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Voters set to shun ‘Swiss law first’ initiative: poll

Over 60 percent of Swiss voters plan to vote against the right-wing 'Swiss law not foreign judges' initiative on November 25th, according to a new poll.

Published: 14 November 2018 09:01 CET

Voters set to shun 'Swiss law first' initiative: poll

Members of the Swiss People's Party youth wing protest in favour of the 'Swiss law first' initiative in October. Photo: AFP

A total of 61 percent of people said they were “definitely against” or “against” the controversial initiative which would see Swiss law given priority of international law, according to the latest survey by gfs.bern and carried out in the first week of November.

That is six percentage points higher than the last gfs.bern poll from mid-October.

Read also: What you need to know about the 'Swiss law first' initiative

Meanwhile, the number of people who are either “definitely for” or “for” the initiative has fallen from 39 percent to 37 percent in the same period.

The 'Swiss law not foreign judges' initiative, also known as the ‘self-determination' initiative' (SDI) is backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

With the initiative, the SVP wants the role of international law in Switzerland to be greatly reduced so that the country has more control over its own affairs.

The SVP has heavily criticised the Swiss government in recent years for failing to properly implement popular initiatives such as one against mass immigration, which was backed by voters in 2014. Despite voters backing that initiative, Bern implement a watered-down version because it would have contravened Switzerland's free movement agreement with the EU.

The SVP says the current initiative is essential to protect's Switzerland's unique system of political democracy and ensure voters's wishes are respected.

But opponents say the initiative would threaten human rights in Switzerland and create chaos in terms of Switzerland's international relations.

Under the terms of the SDI, Switzerland would be required to apply a strict mechanism to deal with conflicts between international law and the Swiss constitution. This would happen, for example, in cases where voters cast their ballots in favour of popular initiatives that contravene international law.

In such cases, Switzerland would have to try and renegotiate international treaties, and if this is not possible, it would have to pull out of them.

Read also: How Switzerland's direct democracy system works

What's at stake in Switzerland's 'physical integrity' referendum on June 9th?

Four issues in total will be brought to the ballot box on June 9th.

Among the most controversial topics are the two initiatives seeking to curb the cost of the obligatory health insurance — one by capping the premiums at 10 percent of income, and the other by providing a ‘brake’ on health costs, which should evolve according to the economy and wages.

READ ALSO: How Switzerland’s two crucial health insurance referendums could impact you

But there are two other proposals on the agenda as well.

One, titled “For the freedom of physical integrity” was launched by the STOP compulsory vaccination committee of a group called Swiss Freedom Movement.

While it may seem a bit outdated today, this citizen-driven initiative saw the light of day during the Covid pandemic, when the Federal Council had to take some drastic measures — including quarantine and confinement — to protect the population from the virus and prevent the healthcare system, especially hospitals, from being saturated.

This, along with the vaccines introduced at the end of 2020, prompted the group to start colecting enough signatures to challenge these measures in a referendum.

What exactly is it about?

The initiative demands “protection of the body” against interference by the state.

It specifies that the consent of the person concerned must be obtained for invasive procedures that may affect their “physical or mental integrity”, which basically means any medical interventions, like vaccinations, but in practice it goes much further (read more about this below).

The federal government, cantonal health authorities, and health experts in general, recommend that voters reject this proposal, for several reasons.

One is that physical and mental integrity are already protected under the Constitution, which guarantees the right to ‘self-determination’ in matters of health and life in general.

As for vaccinations, whether against the coronavirus or any other diseases, nobody can be forced to be immunised against their will in Switzerland.

Another argument against the initiative is that, if it is passes, it would hinder measures that the government would have to implement to protect the population in case of another pandemic.

But there would be non-medical consequences as well

Since the initiative doesn’t specifically refer to medical interventions but covers generally any actions by the federal government, cantons and communes that involve physical contact, it implies that police would no longer be able to arrest a suspect without his or her authorisation — as such actions would involve physical contact that could impact a person’s mental state.

According to the government, the initiative focuses on individual rights and ignores the overriding public interest.

The initiative therefore goes well beyond vaccination and other health matters, it said.

The fourth issue: electricity supply

Supplying Switzerland with sufficient energy has become a challenge due to International conflicts and the restructuring of the European power grid.

Therefore, a new law sets the ground for Switzerland to rapidly produce more electricity from renewable energy sources such as water, sun, wind, and biomass.

Opponents, however, say that the legislation will be detrimental to environmental causes like the protection of nature, and urge the ‘no’ vote.

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