Things are getting tight for the Young Greens. The young party even has the necessary 100,000 signatures for its environmental responsibility initiative launched in August 2021. The collection period ends on February 24.
The initiators collected 132,000 signatures – and thought they were safe. “We actually wanted to submit the initiative in December,” says co-chair Julia Küng (22).
Lots of duplicate signatures
Only a quarter of the signatures are invalid. This is evidenced by evaluations in cities and communities that have already certified the signatures. “That’s very unusual,” says Küng. Typically, five to ten percent of signatures are invalid.
The fact that there are significantly more is also because the signatories did not yet have voting rights. Above all, many would have signed the referendum twice. “In some cities we have 40 to 50 percent invalid votes,” says Küng.
There seems to be a simple explanation for the many duplications. Because most young parties do not have large address files like the SVP, “the same pond is always fished with stand actions or by post”, explains Daniel Graf, founder of the platform WeCollect, on which signatures for initiatives and referenda are collected.
It often happens that sympathizers are asked several times and half a year later no longer remember which request they have already signed. “The high number of duplicate and therefore invalid signatures clearly indicates that people have been grazing on the same spot over and over again.”
Young party is not the only one with the problem
The Young Greens see it the same way. It wasn’t just the pandemic that thwarted them. Sometimes the young company could hardly gather in the street. But above all, the malfunction would have caused many to forget which environmental note they had signed. “Some people have clearly lost the overview. That could have been our downfall,” says Küng. “There were individuals who signed a total of nine times.”
“We now have to start the final sprint again,” she emphasizes. The goal is 135,000 signatures to be sure. 3,000 are still missing. “It would be a disaster if an ecological initiative failed in the collection phase,” says Küng. “But it won’t come that far. I’m sure we’ll make it,” she says confidently.
Basic income initiative before the end
The Young Greens are not alone in the problem. The basic income initiative is coming to an end. Only 65,000 signatures have been collected here. With a safety margin, another 65,000 signatures would be needed by the end of February. “We consider that impossible,” said the initiators.
And even with the fighter jet initiative, the group for a Switzerland without an army had to raise its collection goal several times over the summer to get enough valid signatures. Again many duplicates had appeared.