For most, it’s déjà vu: after 2021, Swiss voters are voting for a second time on a law to implement a system of electronic proof of identity on September 28.
The original proposal was turned down as it raised concerns regarding data security. The strongest criticism was that the system would be run by private enterprise. This argument has been overcome in the new bill, which suggests a system fully controlled by the public sector.
The law on e-ID has wide popularity among the citizens: 59% of the Swiss are favorable to it, and 38% are opposed, as indicated by the second survey about the matter ordered by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and carried out by gfs.bern in September.
Further, 3% of respondents declared that they still did not know how they would vote.
Swiss citizens elect on matters of national concern a maximum of four times a year. The e-ID bill had both houses of parliament approve it with a broad majority. It is endorsed by the Federal Council and all the governing parties except the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. But one committee opposing it raised the issues that privacy could not be ensured and that the e-ID infrastructure might be exploited to create social credit systems, as in other nations. They specifically said China. The committee mustered more than 50,000 signatures for a referendum against the legislation, and for that reason, it is left to the ballot box. Will homeowners eliminate the rental-value tax?
The second vote this weekend is for a bill that targets the reform of home ownership taxes. Parliament wants to scrap a tax that owners must pay on properties they reside in (imputed rental-value tax). To achieve this, the cantons would be, in the spirit of a compromise, reimbursed with an optional new second-home tax.
Since the implementation of the new tax requires a modification in the Swiss constitution, citizens need to vote for it. Most of the people and cantons must support it in order for it to be passed.
Surveyors view this question as too close to call. The second survey revealed that approval had fallen significantly since the initial survey, from 58% to 51%. Approval among the Swiss Abroad is also lower, standing at 49%. A total of 4% of those surveyed remain undecided.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the centre-right Centre Party, and the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party support the reform. Also, the two parliament chambers and the Federal Council advise in favor of a yes. They view a balanced reform toward a simpler, balanced system.
Opponents like the left-wing Social Democratic Party as well as the Green Party fear the reduction in tax income. The Swiss Tenants’ Association – with more than half the population as members – contends that in the new regime, tenants would fare worse than owners.
Just like the vote on e-ID, the repeal of the rental-value tax has also been a matter of past votes, such as the 1999 vote on the popular initiative “Home ownership for all” and the 2004 referendum on the “2001 fiscal package”. Both led to a negative answer on the repeal of the imputed rental-value tax.
Not all who reside in Switzerland have the right to vote on September 28. Swiss citizens aged more than 18 years and not under the wardship of another are allowed to vote on the national level. The voters can cast their votes either through a postal ballot or by voting in person at the polling booth. Foreigners have to register. In total, approximately 5.5 million people in general are eligible to vote. This accounts for less than two-thirds of the approximately nine million people in the country.
Citizens of Switzerland who are not Swiss nationals have no vote, although they comprise around a quarter of the country.
About half of the eligible voters tend to go to the polls. Between 41% and 57% have voted on average every year over the last decade, the Federal Statistical Office said. In reality, that is roughly 1.5 million votes to secure a victory.
Voters in the canton of Vaud will vote on whether or not non-Swiss residents of the canton can be elected and vote after a stay of merely five years in Switzerland. At present, the waiting time is ten years. The requirement that foreign nationals must have been resident in the canton for a minimum of three years is still kept.
The Swiss housing shortage has led to votes in two cantons.
Geneva will vote on an initiative requesting 10% of the cantonal housing be held by non-profit cooperatives in 2030, versus 5% now. Meanwhile, Bern is casting a ballot on a proposition seeking greater transparency in the renters’ market – requiring landlords to report the former rent when there is a tenant change during periods of low vacancy rates. Such a system is already in place in a number of other cantons, including Basel City, Geneva, Lucerne, and Zurich. There are also votes organized in certain Swiss municipalities and cities this weekend. Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, is just one place where the voters are waiting for the result of a vote on prohibiting leaf blowers.
