A referendum on the approval of expenditure for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2025 The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Basel, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the with the song "The Code (Nemo song), The Code" by Nemo (singer), Nemo. Organised ...

was held in the

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

canton in Switzerland on 24 November 2024. In August of that year,

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

was announced as the host city of Eurovision 2025, with the

Grand Council of Basel-Stadt The Grand Council of Basel-Stadt () is the legislature of the canton of Basel-Stadt, in Switzerland. Basel-Stadt has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council has 100 seats, with members elected every four years. Members of the canton's execu ...

approving a expenditure in September. The Federal Democratic Union party successfully launched a signature drive to hold a referendum on the funding. Basel-Stadt voters approved the referendum, with 66.57% eventually voting in favour of granting the expenditure.

Background

The

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

was won by Swiss singer Nemo with their song " The Code". On 30 August 2024, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

selected

as the host city for the

, with the event to be held at St. Jakobshalle. Simultaneously, the government of

canton announced it would submit the funding proposal to the

for approval. The Federal Democratic Union (EDU) had promised to launch referenda to potentially block funding proposals in any city that agreed to host the song contest prior to the August announcement. The Grand Council approved the funding proposal, which would set aside for Eurovision, on 11 September. The vote was approved with 87 in favour and 4 against, with 4 abstentions. Signature collection for the referendum began on 14 September, with 2,000 certified signatures being required by 26 October. 4,203 signatures were submitted by the 26 October deadline. The EDU opposed Basel organising the Eurovision Song Contest due to its belief that Eurovision was a "propaganda event", with EDU legislator Samuel Kullmann stating that the 2024 contest was a "celebration of evil". Particular attention was noted to that year's Bambie Thug, with Kullman arguing Bambie Thug's performance was "overtly

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

to a very, very high degree", and protests around Israel's participation in the event due to the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, which EDU officials labelled

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Imagery of Bambie Thug was featured prominently in the EDU's campaign. While the EDU is generally considered a minor political party, some factions of the larger

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

(SVP) offered their support to the EDU's efforts.

Marcel Dettling Marcel Dettling (born 1 February 1981) is a Swiss farmer and politician. He currently serves as a member of the National Council (Switzerland), Swiss National Council for the Swiss People's Party since 2015. He currently also serves as the vice pr ...

, president of the SVP, argued that the money appropriated for Eurovision would "be better donated to those seriously affected by the storms than wasted on this embarrassing rainbow event", following extreme weather events in the summer of 2024. Within the canton of Basel-Stadt, the EDU was noted to have a minute level of support, with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reporting that fewer than 300 voters in Basel city supported the party at the

2023 Swiss federal election Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 22 October 2023 to elect all members of the National Council (Switzerland), National Council and Council of States (Switzerland), Council of States. The elections were followed by 2023 Swiss Federal ...

. Members of the EDU travelled from outside the canton in order to solicit the required signatures. Edi Estermann, a spokesperson for the

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (; ; ; ; SRG SSR) is the Swiss public broadcasting association, founded in 1931, the holding company of 24 radio and television channels. Headquartered in Bern, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is a non-pro ...

, stated that the referendum introduced "a certain amount of planning uncertainty", and that if it were to succeed in blocking funding, funding for the Eurovision Song Contest "would have to be greatly reduced". The Executive Council and Grand Council both advised a Yes vote on the referendum.

Results

With a 57% turnout, 66.6% of voters supported the proposal, allowing the funding to be spent on financing the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

By municipality

All three municipalities voted in favour.

References

{{notelist 2024 referendums Referendums in Switzerland November 2024 in Switzerland 21st century in Basel Eurovision Song Contest 2025