Majority of cantons in favour of UN membership

A poll shows that the majority of Switzerland's 23 cantons would vote in favour of UN membership Keystone

Three weeks before the referendum on whether Switzerland should join the United Nations, a majority of the country's 23 cantons would vote in favour.

The survey, commissioned by two Swiss newspapers, the “SonntagsBlick” and “dimanche.ch”, has shown that twelve cantons are in favour of UN membership, five are against it and six cantons remain undecided.

The poll has suggested that six cantons, which were still undecided in November last year, would now vote in favour of membership.

Two of the five undecided cantons, Uri and Glarus showed a tendency towards voting yes but the spot tests undertaken in those two cantons were too small to establish whether this was representative.

Jura, Lucerne and Zug were undecided: the difference between UN membership supporters and opponents was insignificant.

Isopublic, the opinion research institute that conducted the survey between January 17 and February 9, asked 2204 voters about their opinion on UN membership.

The poll also showed that about 56 per cent of the Swiss population would vote in favour of UN membership and 30 per cent would vote against it.

The widely anticipated vote on UN membership is due to take place on March 3. The outcome of the vote depends not only on the results among the overall Swiss electorate but also on over half of Switzerland’s 23 cantons voting in favour.

swissinfo with agencies