The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Most Swiss want to restrict fireworks for private individuals

Firework shop
The fireworks initiative wants to restrict the sale and setting off of loud fireworks for private individuals. © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

More than three-quarters of the Swiss population support the initiative submitted in the autumn to restrict the use of fireworks by private individuals. According to a representative survey, the main reasons for this are animal welfare and air pollution.

The fireworks initiative enjoys strong support among the population, according to the survey: 76% of all respondents are in favour of the initiative and 24% are against. Most of the participants took a clear stance. Only 11% would have chosen the “rather yes” or “rather no” option.

According to the survey, which was commissioned by the news portal Watson and published on Friday, the majority of Green voters were most in favour: 92% were in favour of restricting the use of fireworks by private individuals. A majority in the centre-right camp were also in favour of such a restriction. The initiative received the least support from Radical-Liberal voters, with 62%.

Stress in pets and farm animals

“Stress in pets and farm animals” and “stress in wild animals” were the main reasons given for supporting the initiative. Air pollution also played an important role.

+ How the Swiss direct democracy system works

Around a quarter of those surveyed said they were against the initiative. In their opinion, fireworks are a tradition and a part of life. In addition, there are already too many regulations and bans. A ban on fireworks also does not belong in the constitution, they said.

The fireworks initiative wants to restrict the sale and setting off of loud fireworks for private individuals. Pyrotechnic products that are set off without making noise should remain authorised. Large professional public fireworks displays at events should also continue to be permitted if they are authorised on request. The initiative was declared valid with 137,193 votes in favour.

The Watson survey was conducted between December 14 and 20 in collaboration with the social research institute Demoscope; 8,250 people from German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland were surveyed.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Aargau police continue to search for escaped prisoner

More

Swiss police still hunting handcuffed escapee

This content was published on A prisoner who escaped on Thursday in Baden, canton Aargau, is still on the run. The 23-year-old Albanian, who was in custody for burglary, was wearing handcuffs when he escaped.

Read more: Swiss police still hunting handcuffed escapee
Switzerland reinforces its ground-air defence with German systems

More

Swiss reinforce ground-air defence with German systems

This content was published on Switzerland has purchased five IRIS-T SLM systems for ground-based air defence from Germany, the Federal Office for Defence Procurement (armasuisse) said on Monday.

Read more: Swiss reinforce ground-air defence with German systems
Deer return to Winterthur cemetery

More

Evicted deer return to Swiss cemetery

This content was published on Individual deer are continuing to return to the Rosenberg cemetery in Winterthur, northeastern Switzerland, even after an eviction campaign last winter.

Read more: Evicted deer return to Swiss cemetery
You hardly earn any interest on savings accounts in Switzerland anymore

More

Hardly any interest earned on savings accounts in Switzerland

This content was published on Interest rates on savings accounts in Switzerland have fallen significantly. The brief high in savings interest rates is over, according to a study by online comparison service Moneyland.

Read more: Hardly any interest earned on savings accounts in Switzerland
Nazis

More

Nazi hikers questioned by Swiss police

This content was published on A group of around 25 men in uniforms of the Wehrmacht – the army of Nazi Germany – crossed the Wildhorn massif on Saturday and were questioned by Bern cantonal police.

Read more: Nazi hikers questioned by Swiss police

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR