Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nearly 200,000 Iraqis who live outside their country as displaced persons, but in the region, could have help from the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) to vote in upcoming elections. The Geneva-based organization has told the Iraqi Election Commission (IHEC), in response to a demand it made, that the UNHCR “stands ready to facilitate the participation of Iraqi refugees living in the countries neighbouring Iraq.”
The UNHCR will work with the government to provide demographic data on the registered Iraqis, inform them of their rights for the elections, and provide logistical support. The organization calls the 7 March elections “a major opportunity to consolidate national reconciliation.”
The threatened British Air cabin crew strike over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season appears less certain, with the airline saying Wednesday 15 December that it plans to contest the strike vote in court. BA’s argument is that some of those who voted are no longer employed by the airline. The company is meanwhile working out staffing plans should the strike go ahead.
Background on local and national Swiss votes 29 November, GenevaLunch
Update 16:40 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss voters turned Sunday voted to ban the construction of new minarets in the country, with 57.5 percent of voters approving the initiative and 42.5 percent opposed to it. The vote went along language lines, with Swiss Germans voting for the ban and French speakers voting against, although cantons with both languages, such as Valais and Bern, voted soundly to support the ban.
The result is widely seen as a slap in the face to the government, which has strongly opposed the initiative. But it will also be read as a vote against the current situation of Muslims in Switzerland, say most Swiss media. On the one hand, approving the ban will send a signal that the Swiss are worried about “creeping Islamization”, a phrase that was used by the UDC (right-wing People’s Party) during the campaign, and on the other hand, a signal that Muslim ghettoes are not acceptable, reports Swissinfo. The Muslim population has increased by about 350,000 and is now around 4.5 percent of the Swiss population, according to Swissinfo.
Switzerland set to continue arms exports
Voters rejected by 68 percent, early results indicate, a popular initiative to stop Swiss arms exports.
Geneva says yes to Ceva regional transport, Vésenaz tunnel
The years of debate are over for Ceva, the regional transport system that would link Geneva to Annemasse. Voters approved by nearly 62 percent a CHF113 million credit that will allow the project to go ahead. They also approved the covered tunnel for Vésenaz.
Map of incoming results on TSR: “la carte”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The sign in front of the mosque in the Geneva suburb of Petit-Saconnex was covered in pink paint during the night of 25-26 November, reports the Tribune de Genève. It is the third time this month that the site has been a target for vandals and troublemakers: the façade of the mosque was stoned 15 November, and a week earlier a group of right-wing radicals made a false call to prayer at 07:00.
The country votes on whether or not to prohibit the building of minarets in Switzerland Sunday 29 November but some observers believe the vote is more about the changing role of Islam in Swiss society.
Links to other sites: ABC, Australia, Le Temps (Fre), TF1 (Fre), France, Tribune de Geneve (Fre)
Taoiseach (head of government) Brian Cowen Saturday 3 October announced the overwhelmingly positive response of Ireland in its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, with a 67 percent “yes” vote and a voter turnout of 58 percent. The second referendum is a turnabout: 54 percent of voters said no to the treaty in a first referendum in June 2008.
Voting Sunday 27 September
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss voters go to the polls Sunday 27 September to decide on a proposed increase in the value-added tax (VAT) to finance the country’s deeply indebted federal disability insurance scheme. They must also decide on whether to strike down a constitutional right that they approved six years ago.
The first measure is a temporary increase in Switzerland’s VAT, or sales tax, from 7.6 to eight percent. The additional funds will go to finance Switzerland’s disability insurance (AI), which is CHF13 billion in debt – and increasing by CHF4m per day. Currently, the government is dipping into the country’s old age pension (AVS) reserves to finance AI operations.
The VAT increase is scheduled to be limited to seven years, from 2011-2017. This will give the government time, it says, to clean up the AI, plagued by poor management and abuses, and put it on a surer footing for the future. A major consequence of a “yes” vote is that the country’s two big social insurance schemes, AVS and AI, will be separated. If the vote fails, the AVS, and with it the country’s pensioners, runs the risk of slipping into the red in 12 years.
United Auto Workers (UAW) members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a deal that commits Fiat to sharing key technology with the US company and to manufacture a small car in the US. The agreement was essential in order for US government loans to the company to continue. Globe & Mail, Canada
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Vaud’s police are calling for a unified force that would put an end to a practice common in Switzerland, where the cantonal police and municipal police are separate. Voters are likely to be asked to take a stance on the issue in September, reports TSR.
Swiss forest
Appenzell, Switzerland (Independent, UK and International Herald Tribune)- The popularity of hiking in the buff has caught on in the canton of Appenzell, if you believe international media, but not necessarily with support from the local population. Swiss and foreign hikers alike continue to take advantage of the fact that no law currently exists forbidding being naked in public, says the New York Times, whose story, also a feature in the International Herald Tribune, ran around the web like wildfire 17 March. Not so, according to a January report in Britain’s The Independent, which warns wannabe nude hikers that they now risk a CHF200 fine.
