Good while it lasted: pro-Jura voters celebrate on June 18, 2017
Keystone
A vote in Moutier, which last year saw the Swiss town switch allegiance from canton Bern to canton Jura, has been declared void. The authorities are investigating claims of “electoral tourism” which allegedly manipulated the result of the vote in June 2017.
A top district official on Monday ruled that six out of seven legal complaints over misleading propaganda and organisational flaws were justified.
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Questions raised over historic local vote
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Justice authorities are investigating electoral fraud allegations during a local vote in the Swiss town of Moutier three months ago.
The pro-Jura separatist movement said the decision had been taken for “political reasons” and vowed to fight against the vote reversal. It announced street protests .
The canton Bern authorities stated that the vote annulment now made it impossible to negotiate the town’s transference to Jura. “It is regrettable that irregularities and undemocratic behaviour were possible despite this extraordinary arrangement,” the statement read.
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga for her part said in a statementExternal link she had taken note of the decision by the governing body of the Bernese Jura. She said she hoped people would react to the decision with composure and called for calm.
Sommaruga pointed out that the decision could be appealed.
Close decision
On June 18, 2017, voters in Moutier decided in favour of Jura by 137 votes. A total of 4,000 citizens took part in the ballot with an unusually high turnout of 88%. But the vote aroused suspicions that some people had registered themselves as eligible voters in Moutier without actually residing there.
These suspicions were raised with the federal authorities, leading to an investigation.
The controversy is the latest twist in a long-running territorial dispute in Switzerland. French-speaking Jura became the 26th Swiss canton in 1979 when a separatist movement won a vote to secede from German-speaking canton Bern. Since then, the question has been raised in some towns and villages along the border about which canton they would like to be part of.
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Fictitious moves revive tensions over historic Moutier vote
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Several citizens moved their addresses temporarily to the town of Moutier to be able to take part in the historic vote last year.
Justice minister calls for ‘crisis summit’ on disputed Moutier vote
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Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga has called for the governments of Bern and Jura to 'analyse' the dispute over a 2017 secession vote.
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Jura says appeals are being handled too slowly after last year’s vote by the people of Moutier to leave canton Bern and join canton Jura.
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Two small Bernese municipalities are deciding whether to join the canton of Jura amid voter fraud accusations after the last such vote.
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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.