Survey finds critical but mixed attitudes to lobbying

Confluence of influences: the Swiss House of Representatives. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

The general public in Switzerland takes a rather dim view of the activities of lobbyists in parliament, a survey has found. But it also has a narrow understanding of what lobbying involves.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports on Monday on a survey by the gfs.bern research institute and the Institute for Association Management, which finds that around half of 1,000 citizens surveyed are in favour of banning lobbying completely.

Only a third agreed with the statement “lobbying is an important part of the democratic process”, while eight out of 10 said the process of political influencing in Switzerland is not transparent.

+ Transparency International on lobbying and corruption in Switzerland

However, the NZZ writes that there is a discrepancy between the common caricature of a lobbyist – a representative of the banking or oil sector for example – and the reality, in which various actors, including media and political parties, are also part of the lobbying process.

The report finds that there is a “subjectively one-sided picture” among the population, the NZZ writes: people tend to categorise some types of lobbyist as automatically “bad” (e.g. when they are chasing profits) and others as “good” (e.g. when they are trying to save the environment).

People are also less critical of lobbying when it’s not called “lobbying”, but when the various actions associated with it – such as campaigning and meeting politicians – are mentioned concretely.

As for those on the receiving end of lobbying – bureaucrats and elected representatives – they take a much more positive view of its importance; 85% of those polled by the study said it was an “important element of the democratic process”.