracy. In 1830 and 1831, there were democratic revolutions in twelve cantons, with ruling elites replaced by representative democratic institutions.

A Civil War

In 1847, a conflict between the Protestant-progressive cantons and the Catholic-conservative cantons led to a relatively bloodless civil war. To resolve this conflict, the first Federal Constitution was drafted—and put to a popular vote in most Swiss cantons a year later. Each canton had the right to conduct this vote in the way its citizens wanted. With a majority of the cantons and a majority of Swiss citizens saying yes, the constitution was ratified for the entire country. The Swiss have long boasted that this was the only successful democratic “revolution” in Europe. The 1848 federal constitution gave citizens the right to propose full constitutional revisions, and also the right to vote on constitutional amendments proposed by Parliament. (Partial constitutional revisions by initiative were prohibited until 1891.) From the beginning, the Swiss were dissatisfied with their new democracy. The liberal party, which controlled the federal government, rejected proposals to give citizens more ways of participating in decision-making. That changed in 1869, with the rise of a democratic movement that developed a more participatory constitution for the canton of Zurich. This new document established the citizens’ initiative, the legislative referral and the popular referendum, and inspired similar changes in other cantons and at the federal level.

The “Bahnhofplatz” in Zurich around 1900

A New Model of Political Leadership

By the end of the 19th century, Swiss representative democracy contained important tools of direct democracy including:

• The Citizens’ Initiative (1891): The electorate decides on a constitutional proposal authored by a group of citizens once the proposal has received a certain number of signatures (Today the standard is at least 100,000 signatures or 2% of the electorate).

• The Popular Referendum (1874): The electorate decides whether to accept or reject a law adopted by Parliament once the signatures of citizens have been collected. (Today’s standard is 50,000 citizens or 1% of the electorate).

Draft of the Hall of the Dome from 1897.

How to Get Started

Imagine you feel you pay too much to ride the public bus or train. You think that every taxpayer should be able to use the public transportation system for free. One option would be to start a citizens’ initiative. In Switzerland, you have to do several things to get started. First, you have to establish an initiative committee of at least seven people to be allowed to register the initiative at the Federal Chancellery. Then you contact the Federal Chancellery and receive guidelines on how to draft the constitutional amendment you want. Third, you have to register the proposed article in all four national languages–the government can help with translation. Once that is done and the text of your initiative is published in the Federal Gazette, you can start gathering signatures.

A huge effort is needed to find 100’000 signatories in 18 months.

You Can not Do It Alone

You have 18 months to find at least another 100,000 people willing to sign the petition supporting your initiative. As part of the initiative committee, you will be responsible for sending all signature forms to municipalities, whose administrators are responsible for verifying the signatures. Not all signatures will be found valid. As a rule of thumb, you should collect at least 110,000 signatures to be sure you meet the required threshold of 100,000 signatures. When you have the signatures, you submit them to the Federal Chancellery, which is an agency of the federal government. Your initiative is an official federal issue!

A Conversation with Government

The Federal Council, the Swiss central government, has one year to respond to your initiative petition. In most cases, the Federal Council decides it does not like an initiative. In this case, the Parliament has one-and-a-half years to discuss it–and another year to develop a counter-proposal if it wishes. If this happens, you can accept the counter-proposal and withdraw your initiative. Or you go forward–and the government’s counter-proposal appears next to your initiative on the ballot. All the conversation and deliberation throughout this process can take as long as five years.

In these days there are not many voters going to the ballot station—most citizens vote by postal mail and some even on the internet.

The Day of Decision

The government will set the date of the final popular vote on your initiative. The votes can take place as often as four times a year. And initiative and referendum votes do not share the ballot with candidate elections, which follow a different calendar. To win the vote, you need a double majority: a majority of all those voting nationwide and a majority of votes in a majority of cantons. A very high threshold indeed.

It may take up to 57 months from the registration of a citizens’ initiative to the holding of a popular vote.

Popular Control on Lawmaking

The citizens’ initiative at the federal level can be used only to amend the constitution. The initiative may not be used for laws. But citizens also have the final say when it comes to federal laws made by the Swiss Parliament. This is the referendum. In Switzerland, a referendum is triggered if at least 50,000 people request a vote within 100 days of the publication of a new law.

For a referendum, one has to find 50`000 signatories in just 100 days. (Image Credit: © FDFA, Presence Switzerland)

Once enough citizens sign the referendum, it is submitted to the Federal Chancellery. (Image Credit: © FDFA, Presence Switzerland)

Once a referendum is qualified, a law does not take effect until the people have a chance to vote on whether to accept or reject it. In practice, the constant possibility of a referendum makes the Parliament very responsive to citizens’ concerns. The Parliament and the political parties engage the public at the beginning of the legislative process because they prefer to avoid referendums. If the politicians do a good job, a popular referendum can usually be avoided. And, in fact, less than one out of ten federal laws adopted by Parliament is brought to a popular vote.

Building coalitions is essential to winning a referendum vote in Switzerland. (Image Credit: © FDFA, Presence Switzerland)

An Example

On June 8, 2007, the Federal Council proposed to Parliament that machine-readable bio-metric passports be introduced in Switzerland. The two chambers approved the idea, and then drafted and adopted a law in early 2008. A popular referendum was launched against this law by groups of both the left and the right. They feared that the biometric passports would violate privacy and contain too much sensitive information. They gathered enough signatures to ensure the final decision was made by the people. On May 17, 2009, a very small majority of 50.1% of the Swiss voters approved the new law. In fourteen cantons, the majority was against it. But in referendums on federal laws, there is no requirement for a majority of the cantons to approve the law. (This majority of cantons is required only for initiative constitutional amendments). The Swiss government began issuing the new passports in 2010

A referendum vote on an exigent law must be held within one year of the adaption by the government.