Swiss traditional open-air voting resumes after pandemic hiatus

The "Landsgemeinde", or cantonal assembly, is a public ballot voting system operating by majority rule. Only 2 out of 26 Swiss cantons uphold this tradition today. Keystone / Christian Merz

Canton Glarus’s traditional open-air assembly (Landsgemeinde), the oldest form of direct democracy in Switzerland, resumed on Sunday after a long hiatus on account of the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters gathered in the ring on Zaunplatz at the cantonal capital for the first time in two and a half years. They had a marathon agenda of 23 electoral and substantive issues to decide on, nearly three times as usual, Keystone-SDA news agency reported.

Despite bright sunshine, however, the fence square was not as full as in other years, the news agency noted. It attributed the reduced attendance to the compulsory mask requirement and some people’s fear of catching Covid-19 in the crowds on the wooden platforms of the assembly ring.

The 2020 Landsgemeinde was cancelled, and this year’s event was pushed back by four months. In the end, 19 items were discussed on Sunday over nearly five hours. Four agenda points deemed less urgent were shelved for discussion in 2022.

Glarus is one of only two cantons, along with Appenzell Inner Rhodes, that still holds a Landsgemeinde, a 600-year-old tradition that sees all registered voters gather once a year to elect their government, pass laws or set tax rates with a show of hands.

Surprising decisions

Despite the abundance of items on the agenda, the people of Glarus took their time with important topics, SDA-Keystone noted. This “resulted in courageous and surprising decisions, some of which went far beyond the proposals of the government and parliament.”

In particular, the voters showed unexpected energy policy courage and took up the cudgels for climate protection, according to the news agency. They tightened climate-related provisions in the energy law, going beyond the proposal of the government and parliament in several points.

Accordingly, new buildings must in future cover their heating requirements entirely without fossil fuels. The same applies to the replacement of existing heating systems. The government and the local council had only stipulated “state of the art” heat generation for new buildings.

Collective decision-making

The people of Glarus also decided all villages in the Alpine canton should be connected by public transport, regardless of economic efficiency. They rejected a burden of health insurance premiums on households as well as the abolition of church tax for legal entities.

The Landsgemeinde, which normally takes place every year on the first Sunday in May, is the highest legislative body of the mountainous canton. The tradition is cherished in Switzerland as an expression of direct democracy in action and draws international attention.