Vimentis

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The Vimentis association (formerly: Vernunft Schweiz ) is a Swiss non-profit association with the aim of improving the population's level of information on political issues. To this end, the association publishes - according to its own information - politically neutral, easily understandable, comprehensive and yet concise publications on various political topics and especially on federal votes.

History and projects

The association was founded in 2003 by students from St. Gallen. The background was a referendum in which nine proposals were voted on at the same time. A study following the vote showed that only 20 percent of the population even knew what the voting documents were actually about. The remaining voters voted randomly or purely on recommendation, for example in the information sheet of the federal government or the parties. Correspondingly, the purpose of the association when “Vernunft Schweiz” was founded was to remedy this problem.

In October 2004 the association carried out the Perspective Switzerland project for the first time . According to the association, this is the largest socio-political survey in Switzerland today, and is now carried out annually under the name “Vimentis Survey”. The poll is politically neutral and is under the patronage of the party presidents of the Greens, GLP, SP, CVP, FDP, BDP and SVP.

The association has been entering into partnerships with various municipalities since 2005. The aim is to get the young citizens of these communities more enthusiastic about politics by making their first steps in the political environment easier for them with information tailored to their needs. The young citizens of a community receive the neutral voting information of the association sent directly to their home for a defined period of time.

Since 2013, the association has also been organizing regular panel discussions on current political issues at the universities of Zurich and St. Gallen with the participation of national and state councils . Moderated the events of SRF presenter Urs Wiedmer .

structure

Vimentis is supported by around 50 volunteer students from various Swiss universities and is therefore unique in the Swiss political landscape. The association is structured in six teams, each of which is led by a team leader (mostly students in a higher semester). An association board consisting of former team leaders monitors operations and coaches the team members at the same time.

Ongoing project costs are financed from income from small donors (patrons), whereby 100 percent of their donations flow into the work of the association due to the voluntary work. According to the association, a member invests an average of six to eight hours a week in project work.

numbers

The association's publications on voting are read around 300,000 times a year and 10 percent of all German-speaking Swiss communities take part in the young citizens' project (as of January 31, 2007). The website receives several million page views per year, including the lexicon alone over a million. Around 25,000 people from all over Switzerland take part in the Vimentis survey. The podiums are attended by around 500 people and represent one of the largest external events in the Audimax at the University of St. Gallen .

neutrality

The association itself claims to be politically neutral. In implementing this strategy, the articles of association were expanded in 2007 to include the following:

Art. 3 Neutrality
  1. The association is politically neutral. All publications and activities of the association must comply with neutrality.
  2. Each member of the board of directors or management undertakes to sign and comply with a code of honor, which ensures the neutrality of the association. If the member does not sign the code of honor, the election is deemed not to have been accepted.
  3. All publications on behalf of the association must be approved by management or the board of directors with a two-thirds majority.

These precautions should guarantee the neutrality of the publications. To check the neutrality achieved, all publications can be rated on the Vimentis homepage. The board of directors reports to the general assembly on the assessment achieved.

criticism

The association is regularly accused by the political left and the right (depending on the point of view of Vimentis from the left or right) that the publications are not neutral. The fact that the association is primarily run by current or former students from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) is criticized in particular . Neutrality cannot be achieved without adequate representation of all population groups. In response to the criticism, the association refers to the quality surveys carried out for each publication, which attested a “high” to “perfect neutrality”. In addition to students from the HSG, students from the universities of Zurich, Bern and Basel are also active.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vimentis - why we are needed!
  2. ↑ View from August 14, 2011: With Blick.ch and Vimentis: How to find the politician of your choice!
  3. ↑ Vimentis survey: Popular opinion 2017
  4. ↑ St. Gallen University of October 9, 2015: Five elephants and a moderator
  5. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger from October 16, 2015: Criticism of election support platform
  6. ^ The million question on the website of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung ; accessed on March 21, 2015