Swiss likely to vote on e-ID

Swiss vote on e-ID likely Keystone-SDA

The Swiss people are set to vote again on the introduction of an electronic identity. The referendum committee announced in Bern on Monday that it had collected more than 60,000 signatures against the e-ID project. The initials still need to be approved.

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A first project was rejected at the ballot box in 2021. The government is now back at it again. Free and optional, the new e-ID should make it possible to apply online for an extract from a criminal record, a driving licence or to prove one’s age when buying alcohol. It is due to come into force in 2026.

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The referendum committee was joined at the press conference by the right-wing Young Swiss People’s Party, the Federal Democratic Union and the anti-Covid movement Friends of the Constitution. It claimed to have more than 60,000 signatures. The speakers criticised the project as “undemocratic”, “useless” and even “dangerous” for the public.

The Mass-Voll anti-vax movement, which is also supporting the referendum, wrote in a separate press release that, with 55,000 signatures, the goal had not yet been reached.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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