Swiss people vote for justice reform

The Swiss people have approved proposals for a wide-ranging reform of the country's judicial systems. In Sunday's national poll, the plans were approved by a majority of the cantons and an overwhelming 86 per cent of the electorate.

The Swiss people have approved proposals for a wide-ranging reform of the country’s judicial systems. In Sunday’s national poll, the plans were approved by a majority of the cantons and an overwhelming 86 per cent of the electorate.

Justice reform is seen as long overdue in Switzerland, both because of need to ease the growing backlog of cases at the federal court and because the differing legal systems in the cantons.

This initiative was the only one of five voted on today to be put forward by the government, and it was widely seen as the one most likely to succeed.

It aims to relieve the federal court in Lausanne of an unmanageable workload, caused in part by trivial traffic offences. The new rules will allow a panel of judges to decide whether a case must be heard by the federal court.

The reforms will also empower the government to introduce uniform procedures across the country, relating to both civil and criminal law. The government argues that such streamlining is urgently needed because of the differing legal systems across the cantons.

As with many government-inspired initiatives, the proposed reform package was watered down to make it more acceptable to Switzerland’s voters. Originally, it included provisions relating to people’s initiatives and referenda, but these were rejected by parliament because they were seen as a curtailment of voters’ rights.

swissinfo with agencies