Swiss federal votes on September 22, 2024

On September 22, 2024, voters threw out an initiative calling for more resources to be devoted to biodiversity protection; they also rejected a proposed reform of the second pillar of the pension system.

The reform of the occupational pension scheme was rejected by a clear 67% of the electorate, and all the 26 cantons. The reform had been proposed by both the government and the right-wing majority in Parliament.

The reform package was designed, firstly, to secure the long-term financing of the second pillar of the old-age pension system, which is funded on a parity basis by contributions from the working population and their employers.

Another stated aim was to provide better retirement cover for part-time workers on low incomes – mainly women – by lowering the minimum annual income required to join a pension fund.

For its opponents, the main problem was however the reduction in the conversion rate – the proportion of retirement savings paid out by pension funds each year – from 6.8% to 6%. The Swiss Trade Union Federation campaigned on a key argument: the revision would mean that employees would pay higher contributions in order to receive lower pensions on retirement.

With Sunday’s clear “no” vote, the Swiss electorate also felt that the pension system was not in urgent need of a drip-feed and that it should not have to pay for a system in good health. This is one of the six lessons that emerge from our analysis.

The ideas proposed by the initiative “For the future of our nature and landscape” to combat a decline in biodiversity also failed to convince the population. Nearly two-thirds of Swiss citizens and almost all cantons (with the exception of Basel City and Geneva) rejected the initiative.

Launched by nature and environmental associations, the initiative wanted to oblige authorities to allocate more land and financial resources to safeguarding and enhancing biodiversity. It also wanted to enshrine the protection of landscape and heritage in the constitution.

Right-wing parties and the Centre, as well as business groups, joined forces with farmers to fight the initiative – they eventually succeeded in their portrayal of the text as “too extreme and ineffective” and claiming that current legislation was sufficient.

To safeguard biodiversity in Switzerland, campaigners will now have to rely on the tools already put in place by authorities. While some of the measures taken are bearing fruit, a great deal of convincing is still needed, according to some experts.

Translated from French by DeepL/dos

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