Ah, voting - a continuously hot topic in Switzerland. Or not so hot maybe, because we vote on a wide range of issues at all levels of the state, i.e. the federal, the cantonal and the communal level about every three months. The next referendum is scheduled for 26 November, where we will decide on three topics in my canton:
The Federal Law on cooperation with Eastern European States deals with "supporting democracy and the construction of social market economies in Eastern Europe" (I am quoting from the official documentation). Switzerland is not member of the European Union, but it has a wide range of agreements with the EU. Part of those negotiations was to "voluntarily" increase the contribution to supporting Eastern Europe. Normally, federal laws are passed by the federal parliament. But if a group (usually a coalition of parties) manages to collect 50'000 signatures within 100 days after publication of the act, a popular referendum has to be called.The purpose of the Federal Law on family allowances is to centralise family allowances which currently are controlled at the cantonal level. Here, too, a special interest coalition has called for a referendum.The third decision is about a popular initiative For quality schools in my canton. A cantonal popular initiative can be called by 1500 people. In this case, the iniative calls for mandatory quality exams before pupils can go into higher education.So, you see, being Swiss is hard work ... the usual participation in any routine referendum is 40% to 50%. For high profile issues, like banking secrecy, army abolition, EU agreements etc, it can go up to +80%.
Ah, voting - a continuously hot topic in Switzerland. Or not so hot maybe, because we vote on a wide range of issues at all levels of the state, i.e. the federal, the cantonal and the communal level about every three months. The next referendum is scheduled for 26 November, where we will decide on three topics in my canton: 
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3 comments:
Quality schools, federal jurisdiction, trade agreements....sounds a lot like political issues here. And your voting participation is similar, too.
Some questions:
Are your referendums scheduled as needed rather than on a set schedule? Are offices filled in this way also?
We have four pre-appointed voting dates every year. Usually, there is always a number of issues to be decided (the busiest time I can remember was 12 items).
This is just dealing with material matters. Elections are handled in the same way. There are periodic elections for the federal parliament and cantonal parliaments as well as at the communal level.
This is how politics is made in Switzerland.
Referendums like yours is one of the things that I wish to see some day in Bulgaria. We're a small country and it shouldn't be a problem to organize them for important issues.
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