Zurich’s yes makes it an urban vs rural vote
Geneva says no to tax amnesty and single state housing body
Swiss army soldiers: the guns will stay at home
Update 3, 18:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss citizens Sunday 13 February at 16:30 were close to resoundingly rejecting (TSR map) a popular initiative that would end the long-standing practice of keeping military arms at home.
Final official results are in from 25 of 26 cantons: 20 have rejected the initiative and 6 have approved it. Zurich is the latest one in, voting “yes” but in a close vote, approved by 50.4 percent with 49.6 percent saying “no”.
Zurich, Geneva, Basel and canton Vaud with Lausanne have all approved it, turning the vote into an urban versus rural Switzerland divide, as well as a language regions divide.
Bern, however, with its urban and rural mix, rejected the proposed change to gun laws, voting 59.4 percent against it.
The “no” vote in several German-speaking cantons was more than 60 percent and in some cases 70 percent.
Overall, close to the final count coming in, the “no” vote was 57 percent.
Geneva, Vaud, Jura, Neuchatel and Basel City voted in favour of it, with 61 percent in favour in Geneva and 58.9 percent in Basel City while the others were 52-53 percent.
The arguments during the run-up to the vote were often emotional, with the rationale behind the initiative being to reduce the number of deaths and in particular suicides by firearms. But other issues underlay the votes, including state versus federal balance of power, since an approval would have created a national gun registry to replace cantonal ones and it would have made it more difficult to keep arms at home for sports purposes.
Fewer than one-quarter of registered guns in Switzerland are military issue firearms, the government has estimated.
Socialists and Greens as well as a number of church groups supported the initiative but the Federal Council opposed it, saying current legislation is adequate and the problems need to be addressed elsewhere.
Those in favour have argued that the easy accessibility of guns makes suicide too easy: if a gun is not handy many suicides could be avoided.
Some groups against the initiative have argued that tightening the rules would create a black market in guns, which could prove equally dangerous.
Switzerland has the highest rate of suicides by handguns in Europe, 24-28 percent from 1996 to 2005, according to a pre-vote report by Swissinfo. It trails well behind the United States, where the figure is 57 percent, says Swissinfo.
It is not the leading country overall, however: Switzerland, with 3-4 deaths by suicide a day, ranks 20th in the world for suicide according to World Health Organization figures, with 19.1 per 100,000 (USA: 11.1 per 100,000, ranks 40th).
Canton issues: Geneva says no to two initiatives, Bern votes for a nuclear power station
Geneva voters firmly rejected two initiatives, one that would have given a tax amnesty to those who have defrauded the government and another that would have brought under one roof four separate state bodies that are involved in construction for low-income and needy groups.
Bern agreed to a new nuclear power station in Muehleberg while canton Nidwald has said no to storing nuclear waste on its territory, at Wellenberg.
Surprise at Italy's actions
Lugano, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Italian tax authorities raided 76 branches of Swiss banks in 22 cities around Italy, 27 October, ostensibly checking to see whether the institutions were in compliance with reporting requirements on bank operations. Federal Counsellor Pascal Couchepin said on national radio that they “were desperate measures” and suggested that the social contract between the Italian government and its citizens was in “bad shape”.
Italians who travel to Switzerland overland have been subjected to unprecedented border checks, with closed circuit cameras and police dogs at the border. The Italian finance and economy minister, Giulio Tremonti, has said that he wants to “dry up” the banks in Ticino, where it is estimated that most Italians have deposited their money.
