Swiss authorities justify information policy on forged signatures

Handing signatures in to the Federal Chancellery. Keystone-SDA

The Federal Chancellery, which came under fire after suspected forged signatures came to light, commented on the incidents in detail for the first time on Tuesday. It justified its information policy and announced further immediate measures.

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On Tuesday, several members of parliament and political analysts had nothing good to say about the Federal Chancellery, which examines the collection of signatures for federal popular initiatives and referendums. The tenor was that it was incomprehensible that irregularities only came to light after a Tamedia investigation.

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The Federal Chancellery published a detailed statement on Tuesday evening. In it, the authority also commented on the question of why the public had not been informed earlier.

“Official secrecy, the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings and the protection of the freedom to vote require the Federal Chancellery to handle the existing suspicious cases discreetly,” it said. The first concern is to ensure that any perpetrators are caught, it said.

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Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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