Switzerland is often cited as an example by supporters of referendums. However, according to a media investigation, illegal practices were applied more than once: for example, with forged signatures.
A scandal has rocked Switzerland - the country that takes so much pride in its direct democracy. In early September, an investigation by the Swiss media group Tamedia revealed massive fraud in the collection of signatures for referendums. And mostly from companies that work for initiative committees, informs the German public television ARD.
Before a political project can be voted on in Switzerland, 100,000 signatures must be collected - from citizens with the right to vote, written by hand and on paper. "Collecting signatures is an extremely difficult task," says Noemi Roten. 35-year-old Rothen is the director of the Service Citizen initiative: she and her team want, through a referendum, to replace military service for men with community service for all.
Lists with up to 70% fake signatures
"In the beginning we also started a little naively, as a small initiative committee. We thought that our motivation and our voluntary commitment were enough to cope,'' recalls Roten. "But after six months of collecting signatures, we just had to admit we needed help!"
Noemi Roten and her initiative discover the "necessary help" in the person of the company Incop from Lausanne - one of about a dozen providers of this type of service in Switzerland, says ARD. The company even promised to take care of the necessary verification of the signatures in the municipalities. "We agreed on 4.50 francs for a valid and certified signature," says Rothen.
Instead, however, the company delivered stacks of signature sheets, up to 70% of which turned out to be invalid. Because the addresses of the alleged signatories did not exist, the people did not have Swiss citizenship, were minors, had moved or died. In June 2023, a complaint was filed in the case with the General Prosecutor's Office, says the 35-year-old Swiss woman, quoted by ARD.
Fraud in over 10 referendums?
Then it became clear that the prosecutor's office had already investigated several similar cases. About a dozen popular initiatives are suspected of using fraudulent methods. For example, the so-called The "Blackout Initiative", which calls for Switzerland to return to nuclear power, also used the services of the Lausanne-based firm in question. There were also many signatures for the "Initiative to ban the import of foie gras". This is suspicious, since foie gras is a popular delicacy in the French-speaking part of the country.
Now the Greens in the Swiss Parliament are calling - not for the first time, however - for a ban on services for collecting signatures for commercial purposes, informs ARD.
"Our pride has a flaw"
Greta Gizin from the Greens says that there have been similar cases before. "I still think so: it is more urgent than ever to ban this practice," said Gizin, who chairs the Political Affairs Committee of the upper house of the Swiss parliament, where her proposal, however, did not receive a majority. The argument for refusal: to wait for the results of the investigation.
"Direct democracy, our pride and joy, has a defect", the Swiss "Tagesanzeiger" wrote in this connection. "If trust is lost, we will no longer be able to maintain this system, which is based on so many informal rules and traditions," says Greta Gisin of the Greens, quoted by ARD.