Federal popular initiative "Popular election of the Federal Council"

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The federal popular initiative "popular election of the Federal Council" was one of the in 2010, Swiss People's Party launched (SVP) popular initiative , with the popular election of the Federal Council should be introduced.

The initiative was rejected in the referendum on June 9, 2013 by all cantons and around 76% of the voters.

content

The initiative stipulated that the seven members of the Bundesrat (the federal government) would be elected directly by the people instead of by the United Federal Assembly (the federal parliament), and would continue to be elected for a four-year term. The Federal President (the primus inter pares of the government college ) should now be elected by the Federal Council itself instead of by the Federal Assembly.

The popular election should take place in accordance with the regulation that applies to most cantonal governments , according to the majority system , i. That is, the seven candidates who receive an absolute majority (i.e. more than half) of all votes cast are elected. If seven people do not receive an absolute majority, a second ballot takes place in which the relative majority (i.e. most votes) is sufficient for the election.

For the election, the whole of Switzerland should form an electoral district, i. That is, anyone can vote for candidates from any part of the country. But here are two of the seven seats for candidates in the French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland ( Romandie and Ticino are resident), reserved. If this requirement is not met after a Federal Council election, those candidates from the areas mentioned are considered elected who have achieved the highest geometric mean from the number of votes in Switzerland as a whole and the number of votes in French or Italian-speaking Switzerland on the other. With this, the popular initiative took over the regulation which the constitution of the canton of Bern provides for the occupation of the seat of government reserved for the Bernese Jura .

history

The Swiss people have already rejected the introduction of popular elections for the Federal Council twice:

These two initiatives, which also envisaged an increase in membership from seven to nine, were launched by the Social Democratic Party , the first also by the Catholic Conservatives (today's CVP).

The third initiative presented here was decided on August 22, 2009 by the SVP's assembly of delegates . The initiative text was checked by the Federal Chancellery on January 12, 2010 and the deadline for collecting the 100,000 signatures ran from January 26, 2010 to July 26, 2011. The initiative came about with 108,826 authenticated signatures.

Arguments

Favorable arguments

The initiative committee put forward the following arguments for its initiative:

  • The popular election would expand the people's rights and thus strengthen direct democracy .
  • It leads to more stability and continuity; the fact that Christoph Blocher was voted out of office had shown that the parliamentary election procedure had become unpredictable and non-transparent.
  • It would strengthen the separation of powers and popular sovereignty because the Federal Council would in future be obliged to the people and no longer to parliament.
  • The people could also better control the power of government and administration; From now on, they could no longer allow themselves to disregard voting decisions or not implement initiatives.
  • There were finally transparent and fair rules for the Federal Council elections; tactical parliamentary games would no longer be possible.
  • Well-known, established personalities and career changers would have better chances of being elected; the parliament, on the other hand, would rather choose suitable, moderate candidates.
  • Appropriate representation of the linguistic minorities is guaranteed.

Negative arguments

In its message to Parliament, the Federal Council made the following arguments against the initiative:

  • The Federal Council would no longer be “above politics”. Its members would be perceived more as party political actors. In the interests of their re-election, they would have to cooperate with the media even more than they do today. This could damage the collegial principle .
  • The Federal Assembly would be weakened. If it is composed differently in terms of party politics than the Federal Council, there would be the risk of sterile conflicts of jurisdiction and blockages.
  • Appropriate representation of the regions in the Federal Council is no longer guaranteed, and the large cantons, cities and agglomerations are favored at the expense of rural areas.
  • The national parties that would determine the candidates would gain in weight compared to the cantonal parties , and they would be more dependent on their sponsors .
  • The members of the Federal Council would be heavily burdened by the election campaign, which could have a negative impact, especially in crisis situations.
  • The quota of two seats for Latin Switzerland is unnecessary, difficult to understand and counterproductive. They ignore the Romansh language area and would Romandie against the Ticino play, which would lose out because of its smaller population.

Expected effects on the composition of the Federal Council

A study by the Political Institute of the University of Bern simulated the popular election of the Federal Council on the basis of the cantonal government council elections. She came to the conclusion that the most likely result of the popular election would be the old magic formula (two seats each for the SP, FDP and CVP, one seat for the SVP).

According to the study, the SP and FDP would benefit most from the mode switch. They would even have a chance of a third seat in the second ballot because they were well represented across the country and often received votes from all camps. The seventh seat would be fought for among SVP, CVP and the Greens; the SVP would achieve a below-average result measured by its party strength. In any case, the previous incumbents, regardless of which party they belonged to, could count on an enormous “previous bonus”.

Positions

In January 2012 the Federal Council announced that it would recommend the popular initiative for rejection without a counter-proposal. He justified this with the fact that the election by the Federal Assembly had proven itself. Parliament accepted this request.

Initiative text

The initiative was worded as follows:

The federal constitution is amended as follows:

Art. 136 para. 2

2 They can take part in the Federal Council elections, the National Council elections and the federal votes, and take and sign popular initiatives and referendums on federal matters.

Art. 168 para. 1

1 The Federal Assembly elects the Federal Chancellor, the judges of the Federal Supreme Court and the General.

Art. 175 paras. 2–7

2 The members of the Federal Council are elected directly by the people according to the principle of majority. They are elected from all Swiss citizens who can be elected as members of the National Council.

3 The entire renewal of the Federal Council takes place every four years at the same time as the election of the National Council. If there is a vacancy, there will be a replacement election.

4 The whole of Switzerland forms one constituency. In the first ballot, whoever has an absolute majority of the valid votes is elected. This is calculated as follows: The total number of valid candidate votes is divided by the number of members of the Federal Council to be elected and the result halved; the next higher whole number is the absolute majority. If not enough candidates achieved an absolute majority in the first ballot, a second ballot takes place. A simple majority decides in the second ballot. In the event of a tie, the lot will be drawn.

5 At least two members of the Federal Council must be selected from among those entitled to vote who live in the cantons of Ticino, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva or Jura, the French-speaking areas of the cantons of Bern, Friborg or Valais or the Italian-speaking areas of the canton of Graubünden.

6 If, after a Federal Council election, the requirements of paragraph 5 are not met, those candidates residing in the cantons and areas specified in paragraph 5 are elected who have the highest geometric mean of the number of votes in Switzerland as a whole and the number of votes in the cantons and areas mentioned on the other achieved. Those elected who live outside the cantons and areas mentioned and who have achieved the lowest number of votes are eliminated as excess.

7 The law regulates the details.

Art. 176 para. 2

2 The Federal President and the Vice-President of the Federal Council are elected by the Federal Council from among its members for a term of one year.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A late consequence of the Blocher deselection: SVP initiative for popular election of the Federal Council came about. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung Online. August 25, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2011 .
  2. ↑ a b Federal popular initiative 'Popular election of the Federal Council'. Federal Chancellery , January 26, 2010, accessed July 4, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Federal Gazette 2011 p. 6585 (PDF; 103 kB)
  4. ↑ Committee “People's Election of the Federal Council”: Arguments ( memento of the original from September 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 17, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.volkswahl.ch
  5. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Message on the popular initiative “People's election of the Federal Council” , p. 2 f.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bj.admin.ch
  6. ↑ Thomas Milic, Adrian Vatter, Raphael Bucher: Page no longer available , search in web archives: popular election of the Federal Council. A simulation of the Federal Council elections by the people on the basis of the elections to the cantonal governments (PDF; 598 kB). Institute for Political Science, Bern 2012, p. 53 f. Retrieved May 17, 2012.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bj.admin.ch
  7. ^ Federal Council media release of January 25, 2012