Voting in Switzerland is the process by which Swiss citizens make decisions about governance and elect officials. Voting takes place over the weekend, with emphasis being put on the Sunday ("Abstimmungssonntag" in German). At noon on that day, voting ends.
Switzerland's voting system is unique among modern democratic nations in that Switzerland practices direct democracy (also called half-direct democracy), in which any citizen may challenge any law at any time. In addition, in most cantons all votes are cast using paper ballots that are manually counted.
Approximately four times a year, voting occurs over various issues; these include both Referendums, where policies are directly voted on by people, and elections, where the populace votes for officials. Federal, cantonal and municipal issues are polled simultaneously, and the majority of people cast their votes by mail.
Voter turnout in parliamentary elections saw a continuous decline since the 70s, down to an all-time low of 42.2% in 1995. In recent years however, voter participation has been slowly growing again and was at 48.5% in 2011. The average turnout for referendums was at 49.2% in 2011. Initiatives of little public appeal sometimes cause participation of less than 30% of the electorate, but controversial issues such as a proposed abolition of the swiss army or a possible accession of Switzerland into the European Union have seen turnouts over 60%.
Read more about Voting In Switzerland: Voting Procedures, Municipal Voting, Voting Qualifications
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