Broad coalition wants to extend political rights to foreigners
Keystone-SDA
On Wednesday in Lausanne, a citizens’ coalition representing all political parties launched its campaign to support the popular initiative to extend political rights to foreigners, which will be put to the vote in the canton of Vaud on November 30. It advocates an open democracy.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
The aim of the initiative is to extend the right to vote and stand for election at cantonal level to all foreign nationals who have been resident in the canton of Vaud for at least three years and in Switzerland for at least ten years.
On September 28 last year, the people of Vaud sent a negative signal on the same issue of voting rights for foreigners. They voted against shortening the waiting period for foreigners living in the canton to be able to vote and be elected at municipal level, rejecting a reduction from ten to five years for the requirement of residence in Switzerland.
This did not discourage the “Ag!ssons” movement, which had collected more than 15,000 signatures (out of the 12,000 required) by 2023 to be able to put its popular initiative “For political rights for those who live here” to the vote. Together with various movements, NGOs and parties in the canton of Vaud, including the Vert’libéraux, the POP, Ensemble à Gauche, the PS and the Vert-e-s, they called for “support for a more inclusive and representative democracy”.
“The political exclusion of tens of thousands of residents is no longer tenable. Vaud’s democracy must become as diverse and inclusive as the society it aspires to represent,” said Steven Tamburini, organiser of the citizens’ action platform Ag!ssons and co-spokesman of the campaign, quoted in a press release.
Some 90,000 residents affected
At present, more than a third of residents do not have Swiss nationality and therefore do not have the right to sign, vote and stand for election in the canton, the initiative committee noted. In Lausanne, the figure is even higher: 40% of the population, or almost half of the population, are excluded, it points out.
“These people live, work, bring up their children, pay taxes here and are involved in local life, but they cannot take part in a vote, sign a cantonal initiative or referendum, or be elected,” it points out. “The popular initiative does not call naturalisation into question, it complements it.”
The left-wing parties point out that this reform is part of a movement that is already well established elsewhere. “Cantons such as Neuchâtel and Jura, and more than 60 countries on five continents, have already done so in a way that is both legitimate and democratic,” emphasised Samson Yemane, a local Lausanne politician from the Social Democratic party.
The Grand Council is recommending that the initiative be rejected. The Vaud Council of State is also against it. It should be noted that foreigners have had the right to vote at municipal level in the canton since 2003.
Translated from French by DeepL/jdp
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
