Six referendums were held in
Switzerland during 2010; three in March on pension funds, animal protection and a constitutional amendment, one in September on unemployment benefits, and two in November on deporting foreign criminals and introducing a canton tax.
Results
March
Voters approved Provision 1, an amendment to the constitution on research on humans.
[
Voters rejected Provision 2, a federal decree on providing enhanced legal protection for animals.][
Voters also rejected Provision 3, a federal law which would change the minimum conversion rate for occupational and disability pension plans.][Election Profile]
IFES
September
The referendum held on 26 September had a single topic, namely the revision of unemployment benefits
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
. The centre and right-wing parties were in favour of the revision, which was undertaken to reduce the debt of the ALV, while the left-wing parties were against it.
The referendum was approved by 53.4% of voters, although only the German-speaking cantons (all of them except Basel-Stadt, which was against it with 50.4%) approved it.
November
The referendum held on 28 November had two issues:
* ''«Für die Ausschaffung krimineller Ausländer»'' ("For the deportation of criminal foreigners"), proposed by the Swiss People's Party, as well as a counterproposal by the other partes; and
* ''«Steuergerechtigkeits-Initiative»'' ("Taxation justice initiative
In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...
") for higher taxes on high incomes and property as well as the introduction of a minimum cantonal tax.
The SVP's federal popular initiative
In Switzerland, a popular initiative (German: ''Volksinitiative'', French: ''Initiative populaire'', Italian: ''Iniziativa popolare'', Romansh: ''Iniziativa dal pievel'') allows the people to suggest law on a national, cantonal, and municipal ...
on deportation was accepted with 52.2% and a majority of cantons in favour, while the counterproposal failed with only 44.5% in favour. Whilst it was not required, the tie-breaker showed a majority of voters against but a majority of cantons for. On 28 February 2016, a follow-up initiative, also launched by the SVP, was rejected by voters.
Withdrawn
In August 2010, family members of a murder victim launched another constitutional amendment initiative to provide for Capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in cases of murder combined with sexual violence. The initiative quickly found itself at the center of public attention and was roundly rejected by political leaders; it was withdrawn a day after its official publication.
References
{{Portal bar, Politics, Switzerland
2010 elections in Switzerland
2010 referendums
2010
Constitutional amendments
Pension referendums
Constitutional referendums in Switzerland