Legal provisions for citizens' initiatives at national level

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SWISSCONFEDERATION

(Adopted1999; last amended 2013)

http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/c101.html

Title 4: The People and the Cantons

Chapter 1: General Provisions

Art. 136 Political rights

(1) All Swiss citizens over theage of eighteen, unless they lack legal capacity due to mental illness ormental incapacity, have political rights in federal matters. All citizens havethe same political rights and duties.

(2) They may participate in elections to theNational Council and in federal popular votes, and launch or sign popular initiatives and requestsfor referendums in federal matters.

Chapter 2: Initiative and Referendum

Art. 138 Popular initiative requestingthe complete revision of the Federal Constitution

(1) Any 100,000 persons eligible to vote maywithin 18 months of the official publication of their initiative propose acomplete revision of the Federal Constitution.

(2) This proposal must be submitted to a vote of the People.

Art. 139 Popular initiative requestinga partial revision of the Federal Constitution in specific terms

(1) Any 100,000 persons eligible to vote maywithin 18 months of the official publication of their initiative request apartial revision of the Federal Constitution.

(2) A popular initiative for the partialrevision of the Federal Constitution may take the form of a general proposal orof a specific draft of the provisions proposed.

(3) If the initiative fails tocomply with the requirements of consistency of form, and of subject matter, orif it infringes mandatory provisions of international law, the Federal Assemblyshall declare it to be invalid in whole or in part.

(4) If the Federal Assembly is in agreement withan initiative in the form of a general proposal, it shall draft the partialrevision on the basis of the initiative and submit it to the vote of the People and the Cantons.If the Federal Assembly rejects the initiative, it shall submit it to a vote of thePeople; the People shall decide whether the initiative should beadopted. If they vote in favour, the Federal Assembly shall draft thecorresponding bill.

(5) An initiative in the form of a specificdraft shall be submittedto the vote of the People and the Cantons. The Federal Assembly shallrecommend whether the initiative should be adopted or rejected. It may submit acounter-proposal to the initiative.

Art. 139b Procedure applicable to an initiative andcounter-proposal

(1) The People vote on the initiative and the counter-proposal at thesame time.

(2) The People may vote in favour of bothproposals. In response to the third question, they may indicate the proposalthat they prefer if both are accepted.

(3) If in response to the third question oneproposal to amend the Constitution receives more votes from the People and theother more votes from the Cantons, the proposal that comes into force is thatwhich achieves the higher sum if the percentage of votes of the People and thepercentage of votes of the Cantons in the third question are added together.

Official Website, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

http://www.swissworld.org/en/politics/peoples_rights/peoples_rights/

“The popular initiative allows for any other group outside the parliament to put a proposal on the table. The proposal has to suggest a constitutional amendment. Changes of laws or any other government regulations cannot be the subject of a popular initiative at the national level. […] The general principles on the citizens’ initiative are outlined in the constitution Articles 138 and 139. The constitution formally distinguishes between a total and a partial revision of the constitution, although the former has no significance in practice and has never been used.” (p. 21)

Georg Lutz, “Switzerland: Citizens’ Initiatives as a Measure to Control the Political Agenda,” in Maija Set?l? and Theo Schiller, eds.: Citizens’ Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

“In theory, an initiative can only deal with constitutional matters, but in practice they have been held on a variety of issues. Initiatives have been held recently on matters such as cutting military spending (rejected) and limiting the foreign population to 18% (rejected). More 'exotic' initiatives have included making it easier to open casinos (accepted), protecting marshland (accepted) and banning the production and sale of absinthe (accepted). The first initiative under the current system, put to the vote in 1893, called for a ban on the Jewish method of slaughtering of animals without stunning them first. It was accepted, against the advice of parliament.”