Popular initiative
Anyone who has the right to vote in Switzerland can launch or sign a popular initiative to amend the Constitution. For a vote to be held on a popular initiative, 100,000 valid signaturesmust be collected within a period of 18 months.
Popular initiatives were introduced at federal level in 1891. 234 have been voted on since then. 26 have been accepted.
As of 31 December 2024, 13 initiatives were at the signature-gathering stage, 18 were pending before the Federal Council or Parliament and 1 was ready to be put to a vote.
Optional referendum
To bring a decision made by Parliament to a vote (e.g. to stop a new law from passing), anyone who has the right to vote can launch an optional referendum. To do so, they must collect 50,000 valid signatures within 100 days. An optional referendum is also held upon request by eight cantons (‘referendum requested by the cantons’).
The optional referendum was introduced in 1874. 216 have been held since then; 91 of the proposals were rejected by voters.
As of 31 December 2024, the referendum period was running for 18 federal acts and decrees.
Effects of initiatives and referendums
Even if most initiatives fail and only very few laws are stopped by a referendum, these two instruments can still have a major impact:
- They lead to public discussions on the topics they involve.
- They can influence legislation: groups that are likely to launch a referendum are taken into consideration in the drafting of new laws.
- The Federal Council and Parliament will sometimes make counter-proposals to initiatives, to address the initiative’s concerns in a different way.
