Federal Supreme Court Complaint deadline for private intervention in election campaign clarified
An appeal against the intervention of a private actor in an election campaign may await the announcement of the result. This was decided by the Federal Supreme Court in connection with critical media reports in the Geneva State Council election of 2023.
09.08.2024, 12:00
SDA
The reports concerned Philippe Morel from the Mouvement Citoyen Genevois (MCG), who came ninth in the second round of voting and was not elected. After the results were published on May 3, a citizen of Geneva called for the election to be annulled in view of the media hype surrounding Morel.
In a ruling published on Friday, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that interventions by private individuals do not constitute a "violation of the electoral process" under cantonal law, for which a deadline of six days applies. On this point, it found in favor of the appellant.
As a result, however, the contested cantonal ruling is not objectionable according to the Federal Supreme Court. An election is only annulled in exceptional cases and is not justified in the present case.
