Signature scandal Federal Chancellery discovers new dimension of electoral fraud

The scandal surrounding forged signatures for referendums is reaching new dimensions: Thousands of invalid signatures were discovered in the supply initiative. Is there an organized forgery campaign behind this?

The scandal surrounding forged signatures for referendums continues to spread. Following stricter controls, the Federal Chancellery has discovered a total of 3626 invalid signatures on the so-called supply initiative.

Strikingly, 3308 of these signatures come from the canton of Geneva. This heightens the suspicion of a professional forgery campaign. This is reported by the "Tages Anzeiger".

A new dimension of electoral fraud?

Normally, formal errors are the reason for invalid signatures, such as missing information from the committee. But in this case, according to lawyer Andreas Faller from the initiative committee, forensic analyses show: "The information was obviously provided by the same person."

The Office of the Attorney General is already investigating several cases of electoral fraud, and criminal proceedings are also pending in this case.

The health care initiative, which aims to oblige the federal government to promote and ensure medical care in Switzerland, received 108,709 valid signatures - just over the required threshold of 100,000.

The Federal Chancellery emphasizes that the invalidity rate of 3.2% is well above the average of the last ten years, which is between 0.2% and 2%.

Focus on Geneva

The canton of Geneva is particularly under suspicion. The Federal Chancellery had already identified irregularities in previous initiatives, but never on this scale. While Geneva points out that checks by municipalities can only verify the home address and date of birth, experts criticize the lack of a national register of signatures, which would make forgery more difficult.

The Geneva authorities themselves had already reported an unusually high proportion of invalid signatures and alerted the Federal Chancellery. During its additional checks, the Federal Chancellery discovered that the signatures in question often came from collection companies.

One Zurich-based company in particular, Sammelplatz Schweiz, came under suspicion. Although the company boasts on its website that it has "0 legally disputed signatures", several of the disputed details are said to have been collected via partner companies in western Switzerland.

Better control thanks to the dual control principle

After the allegations came to light in September, the control system was tightened, including a mandatory dual control principle. Nevertheless, questions remain unanswered: Should Geneva have recognized the allegedly forged signatures itself? The State Chancellery defends itself, but points to the inherent weakness of the verification mechanisms.

For lawyer Faller, however, one thing is clear: "Our initiative was more than clearly declared valid despite the strictest checks." He sees this as confirmation of the democratic legitimacy of the issue.

Is a voting scandal looming?

The revelations shed a worrying light on past and future votes. Is it possible that the Swiss people have voted on initiatives that were not legitimately brought about? Particularly critical are proposals that only just passed the 100,000 signature mark and contain many entries from French-speaking Switzerland.

The Federal Chancellery is sticking to its previous statement that there are no reliable indications that initiatives that have already been voted on have come about illegally. However, no follow-up checks are being carried out - a point that is being viewed increasingly critically in light of the new revelations.

The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.