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SWISS REFERENDUM

Zurich to vote on improving naturalisation requirements

On Sunday, May 15th, Zurich voters will head to the polls to vote on making naturalisation easier for the estimated 350,000 foreigners who live there, along with three other canton-specific questions. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 12 May 2022 09:58 CEST
Updated: 14 May 2022 09:40 CEST
Zurich voters will cast their ballots on easier naturalisation. Photo by ANDY MUELLER / EQ IMAGES / AFP
Zurich voters will cast their ballots on easier naturalisation. Photo by ANDY MUELLER / EQ IMAGES / AFP

Sunday, May 15th, sees the latest round of Swiss referenda. 

On a federal level, three questions are up for consideration: Netflix and streaming, organ donation rules and Frontex. More information on these votes are available at the following links. 

READ MORE: What is the ‘Netflix vote’ and how could it change TV in Switzerland?

EXPLAINED: What Switzerland’s ‘organ donation’ vote means for you

Frontex: How Switzerland’s ‘border vote’ on May 15th could impact travel

There are also dozens of referendum questions being asked at a cantonal level all across the country. 

What is on the ballot in Zurich on May 15th?

In addition to the above federal votes, there will be several other issues put to the voters in the canton of Zurich on Sunday. 

Perhaps the most relevant for Local readers is the referendum on improving the naturalisation process, including making the system uniform across each of the canton’s 162 municipalities. 

Detailed information is available at the following link. 

EXPLAINED: How Zurich wants to make naturalisation easier

Zurich voters will also decide on lowering the voting age from 18 to 16. 

This would make it only the second canton to have lowered the voting age from 18 to 16, following on from Glarus, who did so in 2007. 

Referendum: Zurich to vote on lower voting age

Another question for voters to consider is putting the commitment to curb climate change in the cantonal constitution. 

According to the Zurich government “the planned new constitutional article defines the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality, or “net zero” for short.”

“It gives the canton and the municipalities a binding mandate to work towards limiting climate change and its effects. It also defines the fields of action for measures and creates the basis for the promotion of suitable technologies, materials and processes.”

The fourth question for Zurich voters to consider looks to expand parental leave. 

Currently, mothers are entitled to 14 weeks maternity leave and fathers two weeks in Switzerland. 

Under the Zurich plan, both parents would be entitled to 18 weeks of parental leave, provided they live in the canton of Zurich. 

Parents who work in Zurich but do not live in Zurich will be entitled to 14 weeks each, rather than 18. 

The plan will be funded by additional employer and employee contributions. 

More information about all of the questions can be found here (in German). 

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ZURICH

Growth spurt: What Zurich needs to do to accommodate 2 million residents

Switzerland's biggest city Zurich is becoming more densely populated. With the population expected to pass the 2 million mark in the coming years authorities are devising plans to make it liveable for new residents.

Published: 29 April 2024 15:08 CEST
Growth spurt: What Zurich needs to do to accommodate 2 million residents

At the end of 2023, over 1.6 million people lived in Zurich, Switzerland’s most populous canton.

But this number is far from static.

The population is continuing to grow — so much so, that it will reach the 2-million mark in the coming years, cantonal authorities said in a press release.

This means an increase of around 450,000 people within the next two decades — a 28-percent growth rate, which is “significantly higher than the Swiss average.”

The primary reason for this hike, accounting for 49 percent of the increase, is immigration, followed by births (44 percent) and, to a lesser degree (7 percent), people moving to Zurich from other Swiss regions

On one hand, this is good news because “it is evidence of the canton’s attractiveness and economic prosperity,” authorities pointed out.

On the other, however, this demographic evolution will create a number of new problems and exacerbate the already existing ones.

That is why “strategic decisions are needed on how to handle challenges facing various areas,”  cantonal officials said.

‘Dealing with consequences’

With this ‘growth spurt,’ Zurich will experience many of the same challenges as Switzerland on the whole will, as demographers are expecting the country’s population to swell to 10 million (from the current 9 million) people in the coming years. 

Just as the federal government has started to think about the best ways to prepare the country’s infrastructure for the growing numbers, Zurich’s authorities too will be “shaping this growth” and “dealing with its consequences.”

To achieve this goal, they have launched the ‘Growth 2050” project to begin in the summer, which will  examine “which approach is most suitable for strategically addressing the challenges ahead,” according to the press release.

What exactly does this mean?

While the project’s findings will not be made public until 2027, authorities will have to ensure that Zurich’s infrastructure, such as housing, public transport, as well as school and healthcare systems, will not crumble under pressure, but be able to function optimally — from both the financial and practical perspectives — in the new context.

While all these areas are important, in Zurich’s case, housing appears to be a particular problem as more residents move into the canton.

With  tens of thousands of foreign nationals having settled in Zurich in the past few years, for instance, affordable housing had become scarcer — a situation that has continued to deteriorate and is expected to grow worse as more residents continue to arrive in the future.

READ ALSO: Zurich hit by affordable housing shortage amid record-high immigration

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