Neuchatel gives foreigners a cantonal vote
Neuchatel has become only the second canton in Switzerland to give resident foreigners the right to vote in cantonal, as well as communal, elections.
More than three-quarters (76.6 per cent) of the people who voted in Sunday’s ballot said they were in favour of changing the consitution to broaden the electorate.
Jura is the only other canton to give foreigners such voting rights.
A total of 21,000 foreigners who have lived in canton Neuchatel for a minimum of five years will benefit from the change in legislation. The vast majority of these people are citizens of the European Union.
Voter turnout was 40.8 per cent.
Non-Swiss were given the right to vote in communal elections in Neuchatel in the 19th Century.
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