Swiss citizens submit signatures for referendum to simplify naturalisation
Currently more than a quarter of the population in Switzerland does not have equal political rights, the committee points out.
Keystone / Urs Flueeler
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Listening: Swiss citizens submit signatures for referendum to simplify naturalisation
Swiss politicians are likely to return soon to the issue of simplified naturalisation. The committee behind the popular initiative "For modern citizenship rights" (democracy initiative) submitted around 105,000 certified signatures in Bern on Thursday.
The democracy initiative wants to make naturalisation easier. It demands that naturalisation should be possible after five years of legal residence in Switzerland, regardless of the settlement permit held by the person.
The petition for a referendum on the issue was launched by the civil society alliance Aktion Vierviertel (quarter movement). In the past three months alone, around 50,000 people have signed the initiative, the committee announced. In total, the committee collected more than 135,000 signatures; of these, 104,603 certified signatures were submitted.
According to the committee, this shows that Switzerland needs to tackle its democratic deficit. Today, it excludes more than a quarter of the resident population from holding equal political rights. This is unworthy of a democracy, it added.
Adapted from German with DeepL/gw
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