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Swiss parties spent less than CHF1 million on February green vote

Less than a million disbursed for the vote on 9 February
Opponents of the vote on environmental liability invested far more in their campaign than supporters. Keystone-SDA

Swiss political parties spent CHF 700,000 ($840,000) on campaigns in the run-up to the heavily defeated vote on February 9, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office. These final budgets are much lower than the money spent on previous campaigns.

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Opponents of the vote on environmental liability invested far more in their campaign than supporters. The Radical-Liberal Party spent CHF420,000.

The budget for the Young Greens and Greenpeace was half that: CHF245,582. These final budgets are 3% lower than those announced before the vote, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office on its website.

+ Vote of February 9 in Switzerland

The Young Greens’ initiative, which was rejected by 69.8% of voters, attracted very little interest. Turnout was only 37.9%.

This low level of interest is also reflected in the sums invested by the parties, which are much lower than those allocated to previous campaigns. For example, the total budget devoted to the text on the extension of the motorways on November 24 amounted to almost CHF10 million. Several million were also spent on the other November ballot issues.

Over the 11 votes in 2024, the parties and movements spent CHF47.8 million on their campaigns.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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