Because foreigners are not allowed to vote: will the minority soon rule in Basel?

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Anyone who visited the mailbox in recent days often found the gray voting envelope. On March 3, Switzerland will vote on two pension initiatives and several cantons will hold elections. However, the mailbox remains empty for foreigners. In most cantons you are not allowed to vote or vote.

This leads to special situations: in the canton of Basel-Stadt, less than half of the population could soon go to the polls, writes political scientist Eva Gschwind in the scientific blog ‘DeFacto’. Radio SRF reported about it earlier. Gschwind has calculated that only 50.5 percent of the population can vote in cantonal elections. “Basel-Stadt is even in danger of falling below the 50 percent limit.”

Geneva lets people vote with help

The problem mainly occurs in cantons with many foreign immigrants. The canton of Geneva is at the top. However, here 53 percent of the local population is allowed to go to the polls, Gschwind explains. The canton benefits from the fact that “three years ago it granted voting rights to approximately 1,200 people who received extensive support.”

Things are going slightly better in national elections because, unlike cantonal decisions, Swiss abroad are allowed to have a say in the canton, as shown by figures from the Federal Statistical Office, which Blick has at its disposal.

“The share of people who never have a voting or election envelope in their mailbox is too high to ignore,” Gschwind writes. Foreign voting rights offer the greatest potential for new voters. In fact, this is becoming a problem in more and more cantons – not just in the canton of Basel-Stadt, where the government now has to make proposals.

“I saw it as a gift”

Although about 65 percent of the population in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden is allowed to have a say, the canton council on Monday evening discussed the right to vote for foreigners as part of a new constitution. Jens Weber (55, SP) himself benefited from the voting rights of foreigners at municipal level. “I saw it as a gift,” he says. “Our democracy needs more people to participate.”

The SVP is against the application. They were afraid that the entire constitution would collapse if it included voting rights for foreigners, says Max Slongo (23, SVP). Critical voices also came from FDP cantonal councilor Daniel Bühler (55). “Anyone who wants to vote must also do the country a service.” Naturalization is also often mentioned as an alternative to voting rights for foreigners. But this comes at high costs.

In fact, the parliament in Appenzell Ausserrhoden initially said yes to the right to vote for foreigners. For now, because there will be a second reading in the Council. Then there will be a referendum.

Only two cantons

The canton of Valais will also have to deal with it on March 3. The waves are rising there too. Fearing that this would cause the entire constitution to fail, the question was simply ignored. The residents of Valais can choose a variant – something that is also conceivable in Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

So far, only two cantons, Neuchâtel and Jura, have cantonal voting rights for foreigners. About three-quarters of the population there, namely 73.6 percent in the Jura and 77.7 percent in Neuchâtel, has a say. In some communities, foreigners also have a voting envelope in their mailbox for local votes. And even those who are not allowed to vote – at least they also receive the envelope with the tax return.

Source:Blick