Feb 9 vote: are you ready?

The federal vote programme for 2025 is thinner than usual. The Swiss government cancelled the planned vote on May 18 due to the lack of voting issues for consideration.

For this year’s first federal vote on February 9, the Swiss will decide on just one issue: the "environmental responsibility" initiative. Launched by the Young Greens, it aims to make the Swiss economy respect the planet’s ecological limits.

Opponents say the initiative threatens Switzerland’s prosperity. The proposal is meanwhile struggling to win over voters, apart from those on the left. At the start of the vote campaign, almost half of voters said they were planning to vote “no” on the initiative, according to the first poll commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). This suggests it will face a clear rejection on vote day.

However, the Young Greens’ proposal has sparked debate on our planet’s resources and how to preserve them. In our Let's Talk debate programme, the co-president of the Young Greens, Margot Chauderna, and the Young Radical-Liberal party member, Pauline Blanc, exchanged views on the issue.

The two young politicians agreed that nature, and its capacity for renewal, must be respected. But they differed on what measures are needed to achieve this.
“This initiative would require a level of consumption similar to that in certain developing countries, such as Afghanistan,” said Blanc. Chauderna, for her part, is convinced that Switzerland must set an example by imposing strict rules on its economy in line with ecological limits.
 
Happy reading!

Our televised debate on this issue:

Our explainer article on this issue:

Polling results:

What are your thoughts?

Background vote articles: