Social report 2012

Definitions/comments

Referenda: Federal laws, certain other federal decisions and treaties with an unlimited period of validity are subject to an optional referendum: a popular vote takes place if 50,000 signatures of Swiss citizens are collected within 100 days of the publication of the enactment. The number of required signatures was increased from 30,000 to 50,000 in 1977.

Source: Federal Chancellery, political rights (own analysis).