Swiss court refuses to annul vote raising women’s retirement age

Federal Court rejects appeals on AHV vote Keystone-SDA

The Federal Supreme Court has rejected a bid to annul a vote that raised the age of retirement for women in Switzerland.

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The legal objection was made by Green Party and the Socialist Women’s Party on the grounds that voters were deceived with misleading information ahead of the September 2022 referendum.

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The principle of rejection was scarcely discussed during the hearing. Instead, the judges debated the seriousness of the violation of political rights caused by the Federal Council’s misinformation.

In the absence of agreement on how to characterise this violation, they decided not to mention it in the grounds of the judgment.

On the other hand, the judges agreed that legal certainty precluded the annulment of the vote. The revision of the pension law was linked to another reform, which was put to the vote at the same time.

An annulment of the former would have extended to the latter. However, some of the measures included in this package have already been in force since January 1, 2024, such as the increase in the VAT rate.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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