Much more than in 2019: thousands of Swiss voted incorrectly in October

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It is a great privilege: Switzerland’s direct democracy. The people decide in votes and elections. But some people fail at filling out the ballot. More than 40,000 people submitted an invalid piece of paper in the 2023 elections. This corresponds to more than 1.5 percent of all eligible voters.

In the 2019 election, there were still 29,000 people (1.1 percent) who did not fill out the ballot. So significantly less. The Federal Chancellery now wants to make it clear what the reasons for this are, according to a statement.

The enormous number of candidates and the many list connections will probably have proven to be stumbling blocks. More than 5,900 people wanted to enter the national parliament. A new record. And on more than 600 lists. There are also 80 list connections and 118 sublist connections.

Many lists as election tactics

With the enormous number of candidates, the parties pursued a clear goal: to mobilize voters. Ultimately, the grandmother, the aunt and, at best, the colleague of each candidate must go to the polls – and vote for the candidates who often have no chance, but indirectly and above all for their party. The Center Party in particular stood out in this year’s election campaign with a large number of lists, just like in 2019.

But not all parties like the election tactics. The list connections in particular lead to discussions. Only at the weekend did the SVP decide to challenge this at the delegate meeting. On the grounds that connections would not clearly reflect the will of the voters.

Higher turnout in 2023 elections

FDP President Thierry Burkart (48) had also made critical comments about list connections in the past. But ultimately, citizens are also concerned with power politics. The stronger parties tend to lose through connections, while the smaller ones benefit. For example, the EDU in Zurich would now have one seat less and the SVP one seat more if the connections were not there.

Ultimately, it is not just the list chaos that is responsible for the higher number of invalid ballots. Compared to 2019, more people voted this year: more than 2.6 million. Four years ago there were 2.46 million people. This corresponds to a turnout of 46.7 percent. In 2019 that was 45.1 percent. This meant that almost 150,000 more people voted. And this despite earlier predictions that election turnout should have declined.

Source:Blick