Switzerland Today – vote edition
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The polls have closed and the results are in. Voter turnout stood at around 47%, while specific participation details for the Swiss Abroad will be calculated and published next week.
Both of Switzerland’s federal initiatives were clearly rejected at the ballot box on Sunday. For the neutrality initiative, defeat had been on the cards for some time. But the food security initiative had a much stronger support base in the first Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) opinion poll in August. It proved short-lived, however, with the proposal attracting little political backing and several environmental groups withdrawing their support.
In this special vote Sunday briefing, we also look at several interesting cantonal results: from free contraception in Geneva and assisted suicide in Zurich to measures against football-related violence in Lucerne.
Sunny regards from Switzerland's political capital.
Swiss voters want no major overhaul of the country’s neutrality policy: the proposal to enshrine a stricter definition in the constitution was clearly rejected at the ballot box.
The neutrality initiative was rejected by around 70% of voters. It also failed to win a majority in any canton.
For members of the committee opposing the initiative, the result avoided a situation in which Switzerland would have “isolated itself internationally and massively weakened its own security”.
For the Swiss People’s Party, the only major party to support the proposal, the result raises questions about how Switzerland will communicate its interpretation of neutrality internationally. “We will have a lot of explaining to do in future,” says Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Monika Rüegger.
The result will be watched beyond Switzerland’s borders. Norbert Lins, chair of a European Parliament delegation handling relations with Switzerland, welcomed the rejection, saying it would avoid “additional obstacles to our foreign and security policy cooperation”.
Opponents of the initiative argued during the campaign that the current interpretation of neutrality gives Switzerland greater flexibility in its foreign policy, including the ability to cooperate within international security frameworks and adopt international sanctions.
Radical-Liberal Party parliamentarian Heinz Theiler said the result shows that Swiss voters have “clearly stated that they want neutrality as we have practised it for 200 years”.
And with voting barely over, politicians are already looking ahead. Theiler says the result also underlines the need for a strong Swiss army and domestic arms industry, pointing to the upcoming vote on a reform of the War Materiel Act at the end of November.
The food security initiative was also clearly rejected at the ballot box, with more than 70% voting against the proposal.
That represents a significant turnaround from the first SBC poll in August, when the two camps were almost neck and neck: 49% of those surveyed had opposed the initiative and 47% had backed it.
Urs Furrer, director of the Swiss Business Federation, welcomed the clear rejection, saying voters had “realised that it cannot be that the state dictates everything to them down to the last detail, even what goes on their plate”.
Opponents argued the initiative’s target of raising Switzerland’s net food self-sufficiency rate to 70% could only have been achieved through substantial intervention in production and consumption. They also warned of higher food prices, increased cross-border shopping and potential risks for Switzerland’s trade policy.
The initiative ultimately attracted little political support. Even some environmental organisations that had initially backed the proposal later distanced themselves from it. Nature conservation group Pro Natura said the initiative failed to trigger the “urgently needed, broad discussion about the future of the Swiss food system”.
Voters in canton Zurich have backed new rules requiring all retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and rehabilitation clinics to allow assisted suicide on their premises.
The change, approved by around two-thirds of voters, expands the obligation to private institutions. Psychiatric facilities and prisons remain exempt.
Supporters of the change, including the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and The Centre, argued that it strengthens individual self-determination at the end of life.
Several other cantons already regulate access to assisted suicide in care institutions, although the scope of those rules differs. Zurich’s new legislation goes further by also covering private retirement and nursing homes.
The issue has previously reached the Federal Court. More than a decade ago, a Christian organisation challenged a similar law in canton Neuchâtel. The court acknowledged that the requirement interfered with the institution’s religious freedom, but found that the right of residents to self-determination outweighed it.
There is also a financial side to the assisted-suicide debate. Every assisted suicide in Switzerland requires a medical and legal investigation, which generates costs for the authorities. Canton Solothurn has introduced a system under which video evidence provided by a right-to-die organisation can replace an on-site investigation in certain cases. This can reduce the cost of the post-mortem investigation to between CHF1,000 ($1,110) and CHF2,000 per case, with the bill paid by the organisation.
The number of assisted suicides in Switzerland has also continued to rise. In 2025, 1,421 people made use of Exit Switzerland’s services in the German- and Italian-speaking parts of the country, up from 1,235 in 2024.
Geneva has made Swiss history by becoming the first canton to approve universal coverage of contraception costs.
Around 58% of voters backed the proposal, which requires the canton to establish a legal framework to provide recognised forms of contraception free of charge, regardless of age or income.
These include the pill, intrauterine devices (IUDs), implants, injections, patches, vaginal rings, the morning-after pill and condoms.
Supporters argued that the measure would ensure a fairer sharing of costs that currently fall mainly on women.
Crackdown on football hooligans and several other interesting results across Switzerland.
In canton Lucerne, voters backed both an initiative against violence surrounding football matches as well as the government’s less restrictive counterproposal. In the deciding question, voters preferred the counterproposal.
This means mandatory ID checks will not be introduced across the board. Instead, high-risk matches will require individual permits, while a legal basis will be created for police video surveillance during fan marches and at stadium entrances to help identify individual offenders.
Meanwhile, voters in canton Basel City rejected a proposal seeking tougher measures against unlawful behaviour at demonstrations, including making those responsible for violence or damage liable for certain policing costs and damage.
And in canton Graubünden, voters clearly rejected lowering the cantonal voting age to 16. Glarus therefore remains the only Swiss canton where 16- and 17-year-olds can vote at cantonal level.
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