Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Today’s briefing is a political special, with updates on Swiss votes, Swiss elections, and who the Swiss want to see as their next government minister.

Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

In the news: e-cigarettes, more solar panels, and fewer Covid concerns.

• The Swiss government today proposed amending the Tobacco Act to introduce a new tax for electronic cigarettes. Parliament has been asked to back the proposal, which is forecast to bring in around CHF13.8 million ($13.8 million) in extra tax revenues per year. Single-use e-cigarettes will be hit harder than reusables, with the government saying this is intended to put off minors from trying them.
• The government also today pledged to install solar panels on as many federal buildings as possible by 2034, to help boost the production of energy from renewable sources. Further photovoltaic panels are also planned for other public infrastructures like motorway noise pollution barriers and car ports. It comes after politicians also recently fast-tracked efforts to build huge mountain solar parks in the Alps.
• The president of Switzerland’s cantonal doctor’s association said that while the current Covid wave may not yet have peaked, he is not expecting the same problems as last year. Rudolf Hauri told the Blick newspaper that there were “currently no indications that we are heading for a massive overload [of hospitals]”. However, he worries that a Covid wave combined with high flu numbers could put a strain on healthcare services.

Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

No votes: Swiss brace for political withdrawal symptoms

Swiss voting addicts will have to go cold turkey for almost a year, authorities said today. After previously announcing there would no popular ballot as planned in November 2022, they have now revealed there is nothing to vote on in March 2023 either – “no federal act is ready for on that day”, the Federal Chancellery writesExternal link. As a result, the Swiss will have to wait until June 2023 before they can make their democratic choices again – a full nine months after their last hit (people’s initiatives and referendums are usually decided four times each year). Why the gap? It might be that the difficulties in collecting signatures during the pandemic is finally catching up with the democratic system; it’s also partly due to the withdrawal of the “fighter jet” initiative, which could have come to vote next March. At least voters have parliamentary elections next autumn to compensate.

Keystone / Anthony Anex

2023 elections: steady and stable as she goes

Speaking of elections, since they are (only!) a year from now, pundits and pollsters are getting excited. So is the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), swissinfo.ch’s parent company, which today published its first “election barometer”, outlining who has the best chances next year. Will the Greens consolidate the gains made in 2019? Will women politicians continue their progress? Is Switzerland set for political anarchy? Not exactly: if the vote was to take place now, things would look very similar – the People’s Party (right-wing) would remain the biggest group with 26%, the Social Democrats (left) and Radical Liberals (centre-right) would be battling it out for second (both around 16%) and the Greens and Liberal Greens would still be hovering around 10%. Despite the war, the climate, the inflation, etc., pollsters expect just a “small shift” to the right. But there’s still a year to go.  

© Keystone / Alexandra Wey

Which of these people do you actually know?

Switzerland is hunting for a new government minister. And while it’s parliamentarians who have the last word on the five possible successors to Ueli Maurer (People’s Party), the population has also been having a say, via opinion polls. After Blick and the Sotomo institute harassed thousands of citizens for their thoughts 10 days ago, today it was the NZZ and the Link instituteExternal link. Again, amiable Albert Rösti came out well ahead as the people’s choice, confirming the predictions of pundits. But why doesn’t anyone want to see Heinz Tännler (photo), Hans-Ueli Vogt, Werner Salzmann, or Michèle Blöchliger in government? Are they not competent enough? Does the population take issue with their stance on taxation or some other obscure policy? Or might it be simply that – as the Link survey admitted – almost half of those surveyed have simply never heard of these people, while the media has been constantly talking about Albert Rösti in recent weeks?