Votes Council of States committee launches investigations into forged signatures

The Control Committee of the Council of States (CPC-S) has launched investigations in connection with the alleged forgery of signatures for popular initiatives. The focus is on the role of the Federal Chancellery.

At the beginning of the week, a Tamedia investigation revealed that commercial companies had allegedly cheated when collecting signatures for popular initiatives. Allegedly thousands of forged signatures, false addresses, dates of birth and copied names were involved. The Office of the Attorney General is investigating.

Based on this information, the GPK-S examined the need for action on the part of parliamentary oversight and affirmed it, the Parliamentary Services announced on Friday. It is being clarified "whether and how the Federal Chancellery performed its duties in this area". As a first step, the responsible subcommittee of the GPK-S will hear the Federal Chancellery on this matter in the near future.

National Council committee also wants clarity

On Thursday, the National Council's State Policy Committee (SPK-N) had already demanded clarity. It invited the National Council's Control Committee (GPK-N) to investigate the case in more detail. The GPK-N investigation should show where problems lie and where the SPK-N could take action if necessary.

The committee also discussed various proposals for legislative amendments, but rejected these for the time being. The various criminal investigations should be awaited first.

On Thursday's "Tagesgespräch" on Swiss Radio SRF, Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi announced that the collection of signatures would be monitored more closely. At present, there is no overview of how many forged signatures have been detected at municipal level. They want to get a better picture of this. The law enforcement authorities could then take targeted action.