Most Swiss expats to lose e-voting access in parliament elections
Swiss citizens overseas registered for e-voting in the cantons of Geneva, Bern, Aargau and Lucerne will not be able to vote electronically in the national parliament elections in October.
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/ac
Español
es
Reducen acceso a e-voting en vísperas de comicios federales
The canton of Geneva has decided to accelerate the phasing out of the voting platform used by these cantons until now.
Geneva had earlier announced that it was shelving its CHVote platform (developed in 2003) due to cost reasons. However, it said that it would keep the platform going until February 2020.
But it has now decided to deactivate CHVote earlier than originally anticipated, leaving some users unable to vote electronically in the parliamentary elections in October. This decision was taken in agreement with the cantons of Bern, Aargau and Lucerne, which have been using CHVote since 2010.
The abandonment of Geneva’s e-voting platform will leave Swiss Post, the state-owned postal service, as the sole digital voting provider in Switzerland. Fribourg, Basel, Neuchâtel and Thurgau currently use the platform while St Gallen and Bern (which have been dependent on CHVote) have also indicated they might join.
However, the Swiss Post platform is not without its problems. It could not be used for voting in May after public intrusion tests identified critical errors. The Federal Chancellery must decide on the next steps regarding the future of e-voting.
More
More
Geneva shelves e-voting platform on cost grounds
This content was published on
A recent test by hackers found security vulnerabilities in the Geneva system, but according to RTS this was not the reason for the cantonal authorities wanting to ditch its e-voting platform. The RTS report on Wednesday said the authorities did not want to continue investing in revising and improving the system which had cost CHF2…
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
This content was published on
Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
This content was published on
Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
This content was published on
New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
This content was published on
In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
This content was published on
Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
This content was published on
Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
This content was published on
From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
This content was published on
Next year, Swiss authorities will put one of the country’s two e-voting systems up for attack by hackers – with a prize on offer for breaking it.
How risky are flawed e-voting systems for democracy?
This content was published on
A leading data protection expert has warned of security breaches if the government’s plan to introduce e-voting at a nationwide level goes ahead.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.