Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money

by Diccon Bewes

For your average referendum, of which there are lots, a simple majority of the national vote is needed. Popular initiatives rarely manage even this; fewer than 10 per cent pass, making most of them unpopular initiatives. In addition to this electoral majority, all obligatory referenda and popular initiatives also need a cantonal majority. It’s a mechanism to protect the small, and generally more conservative, cantons from being outvoted, but it gives them disproportionate influence. Each canton is equivalent to one vote, so Canton Geneva, with its 200,000 or so voters, is equal to Canton Uri with 25,000. The exceptions are the six half-cantons, which only count as half a vote each, so that even though there are officially 26 cantons, a majority of 12 is needed in a referendum.10 In a close vote this can make all the difference. The irony is that changing this double-majority system requires a constitutional amendment, which needs double-majority approval. Since the small cantons are probably not going to vote for their own emasculation, it’s unlikely to happen.