New naturalisation

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The foreign vote

Foreigners don’t always need a Swiss passport to have their say in local affairs in Switzerland.

Those who have been resident for a certain number of years are entitled to vote in local elections in cantons Neuchâtel, Jura, Fribourg, Vaud and Geneva.

In Neuchâtel and Jura they can also vote on cantonal issues. In Neuchâtel, Fribourg and Vaud foreigners can also stand in local communal elections.

The situation is very different in German-speaking Switzerland, where only a handful of communes in Appenzell Outer Rhodes, Basel City and Graubünden allow foreigners to vote.

In European Union countries, the 1992 Maastricht Treaty granted citizens from other EU states the right to vote and run for office in local and European elections.

In national law, the situation regarding non-EU citizens varies from one country to another. Some EU states, including Portugal, grant voting rights to citizens of other countries, but only if such rights are reciprocated.

People’s initiative

If a Swiss citizen or a group of citizens can collect and hand in to the Federal Chancellery at least 100,000 signatures in favour of the amendment within 18 months, this “people’s initiative” must be put to a nationwide vote.
After the cabinet and parliament have discussed it – which can take several years – the initiative goes forward to a popular vote.
Only 15 people’s initiatives in modern Swiss history have been accepted at the ballot box.
More than 70 initiatives failed to get the necessary number of signatures for a vote.
About 150 initiatives were rejected by voters, others were withdrawn or declared invalid.