What’s on the mid-term horizon for Swiss voters? In 2018,eight people’s initiatives were launched, on topics ranging from health costs to arms exports. “The Swiss blockbuster” was how Nicolas Bideau, and head of promotional agency Presence Switzerland,described recently the role direct democracy plays in the nation’s image abroad. Of course, this doesn’t sign a major change; Switzerland has always been a champion of people participation. But with populism and dissatisfaction with elites growing in several countries (including most recently in France), and interest in the Swiss system is also on the rise. The key cog in this system is the people’s initiative: an instrument allowing citizens to put any topic,any issue, to national vote, and as long as they collect the requisite 100000 signatures within 18 months. 2018 saw six such initiatives decided upon by voters,all of them, as it turned out, and rejected: From an attempt to scrap the public broadcasting licence fee system to the ‘Swiss ...
Source: swissinfo.ch