Cantonal votes BS Basel-Stadt clearly backs the Eurovision Song Contest

The voters of Basel-Stadt have approved the canton's expenditure of CHF 37.5 million for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2025. This was with a 66.6 percent share, as announced by the State Chancellery on Sunday.

The 37.5 million francs are earmarked for the supporting program, infrastructure and security at the major event, among other things. The Basel government is assuming net expenditure of 35 million francs, as it expects income of 2.5 million from the "Arena Plus" public viewing event in the St. Jakob-Park stadium. The vote came about after the small EDU party launched a referendum against the Grand Council's decision to approve the expenditure.

On the other hand, voting rights for foreign nationals were rejected. According to the final result, 55.6 percent rejected the corresponding constitutional amendment. This would have allowed people with a C residence permit and who have lived in the country for at least five years to be granted the right to vote at cantonal level. Basel-Stadt would have been the first canton in German-speaking Switzerland with such a regulation.

The third cantonal proposal, the "Initiative for more musical diversity", met with an even clearer rejection. This was rejected by 64.4 percent. The referendum demanded that independent musicians receive one third of the cantonal funding for music each year.

SDA