The rejection of the No Billag initiative in the diaspora was several points higher than the national average.
Keystone
On Sunday the Swiss Abroad — like their compatriots back home — came out against an initiative, which aimed to cancel public financing for radio and television services by eliminating the mandatory broadcast licence fee. In most cantons, the proportion of 'no' votes from the Swiss Abroad sat around 77.9%.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Journalist and deputy head of the swissinfo.ch editorial group for German, French and Italian. Earlier, worked for Teletext and Switzerland’s French-language national broadcaster.
The need to safeguard quality public broadcasting services appears to be obvious for the Swiss living abroad. On Sunday, they rejected the ‘No Billag’ initiative by a crushing majority, according to an analysis of the results of the March 4 vote in the 12 cantons that count votes from Swiss Abroad separately.
Whereas 71.6% of the Swiss population voted “no” on the initiative, the rejection was even more resounding in the diaspora, surpassing 80% in the cantons of Geneva (82.7%) and Basel-City (82.2%).
Several reasons can be proposed to explain this massive vote by the Swiss Abroad in favour of public broadcasting services. Various studies have shown that the Swiss Abroad tend to vote slightly more with the political left than their countrymen and women in Switzerland.
The initiative was launched by young, ultra-liberal politicians and supported mainly by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party.
Debate on expats’ right to vote
Sunday’s vote also confirmed an observation made in previous polls: namely, that expats tend to to have more confidence in the government and parliament than the domestic electorate.
The Swiss Abroad are exempt from the licence fee financing Swiss public radio and television. They therefore would not have benefited from the annual households savings of several hundred Swiss francs that the acceptance of the initiative would have brought.
The fact that Swiss expats can participate in decisions that do not affect them directly is a subject of regular debate in Switzerland.
In 2015, on the occasion of a very close vote, the Swiss Abroad were also accused of having tipped the balance in favour of the introduction of a generalised radio and television fee, even though they would not have to pay it themselves. It’s an accusation that it will be very difficult to frame this time, in view of the unequivocal results of Sunday’s vote.
Translated from French/cl
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Politics
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
Uri voters clear path for hotel and marina complex in central Switzerland
This content was published on
Voters in canton Uri in central Switzerland have rejected a Green Party initiative aimed at regulating the development of the lakeside site in Isleten.
Valais voters reject plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040
This content was published on
Voters in canton Valais in southern Switzerland have turned down a proposal for the region to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
Swiss central banker wants to boost equity to head off risks
This content was published on
Equity levels at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) are much too low for the risks its large balance sheet poses, according to Martin Schlegel.
Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather
This content was published on
The past brewing year fell through in Switzerland, partly due to the bad weather. Beer sales shrank again. For the first time, per capita consumption fell below the 50 liter mark.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Have the Swiss abroad votes made all the difference?
This content was published on
Rarely has a nationwide vote in Switzerland been decided by such a slim margin. On June 14, the Yes and No votes were only about 3,200 apart, less than 0.2 percentage points according to provisional final results. Without the votes of Swiss living abroad, the proposal would not have passed, it now appears from the…
Press calls for reforms following licence fee vote
This content was published on
In the wake of No Billag's rejection, the Swiss press say the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation must downsize, but opinions vary on how to do this.
Attack on public broadcasting licence fee clearly fails
This content was published on
A large majority of voters reject a proposal to do away with the mandatory licence fee for Switzerland’s public broadcasters.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.