The federal popular initiative (German: Eidgenössische Volksinitiative, French: Initiative populaire fédérale, Italian: Iniziativa popolare federale, Romansh: Iniziativa federala dal pievel), is a Swiss civic right enabling 100,000 citizens with voting rights to propose a total or partial amendment to the Federal Constitution and submit it to a popular vote. The citizens behind the initiative, grouped together in an initiative committee, have 18 months in which to gather the approval of 100,000 citizens. To do this, the 100,000 citizens must affix their handwritten signatures to a signature list, including the text and title of the popular initiative. If 100,000 signatures are collected within 18 months, the initiative is put to the vote. If this is not the case, the initiative is declared "unsuccessful" and the procedure is terminated. The right of initiative also has its counterpart at cantonal and communal level; the procedure, including the number of signatures required and the deadline for collecting them, varies from one sovereign Swiss canton to another.
First used in 1893, the federal popular initiative has gradually developed over time to become one of the main means of expression for political parties or groups, used to bring about constitutional change without having to consult or obtain the approval of the federal authorities. From its inception to 2018, 215 such votes were held, an average of 1.69 per year. Although unlikely to be successful (around 10% of popular initiatives put to the vote are accepted), the federal popular initiative makes it possible to provoke public debate on issues that are not always addressed in traditional parliamentary debates. In addition, the federal parliament may oppose the initiative with a direct or indirect counter-proposal, which may or may not take up part of the initiative's demands.
From time to time, the advantages and disadvantages of the federal popular initiative are debated: public awareness of certain issues and the possibility of making demands that go beyond the priorities set by the authorities are set against the risk of this tool being used by demagogic and well-organized groups, and the considerable financial resources required for the popular vote campaign.
Definition +Federal popular initiatives since 1891Initiatives populaires fédérales : tableau en chiffres, Federal Chancellery of Switzerland, 3 April 2025 (retrieved 4 April 2025).
As of 3 April 2025Popular initiatives launched (539)Successful370Unsuccessful153At the signature gathering stage16Successful popular initiatives (370)Voted on235Withdrawn108Classified2Declared null and void4Pending (Federal Council, Parliament or ready for vote)20Voted on (235)Accepted by the people and cantons26
The most widely used form of federal popular initiative is a procedure whereby 100,000 Swiss citizens can draft a new constitutional article, or amend an existing one, and submit this constitutional amendment to a vote of the people and the cantons. The initiative is presented in the form of a draft bill. The popular initiative also exists in other forms, but these are rarely used in practice (initiative requesting a total revision of the Constitution, and initiative presented in the form of a general draft). It is formally defined in Articles 138 and 139 of the Federal Constitution. In practical terms, a federal popular initiative can therefore take three different forms:
A request for a complete revision of the Constitution, which, if accepted by a simple majority of the people, leads to the re-election of Parliament, which is then tasked with drafting a new Federal Constitution. The popular initiative presented in the form of a general project: the initiative's request, formulated in general terms, is examined by the Federal Assembly, which can decide to approve or reject it. If it approves, the Federal Assembly drafts the constitutional amendment in line with the initiative's request, and submits it to the vote of the people and the cantons. If it rejects the initiative's request, it submits it to the vote of the people, who decide whether to act on it. In the event of acceptance by the people, the Federal Assembly draws up a constitutional amendment in line with the initiative's request. A popular initiative in the form of a draft proposal: instead of a request conceived in general terms, which must then be put into practice by Parliament, this type of initiative is a proposal for constitutional amendment drafted directly by the initiative committee. The text of the initiative cannot be modified by either Parliament or the Federal Council. In order to be accepted, an initiative of this type requires a double majority of the people and the cantons; in this case, the new text is incorporated directly into the Constitution.
The federal popular initiative is a tool specifically designed to propose amendments to the Federal Constitution. It does not have the power to directly modify federal laws or lower-level regulations. However, a successful popular initiative that alters or introduces a constitutional article may necessitate subsequent legal changes. This is true if the newly approved article includes provisions that are not self-executing (i.e., do not directly take effect without further legislation). In such cases, the popular initiative indirectly prompts amendments to federal laws, as these amendments would be required to implement the new constitutional article.
In the vast majority of cases, federal popular initiatives are presented in the form of a draft proposal. Of the 150 or so federal popular initiatives put to the vote before the end of the 20th century, only two were accepted by Parliament in the form of a general draft, and four (out of a total of 11 proposals) were put to the vote (for the revision of the alcohol regime in 1937, for a new business tax in 1951, for the fight against alcoholism in 1963 and for tax reform in 1974). Requests for complete revision are even less frequent: three attempts were unsuccessful (in 1851, 1866 and 2003), while the fourth was rejected by the people on 8 September, 1935.
General popular initiative A fourth type of initiative has existed for only a few years, but has never been used. When the Constitution was revised in 1999, a new form of initiative was defined, called the "general popular initiative", which allows "the adoption, modification or repeal of constitutional or legislative provisions", but only in the form of a proposal conceived in general terms. The aim of introducing this new type of popular initiative was to offer citizens the possibility of amending federal laws without having to go through a constitutional amendment. The initiative was created following the vote of 9 February, 2003; however, it was withdrawn on 27 September 2009, only six years after its creation, without having been used.
Complementary initiative At the end of 2019, the municipality of Sion in southwestern Switzerland launched an experiment in participatory democracy, based on the model of the Citizens' Initiative Review already tested in the US state of Oregon. The main aim of this initiative was to encourage democratic debate. Twenty participants were randomly selected from Sion's electorate on the basis of gender, age, political orientation, level of education and history of electoral participation, to be representative of the population. This panel of 20 people met over two weekends to debate, inform themselves and exchange views with experts, supporters and opponents of a federal project to be put to the vote. At the end of their work, they produced a one-page report summarizing the issues, the main arguments for and against, and their conclusions. The aim was to explain the subject of the vote "in a comprehensible and complete manner, without falling into simplification", to "respond to the current crisis of democracy by involving citizens".
Differences with petitions The right of initiative is often confused with the right of petition. However, these two rights differ in at least four fundamental respects:
An initiative is a proposal made by the people in their sovereign capacity, whereas a petition is a request to the authorities. An initiative must be supported by a defined number of citizens, whereas a petition can be submitted by a single person, who does not even have political rights. An initiative necessarily deals with a constitutional amendment (creation, modification or deletion of a constitutional article), whereas a petition can concern any subject. The Federal Assembly cannot choose whether or not to consider an initiative; it must do so, unlike a petition.
At the beginning of the 20th century, these differences prompted a number of political scientists to call for the universal right of petition, while at the same time limiting the right of popular initiative, which "does not have the same status" because it represents a danger if used by "extreme parties".
History
Before 1848 The first form of popular initiative in Switzerland dates back to the time of the French occupation, when it was introduced by the Constitution of Year I, 24 June 1793.The text is available on wikisource However, it was only codified between 1831 and 1838, following the massive use of petitions that were to force the Regeneration, in the cantons of Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Lucerne and St. Gallen, in the form of a request for total constitutional revision. The canton of Vaud was the first to introduce the popular legislative initiative, in 1845, when 8,000 citizens were given the opportunity to submit "any proposal" to the people.
From 1848 to 1891
The Constitution establishing the federal state of 1848 did indeed provide for a right of popular initiative, but limited to a request, made by at least 50,000 citizens, for a revision of the constitution; the text did not specify, however, whether this revision should be total or partial; during the debates preceding approval of this text, a request for clarification along these lines was tabled by several cantons, but rejected as "superfluous" by the majority, who considered that both forms of revision were included.
In the 1860s, a few years after the one that had led to the 1848 Constitution, a new democratic upsurge took place in several cantons; directed against the nature and duration of political mandates, deemed excessive, it resulted in a sharp increase in cantonal democratic rights including, in addition to the appointment of authorities and control of the administration, popular and legislative initiative, as well as the lowering of the number of signatures and financial limits required and the end of counting abstentions as positive votes. This impetus was also to be found, albeit to a lesser extent, at federal level: the proposed Constitution of 1872, prompted in part by a popular initiative to recast the Constitution which failed to gather the necessary 50,000 signatures, provided for the rights of referendum and legislative initiative. This proposal, adopted by the Federal Assembly on 6 March 1872, was nonetheless deemed too centralizing, and was rejected by popular vote on 12 May 1872.