contents
The rejections of official bills are piling up. Are the Federal Council and Parliament no longer able to convey voting templates in such a way that the voters follow the recommendations of the authorities? Or is there even more politicization that bypasses the people?
In the past, the case for initiatives and referendums was pretty clear: as a rule, it could be assumed that the voters would follow the recommendations of the government and parliament. This has changed significantly in the current legislature.
Increased rejection of official bills – a new phenomenon?
Why are voters no longer following the recommendations from Bern? Political scientist Hans-Peter Schaub sees the main reason for the increased number of government bills rejected in the change in voting citizenship. Many people have been politicized by the pandemic who had previously not regularly voted. They form their opinion relatively independently of authorities and parties and are therefore more willing to vote against their recommendations.
However, Schaub puts it into perspective: the referendum is still being held against only a very small part of the parliamentary resolutions. Most decisions are never made public. And finally, according to Schaub, this development is not new either:
There used to be phases where the authorities often lost.
“This is not the first time in Switzerland’s voting history that we have had a phase like this. There used to be two or three-year phases where the authorities lost just as often or even more often.”
The problem is not necessarily the number of rejections, but the complexity of the templates. Basically, the following applies: the more complex the templates, the more difficult it is for voters to understand what is at stake. And when in doubt, people vote for the status quo.
Basic trust remains high – parties remain relaxed
Could the accumulation of rejection become a problem for the functioning of the Swiss political system? Probably not, says political scientist Hans-Peter Schaub: “Basically, that’s not a problem. Part of it is that the people can say no to individual bills if they don’t agree with parliament. We would have a problem if there were no permanent reforms.”
We would have a problem if no reforms came about in the long term.
Examples of reforms that the authorities have been struggling with for years are old-age provision and the E-ID. Here one could certainly speak of a reform backlog. Ultimately, trust in the Federal Council and Parliament remains intact, despite sometimes loud criticism. According to the CS Worry Barometer, the Federal Council is still a “trust factor in Swiss politics”.
And basically, as the party leaders also agreed on the voting Sunday, an active people that act as a corrective is actually quite positive. An authority is needed that pats the Federal Council and Parliament on the knuckles from time to time.