‘SWIplus’ app to strengthen political participation of the Swiss Abroad

Switzerland in your pocket: the SWIplus app bundles news, background and election information for the Swiss Abroad. swissinfo.ch

Around 10% of the Swiss population lives abroad and has specific information needs and media usage habits. They primarily seek information online and appreciate news and background reports on national events in various languages.

SWI swissinfo.ch informs them on behalf of the government and strengthens their participation in elections and votes. The group of voters outside Switzerland has grown considerably over the past three decades: the electoral register of Swiss citizens abroad has increased by 235% since 1996. And this trend is continuing. SWI swissinfo.ch has taken this into account with its freshly revised four-language app “SWIplus” and, in addition to its web offer, has created an additional relay between Swiss democracy and the population abroad.

What are Switzerland’s current election intentions? What political positions do the candidates take, and how strong is their support for the concerns of the population abroad? In addition to the ten-language online portal, these and similar questions are answered by the SWIplus app for the Swiss Abroad, which was thoroughly revised in terms of technology and content this summer. With news, analyses, party checks, election guides and the video debate “Let’s Talk”, the app bundles the relevant information for the 800,000 Swiss citizens who live outside Switzerland.

Offer promotes interest and participation in Swiss democracy

The app clearly demonstrates the relay function that SWI swissinfo.ch assumes between the Swiss Abroad and Swiss democracy. All the content that is relevant and useful to them is brought together in a clear and concise way, so that the Swiss Abroad have round-the-clock access to information that concerns them and Switzerland. This is available in four languages: German, French, Italian and English. Anyone who lives in another language region and would like to get informed about Swiss events will find most of the content on the SWI swissinfo.ch web portals in six other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese.

Electoral register of the Swiss Abroad has grown by 235% since 1996

Since 1992, the Swiss Abroad Law has provided that all citizens living abroad can exercise their political rights, regardless of whether they have dual citizenship or not. All they have to do is sign on to the electoral register. Around a quarter of Swiss citizens living abroad are now registered. In 1996, some 63,000 Swiss Abroad were registered in cantonal electoral registers, but by 2021 the figure had risen to 211,000, an increase of 235% and more than the population of canton Graubünden.