The Swiss vote often – but frequency isn’t everything

Common practice for Swiss citizens – although the vast majority of them vote by post rather than directly at the ballot box. Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Since 1848, Swiss voters have been called to decide on a grand total of 689 issues at the national level – a world record. If regional ballots were included, the figure would be around ten times higher.

The 700-odd votes in modern Swiss history make it a clear frontrunner by international comparison, according to a new analysis by the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA). The next most frequent voters are in New Zealand and Liechtenstein; both nations have held around 100 popular ballots throughout their history.

Growing trend

Yet over time, since the beginning of the 20th century, Switzerland has gradually been joined by more and more nations when it comes to offering citizens the chance to vote directly.

The ZDA researchers write that over 70% of countries have by now held at least one national popular vote – and not just in Western Europe or North America, but also in Africa and South America.

Robin Gut, a political scientist at the University of Zurich and study co-author, says the trend is due to “a growing need felt by those in power to include the population. They want to show that they are listening to the people.”

Not just democracies

As such, popular initiatives don’t necessarily always spring up from “below”. In fact it’s often not citizens who provide the impetus – as they do in Switzerland – by launching initiatives or referendums; many such votes are held in authoritarian states, as a means for the regime to cement its power.

“Our data shows that authoritarian states in fact hold even more votes than democratic ones,” Gut says – a finding which he says surprised the researchers themselves.

Wide menu of issues in Switzerland

For a more nuanced picture, it’s thus not enough to simply count the number of votes around the world. The researchers – made up of political scientists and legal experts – also combed the data for other criteria, such as on which questions citizens were consulted. And on this score, they found some interesting differences.

“In Switzerland you have an abundance of issues that are voted on, from the Covid law to tax issues and climate protection.” Elsewhere the range is much narrower, Gut says. Outside Switzerland, by far the most common theme for votes involves changes to state structures: for example, the size of a parliament or the length of time a head of state can remain in office.

Switzerland is therefore far from alone when it comes to holding popular votes. Along with neighbouring Liechtenstein, however, it remains a clear outlier on two factors: frequency of ballots, and the diversity of issues decided on.

This article was first published as a broadcast by the “Echo der Zeit” programme on SRF public radio, on July 9, 2023

Translated from German by Domhnall O’Sullivan, swissinfo.ch