Re: Swiss elections and referenda - New Federal Councilor(s) election 7 December

[CumbrianLefty]

It was a very conservative country until very recently. Arguably, the trauma of losing the 1959 referendum on women's suffrage is why other social changes since then have been slow. Parliament is very nervous about passing those sorts of laws out of fear of losing an eventual referendum.

In fairness, even if said referendum had passed 1959 is an extremely late date for women's suffrage to have been legalized.

Why was Switzerland so slow on the issue?

Partly a mentality of "we've already got the world's best democracy, why change it"?

[CumbrianLefty]

What actually is the hunting law proposal - making it easier or harder?

[CumbrianLefty]

Nice results, shame that one vote couldn't be 50.1 to 49.9 the other way

[CumbrianLefty]

Didn't know that, I suppose it makes sense in a way.

[CumbrianLefty]

Loool @ social desirability bias in full display in Glarus.

That it is still a thing in even a fundamentally right wing place, tells its own story I suppose.

[CumbrianLefty]

So more Swiss people approve of same-sex marriage than Americans? And there is a bill which has been sitting there for seven years? Lmao

So who is actually blocking it?

[CumbrianLefty]

Like, for all the "libertarian paradise" stereotype, there is still a much more well developed welfare state in Switzerland than the US has.

Tbf that seems to come mostly from those who think "libertarianism" means a free for all on guns and not much else.

[CumbrianLefty]

Until today I did not even know there was an "electoral college" as far as Swiss referenda were concerned.

[CumbrianLefty]

The face covering ban looks like it will pass about 51-49%, and, rather unusually down to Romandie actually supporting it by more than the Swiss Germans. The map is absolutely mad at the moment - the largest 'Yes' vote in the country is in the Jura, which is usually the most left-wing canton alongside Geneva including on these sorts of questions; whereas it got rejected in Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which is usually one of the most hysterically conservative cantons. So I suspect the real reason this got passed is the overbearing influence of France on the mindsets of the French Swiss.

Still, barely passing when the minaret ban passed comfortably, despite the latter being a much less justifiable proposition probably does show how much mindsets in the country have moved on in the last 12 years.

The E-ID law going down in flames is not out of privacy concerns - it was a rejection of the E-ID's being managed by the private sector. So something of a rejection of neoliberalism that stretched across the linguistic divide.

Full results by commune available at https://www.predikon.ch/ and a map by canton here

Will write something about the cantonal votes and elections later - but Geneva has taking a step towards having a left wing majority for the second time in its history.

Are there any attempts to get that reversed?

[CumbrianLefty]

Broadly speaking, the CO2 law failed because it ran an appaling emotionless and complacent campaign that didn't realise things were going wrong until too late.

This really does sound *horribly* familiar......