Swiss parliament calls for pilot project for digital signature collection

Parliament calls for pilot project for digital signature collection Keystone-SDA

The electronic collection of signatures for initiatives and referendums in Switzerland is to be trialled in a pilot project. After the Senate, the House of Representatives also approved a corresponding proposal on Monday.

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The initiative is intended to facilitate the further development of democracy, as Green Party parliamentarian Gerhard Andrey, who had submitted an identical motion in the House of Representatives, said. The motion was supported by a majority of the Social Democrats, the Radical-Liberal Party, the Centre Party, the Liberal Green Party, the Greens and the Protestant Party.

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A second motion from the Senate demanded that the collection should only take place via digital channels in future. The text was adopted in an amended form and returned to the Senate. The motion now demands that digital signatures must be possible alongside manual signatures.

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party was largely against both requests. “Popular initiatives and referendums are not internet surveys,” said Benjamin Fischer, representing the committee minority.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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