Against popular election of the government: the country is doing it just like Switzerland

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More than ten years ago, the Swiss electorate did the same to the Liechtensteiners: in 2013, 76.3 percent rejected an SVP initiative calling for the popular election of the Federal Council. Instead, the Federal Assembly elects the seven members of government.

The people of Liechtenstein also want to continue to leave the election of their state government to parliament. The government’s initiative for a popular election was clearly rejected by voters on Sunday. Although not as strong as it used to be in this country, but still a whopping 68 percent no.

4,380 voters voted in favor of the popular initiative “Inclusion of the people in the appointment of the government”, while 9,309 voted against, as shown on the website of the Liechtenstein government. Voter turnout in the elections was 66.5 percent.

Small party launched initiative

The popular initiative was launched by the small party Democrats for Liechtenstein. She demanded that the head of government and the four other members of the government be elected directly by the people instead of by parliament as before.

The prince’s rights in the “constitutional hereditary monarchy on a democratic-parliamentary basis” would not have been affected if these had been accepted. He would still have had the final say.

Opponents of the initiative warned of shifts in power within the state structure. A government appointed by the people would be considerably stronger than parliament. At the same time, a directly elected head of government would be in a stronger position than today compared to the prince. This creates the potential for conflict, the impact of which on the country’s political stability cannot be predicted.

The initiators had unsuccessfully campaigned for systemic change by expanding the rights of democratic people. Your argument that popular elections could be used to elect the most capable people into government, regardless of party political strategies, was flawed.

New popular initiative in Switzerland

While the issue of electing a government has been decided in the country, it is once again up for discussion in Switzerland. The members of the Federal Council should be confirmed to office every two years through a confirmation election by the people and the cantons. This is what a new people’s initiative from the Swiss Freedom Movement (FBS) is calling for, which was launched last year.

However, this cannot be done through a direct popular election of the Federal Council, as it would still be elected by parliament. However, the initiators would like to add the following to constitutional article 145 on term of office: “The members of the Federal Council must be confirmed in office every two years in a confirmation election by the people and the cantons. The confirmation is made by the majority of the people and the cantons.” This means that individual federal council members can be removed from office through a vote. (Russia/SDA)

Source:Blick