2024-03-03 18:34:02
A large majority of Swiss people voted against Parliament’s recommendation: There should be a 13th pension payment per year for retirees. According to the final result, 58.2 percent of those eligible to vote voted “yes” in the referendum. The Swiss television presenter spoke of it as a sensation because no left-wing popular initiative for social expansion has ever been successful since the right of initiative was introduced more than 130 years ago.
Swiss unions had put forward a proposal to help older people cope with rising living costs through additional pension payments. The pensioners’ association “Avivo” spoke of a “historic day” for pensioners.
Popular initiatives must be accepted not only by the majority of the entire population, but also by the majority of the 26 cantons. Because there are many smaller cantons in which a majority of the population is often against additional state benefits or requirements, many popular initiatives fail at this point. According to the final result, this hurdle was also overcome. Voter turnout was unusually high at 57.6 percent.
Proposal to increase the retirement age failed
The population could also vote on whether the retirement age should be increased from 65 to 66 over a period of ten years. This proposal clearly failed with 74.7 percent voting against. The initiative came from the youth organization of the Liberal Party.
Among the many regional and local votes in the canton of Zurich was whether two runways at the local airport could be extended. It is close to the German border. The vote was approved with 61.7 percent of the vote.
High participation by postal vote
In connection with the votes on pensions, the municipalities reported an unusually high proportion of postal voters. It was more than 90 percent nationwide.
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