The Swiss government has granted three cantons licences to resume trials with online voting in federal votes, notably for the Swiss Abroad, it said on Friday.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/jc
Italiano
it
Riprendono le prove di voto elettronico per le prossime votazioni
Basel City, St Gallen and Thurgau will be able to conduct online voting for a limited part of the electorate. The authorisation includes the popular vote scheduled for June 18 this year. It runs up to and including the popular vote on May 18, 2025, according to a government press releaseExternal link.
Online voting is to be available to Swiss voters abroad who are registered in any of the three cantons that have applied for a licence. Basel City also allows Swiss citizens with a disability to vote online. In St Gallen, a limited number of Swiss voters from communes offering e-voting can also register to vote online.
The Organisation of Swiss Abroad External link(OSA) hailed the decision. Its director Ariane Rustichelli called it “a breath of hope and a strong positive signal for the 220,000 Swiss abroad who are registered to vote”. She noted a drop in voting turnout of Swiss Abroad since the e-voting trials were stopped four years ago. “June 18 will be a date not to be missed. A new setback would be a serious blow to confidence in this voting channel,” she told SWI swissinfo.ch.
For the first vote in June 2023, the cantons asked that a total of around 65,000 voters be allowed to take part in the trials, or around 1.2% of all Swiss voters.
Previous e-voting trials were halted because of security concerns. The government says its latest decision will allow the cantons with licences to use Swiss Post’s new online system for the first time. It says the system “has been examined in a number of steps by independent experts and by the public in a bug bounty programme and a public intrusion test” and that “the system and its operation have been improved to such an extent that it is possible to use it within the limited scope of the approved trials”.
For federal parliamentary elections in October this year the government reminds cantons that they need a basic licence from the federal government to conduct e-voting. The cantons can decide whether or not to apply for such a licence.
Rustichelli said the OSA was confident that at least the cantons of Basel City, Thurgau and St Gallen would apply for authorisation for the federal elections on October 22.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
This content was published on
The Swiss government plans to relaunch limited trials of electronic voting 18 months after suspending such schemes due to security flaws.
This content was published on
The controversial issue of e-voting is back: Swiss Post, which had halted the development of a project in July 2019, now plans a platform ready for testing by 2021.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.