{"id":528090,"date":"2025-06-06T18:20:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T16:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=528090"},"modified":"2025-12-13T22:42:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T21:42:41","slug":"collection-of-signatures-plea-for-a-third-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/policy\/switzerland\/collection-of-signatures-plea-for-a-third-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Signature gathering: a plea for a third way"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debate over the number of signatures required to put a popular initiative to the Swiss vote raises an essential question: should the number be revised... or should signatories be asked to make more of an effort?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The threshold of signatures required to bring a simple question to a federal vote is a crucial element of Swiss democracy. Any change at this level becomes immediately political.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, 100,000 signatures must be collected for a popular initiative to be put to the vote. In the latest issue of Regard Libre<\/em><\/a>, Yann Costa believes that the threshold is too low, since it has not been updated to keep pace with population growth, thus allowing minority initiatives to be launched. Nicolas Jutzet, for his part, prefers to deal with unhelpful ballots rather than raising the threshold, as such a measure could deprive citizens of the opportunity to bring a text to fruition. However, well-resourced political parties could still \u00abspam\u00bb the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n