Three referendums were held in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

during 1898. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1905 The first was held on 20 February on a federal law that would nationalise the railways, and was approved by a majority of voters, leading to the establishment of

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

in 1902. The second and third referendums were held on 13 November on revising article 64 and adding article 64bis to the constitution, both of which were approved by a majority of voters and cantons.

Background

The referendums on the constitutional amendments were

mandatory referendum A mandatory referendum, also known as an obligatory referendum, is a referendum that is legally required to be held under specific circumstances. This is in contrast to an optional referendum, which comes from either by public or legislative ...

s, which required a double majority; a majority of the popular vote and majority of the cantons.Nohlen & Stöver, p1891 The decision of each canton was based on the vote in that canton. Full cantons counted as one vote, whilst half cantons counted as half. The railways referendum was an

optional referendum The optional referendum is a referendum which comes from a request by governmental authorities or the public. The best known types of optional referendums is the popular initiative to request a law, and the popular (or abrogative) referendum ...

, which required only a majority of the public vote.

Results

Railway nationalisation

Amendment to article 64 of the constitution

Addition of article 64bis to the constitution

References

{{Portal bar, Politics, Switzerland 1898 referendums 1898 in Switzerland Referendums in Switzerland