Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Two days after vote Sunday, political results are still making the news in Switzerland, including the apparent election of a rabbit to the local parliament in Moutier. This and the rest of the day’s stories in Tuesday’s briefing.
In the news: asylum requests back to pre-pandemic levels, and pension reform plans set for a referendum.
- The number of asylum requests in Switzerland rose by 35% in 2021, returning to pre-Covid levels after a drop in 2020. In total, 14,928 applied last year, with the increase primarily due to “less drastic” travel restrictions, authorities said today. Requests were mainly from people from Afghanistan, Turkey, Eritrea, Syria and Algeria. This year officials expect around 16,500 asylum applications.
- A much-vaunted overhaul to the country’s pension system is set to face a public vote. Left-wing parties and trade unionists said on Tuesday they had gathered double the necessary 50,000 signatures to bring a nationwide referendum. The pension reform, which notably includes raising the retirement age of women from 64 to 65, is backed by government, parliament, and the country’s biggest business association.
Democratic anarchy: what happens when you let everyone vote for anyone.
While the political focus on Sunday was mainly on four national votes, there were also some local elections – including in Moutier, the town that decided last March to jump from canton Bern to Jura. And to replace the 13 pro-Bern deputies who since stood down in protest, the democratic exercise on Sunday was unique: the town’s 4,372 voters could choose among… 4,372 candidates. For various reasons, not least the fact that Moutier wasn’t keen on organising elections in the first place, all registered voters were eligible in a free-for-all ballot – whether they wanted to be or not.
It worked out well for some. 20 Minuten reportsExternal link on the 22-year-old politics student who came out as the top candidate (with 441 votes) after simply “asking his friends and [presumably massive] family to pick him”. The Greens, who weren’t represented in the local parliament before now, managed to get a member elected. A local restaurant owner also got in, writes the NZZExternal link, no doubt thanks to dressing up as a rabbit (see photo) in a bid to “de-dramatise politics”. Joe Biden, Lucky Luke, and Snow White also got some votes, despite not being resident in Moutier.
One person who will not be taking up his seat however is Patrick Dujany. “Duja”, a presenter on Swiss public radio RTS, came in 13th place after satirical magazine La Torche 2.0 called on people to vote for him, even though he had no such aspirations. And while Duja was delighted by the result, his employer was not; journalistic impartiality means he really shouldn’t be getting involved in politics, RTS decided. “The dream didn’t even hold 24 hours,” said Duja. For the other new deputies, it won’t last a whole lot longer; a general election is planned in Moutier for November.
Angry birds: a hawk is called in to fight the crows, while an eagle takes on (literally) an ibex.
To battle the noise and poo of its rapidly-growing rook population, the town of Yverdon-les-Bains has employed a hawk, RTS reportsExternal link. Bruno (for that is the hawk’s name) is trained to frighten crows (who don’t have names) by flying into their trees and scaring them off. Yverdon, which has been struggling with rooks for decades, hopes Bruno will be able to do the job after various other strategies failed. If he doesn’t, they might consider heavier reinforcements: this golden eagleExternal link, spotted in canton Valais recently and also featured on RTS today – if (s)he is able to carry off an ibex, then a few dozen crows shouldn’t be too much of a problem…
Drug trafficking in Switzerland: ‘Resilient’ in the face of Covid-19.
Less travel, more home office, less social contact, more mental problems, less immigration, more welfare spending – the pandemic changed everything, we hear. RTS reports External linkhowever that one sector has been remarkably “resilient”. Neither the volume nor the quality of recreational drugs like cocaine fell in Switzerland during the pandemic, according to experts, some of whom had feared that more dangerous products would move in to fill supply gaps. How did savvy dealers adapt to the “new normal”? They changed strategy: by relying less on air trafficking (there were fewer seizures at Zurich airport) and more on sea-routes (volumes at ports in northern Europe have ballooned). A flexibility and ingenuity driven by the strong “competition between different drug dealers”, experts say.
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