-
- Art. 5a FC
- Art. 6 FC
- Art. 10 FC
- Art. 16 FC
- Art. 17 FC
- Art. 20 FC
- Art. 22 FC
- Art. 29a FC
- Art. 30 FC
- Art. 32 FC
- Art. 42 FC
- Art. 43 FC
- Art. 43a FC
- Art. 55 FC
- Art. 56 FC
- Art. 60 FC
- Art. 68 FC
- Art. 75b FC
- Art. 77 FC
- Art. 96 para. 2 lit. a FC
- Art. 110 FC
- Art. 117a FC
- Art. 118 FC
- Art. 123b FC
- Art. 136 FC
- Art. 166 FC
-
- Art. 11 CO
- Art. 12 CO
- Art. 50 CO
- Art. 51 CO
- Art. 84 CO
- Art. 143 CO
- Art. 144 CO
- Art. 145 CO
- Art. 146 CO
- Art. 147 CO
- Art. 148 CO
- Art. 149 CO
- Art. 150 CO
- Art. 701 CO
- Art. 715 CO
- Art. 715a CO
- Art. 734f CO
- Art. 785 CO
- Art. 786 CO
- Art. 787 CO
- Art. 788 CO
- Transitional provisions to the revision of the Stock Corporation Act of June 19, 2020
- Art. 808c CO
-
- Art. 2 PRA
- Art. 3 PRA
- Art. 4 PRA
- Art. 6 PRA
- Art. 10 PRA
- Art. 10a PRA
- Art. 11 PRA
- Art. 12 PRA
- Art. 13 PRA
- Art. 14 PRA
- Art. 15 PRA
- Art. 16 PRA
- Art. 17 PRA
- Art. 19 PRA
- Art. 20 PRA
- Art. 21 PRA
- Art. 22 PRA
- Art. 23 PRA
- Art. 24 PRA
- Art. 25 PRA
- Art. 26 PRA
- Art. 27 PRA
- Art. 29 PRA
- Art. 30 PRA
- Art. 31 PRA
- Art. 32 PRA
- Art. 32a PRA
- Art. 33 PRA
- Art. 34 PRA
- Art. 35 PRA
- Art. 36 PRA
- Art. 37 PRA
- Art. 38 PRA
- Art. 39 PRA
- Art. 40 PRA
- Art. 41 PRA
- Art. 42 PRA
- Art. 43 PRA
- Art. 44 PRA
- Art. 45 PRA
- Art. 46 PRA
- Art. 47 PRA
- Art. 48 PRA
- Art. 49 PRA
- Art. 50 PRA
- Art. 51 PRA
- Art. 52 PRA
- Art. 53 PRA
- Art. 54 PRA
- Art. 55 PRA
- Art. 56 PRA
- Art. 57 PRA
- Art. 58 PRA
- Art. 59a PRA
- Art. 59b PRA
- Art. 59c PRA
- Art. 62 PRA
- Art. 63 PRA
- Art. 67 PRA
- Art. 67a PRA
- Art. 67b PRA
- Art. 75 PRA
- Art. 75a PRA
- Art. 76 PRA
- Art. 76a PRA
- Art. 90 PRA
-
- Vorb. zu Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 2 FADP
- Art. 3 FADP
- Art. 5 lit. f und g FADP
- Art. 6 Abs. 6 and 7 FADP
- Art. 7 FADP
- Art. 10 FADP
- Art. 11 FADP
- Art. 12 FADP
- Art. 14 FADP
- Art. 15 FADP
- Art. 19 FADP
- Art. 20 FADP
- Art. 22 FADP
- Art. 23 FADP
- Art. 25 FADP
- Art. 26 FADP
- Art. 27 FADP
- Art. 31 para. 2 lit. e FADP
- Art. 33 FADP
- Art. 34 FADP
- Art. 35 FADP
- Art. 38 FADP
- Art. 39 FADP
- Art. 40 FADP
- Art. 41 FADP
- Art. 42 FADP
- Art. 43 FADP
- Art. 44 FADP
- Art. 44a FADP
- Art. 45 FADP
- Art. 46 FADP
- Art. 47 FADP
- Art. 47a FADP
- Art. 48 FADP
- Art. 49 FADP
- Art. 50 FADP
- Art. 51 FADP
- Art. 54 FADP
- Art. 57 FADP
- Art. 58 FADP
- Art. 60 FADP
- Art. 61 FADP
- Art. 62 FADP
- Art. 63 FADP
- Art. 64 FADP
- Art. 65 FADP
- Art. 66 FADP
- Art. 67 FADP
- Art. 69 FADP
- Art. 72 FADP
- Art. 72a FADP
-
- Art. 2 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 3 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 4 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 5 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 6 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 7 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 8 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 9 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 11 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 12 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 25 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 29 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 32 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 33 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 34 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
CODE OF OBLIGATIONS
FEDERAL LAW ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
LUGANO CONVENTION
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON POLITICAL RIGHTS
CIVIL CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON CARTELS AND OTHER RESTRAINTS OF COMPETITION
FEDERAL ACT ON INTERNATIONAL MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS
DEBT ENFORCEMENT AND BANKRUPTCY ACT
FEDERAL ACT ON DATA PROTECTION
SWISS CRIMINAL CODE
CYBERCRIME CONVENTION
I. History of origins
1 With the introduction of proportional representation in the Federal Act on the Election of the National Council of 1919, (constituency-based) list combinations were made possible. Sub-list connections were not mentioned in the 1919 law, but they subsequently became established in practice and were deemed permissible according to answers given by the Federal Council to parliamentary requests. In the parliamentary discussion of the Federal Act on Political Rights of 1976, a motion seeking to prohibit non-party list connections failed after a motion for the outright deletion of list connections was withdrawn. The sub-list connection, on the other hand, was included in the law for the first time. Critics of list combinations complained in the debate that list combinations were intransparent and distorted the will of the voters by giving their vote to a list group that they might not even want to support. The supporters, on the other hand, saw list combinations as a corrective to the electoral system, which is unfavourable for small parties with sometimes small constituencies. Like the Federal Council, they also referred to the list splitting system, which would make it possible to distribute mandates proportionally among the regions in large cantons and not unilaterally favour the cities.
2 Within the framework of the PRA revision of 1994, the topic was again discussed in parliament. This time, the Federal Council requested the abolition of sub-list connections. The federal councillors did not follow him. However, certain conditions were created for entering into sub-list connections with Art. 31 para. 1bis: Sub-list connections are now only possible "between lists of the same designation which differ only by an addition to indicate gender, the wings of a grouping, the region or the age" (see on this below n. 15 ff.). On the other hand, the (in practice rare) sub-sub-list connections were abolished. In 2013, two motions were clearly rejected in the National Council which wanted to abolish non-party list connections.
II. Significance of the provision
A. General
3 In a list affiliation, one or more lists join together. Their votes are initially counted together in the allocation of mandates. In the first distribution, the list combination is compared to the other lists (and list combinations) as if it were a single list. In the National Council electoral law - within list combinations - sub-list combinations are also permitted. Based on the election result, the mandates are first distributed to the list combinations (and single lists); in a second distribution and possibly further distributions, the mandates are then distributed within the list combination to the possible sub-list combinations and (within these) to the individual lists. (For the distribution of mandates to the lists and list combinations in the procedures according to Hagenbach-Bischoff applicable in the National Council electoral law, cf. in detail Art. 40 ff. PRA).
4 A distinction must be made between intra-party or single-party list combinations, which comprise several lists of the same political party or grouping, and inter-party or multi-party list combinations, which comprise lists of several parties or groupings. Intra-party list combinations enable political groups to address a larger electorate by submitting several partial lists (men's and women's lists, young party lists or regional lists) with a larger number of candidates. Thanks to the combination, they do not run the risk of losing (residual) votes when the mandates are distributed among the partial lists. With non-party list combinations, the parties and groups try to make better use of the remaining votes and, thanks to the combination, to achieve additional mandates. The number of unused, weightless votes (votes that have no influence on the election result) decreases.
5 Inter-party list combinations are usually concluded between parties that are politically close to each other (for example, there are numerous bourgeois or red-green list combinations). However, this is not obligatory, and sometimes strange alliances can be observed that are solely due to electoral arithmetic. In the case of list alliances, however, the list alliance partners remain independently acting political forces, which campaign independently and also against each other.
6 Under certain circumstances, list connections enable medium-sized and small parties to achieve a mandate that they would not achieve on their own (especially in constituencies with few mandates and a high natural quorum). However, it cannot be said that the institute of list combination generally serves the smaller and medium-sized parties. The votes of a smaller or medium-sized party can also help a list-linked larger party to win another mandate, while the smaller party may also come away completely empty-handed under certain circumstances.
7 The institute of list affiliation does not make sense in every electoral procedure. It is particularly important in a system with small constituencies and few mandates, where the hurdle (natural quorum) for a single party to win a mandate is high (as in many cantons in the National Council elections). The "double Pukelsheim" allocation procedure used in many cantonal parliamentary elections, which results in a fine distribution of mandates according to proportional representation, does not recognise list combinations.
8 In the political debate and in teaching, the institute of list combinations is controversial. The advantages are considered to be the improvement of electoral chances for smaller and medium-sized parties in small constituencies and the possibility for parties to submit partial lists. However, list combinations, and in particular sub-list combinations, are often criticised for being non-transparent; for many eligible voters it is no longer clear (even with the corresponding indications on the ballot papers) to whom their vote will ultimately be allocated - which could violate the principle of freedom of choice. It is also sometimes criticized that the admission of list combinations could lead to "arbitrary election results", as the admission would ultimately promote.
B. Legal comparison
9 In ten cantons - as at the end of 2023 - list combinations are permitted in cantonal parliamentary elections. List combinations are permitted without restriction in the cantons of Bern, Lucerne, Obwalden, Glarus, Solothurn, Thurgau and Geneva. List combinations are also permitted without restrictions in the only constituency with proportional representation in the cantonal council elections in the canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden (Herisau) as well as in the constituencies not divided into sub-constituencies in the Vaud cantonal elections. In the St. Gallen cantonal council elections, list connections are permitted among lists with the same designation that differ only by an addition to indicate gender, the wings of a grouping, region or age.
10 Only five cantons know sub-list connections. In Bern and in the electoral district of Herisau in the canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, such are possible without restriction. In the cantons of Lucerne, Solothurn and Thurgau (as in the National Council elections) they are only valid between lists of the same designation which differ only by an addition to indicate gender, the wings of a grouping, region or age.
III. Linked lists
A. Matching declaration (para. 1)
11 The provision allows for list combinations. Two or more lists may be linked. List connections are possible between partial lists of a party (intra-party list connections), but also between different parties and groupings (inter-party list connections).
12 Within a list combination, sub-list combinations of two or more lists are also permissible. Only lists that belong to the same list combination can be combined in a sub-list combination. In contrast, sub-sub-list connections are no longer permitted since the PRA revision of 1994 (this follows from the wording of the norm: "... only sub-list connections are permitted").
13 In order for list connections and sub-list connections to be entered into with legal effect, a concurring declaration by the representatives of the election proposals is required. The representatives must agree to the list combination in the knowledge of all lists involved and all sub-list combinations entered into. According to Article 8e paragraph 1 of the VPR, the declarations must contain at least the information according to the model form pursuant to Annex 3b of the VPR: Number (if already assigned) and designation of the linked/sub-linked lists; name and signature of the representatives, remarks (e.g. designation of the sub-list links), place and date.
14 The list affiliation declaration must be submitted to the competent authority of the canton by the end of the purification period (art. 29 par. 4 PRA) at the latest. The decisive factor for the validity of list and sub-list connections is the time at which the relevant declaration is received by the competent cantonal authority (art. 8e par. 2 CPD).
B. Sub-list connections (para. 1bis)
15 A restriction concerning sub-list connections was introduced into the PRA with the 1994 revision. According to this, sub-list connections are "only valid between lists of the same designation which differ only by an addition identifying the sex, the wings of a grouping, the region or the age".
16 The distinguishing designation of the sub-lists of a grouping approved for sub-list combinations can refer to gender: For example, various parties have separate lists for men and women. The distinguishing addition can relate to the wings of a grouping. For example, the party "Die Mitte" in the canton of Lucerne presents a separate list of Christian Socialists (Die Mitte), or the GLP in the canton of Berne presents a list of Green Liberal SMEs. With the massive increase in sub-lists, the parties have begun to label many of their lists or assign them a specific thematic focus. Examples: FDP.Economy and Education, FDP.Environment and Energy, FDP.Culture and Sport in the Canton of Zurich, or: Green Liberal Energy, Green Liberal Creative, Green Liberal Animal and Nature in the Canton of Berne. We can only speak of party wings in the broadest sense here. The distinguishing feature can also be the region. Lists separated by canton are common in several cantons for some parties: The Center Main List South-East and The Center Main List North-West in the canton of St. Gallen or the many regional lists in the canton of Valais. (On the problem of regionally not clearly designated lists, see OK-Glaser, Art. 37 PRA N. 25ff.) Finally, separate lists of a party may differ in terms of age: In many parties, the young parties traditionally have their own lists (e.g. Juso, Jungfreisinnige, Junge SVP), but increasingly there are also separate lists with older candidates (examples from the canton of Zurich: SVP Ü55 list, senior GLP, SP 60+). s admitted to sub-listing (subsumed under the title of wings of a grouping if they cannot be qualified as regional lists).
17 The provision that sub-list combinations are possible between lists from different wings of a grouping has been interpreted generously in practice over the years and has not been regarded as a ban on inter-party sub-list combinations. For example, in the 2019 National Council elections in the canton of Basel-Stadt, the three independent parties EVP, GLP and BDP combined their lists under the common main list name "Mitte" in a sub-list connection as different wings of a grouping. And in the canton of Vaud, the three parties EVP, EDU and BDP ran their lists under the main list name "Alliance du centre" as different wings of a grouping with sub-list connections.
18 The doctrine, insofar as it dealt with the question at all, expressed itself rather critically. Yvo Hangartner/Andreas Kley described the practice in the first edition of the standard work "Die demokratischen Rechte in Bund und Kantonen der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft" (Democratic Rights in the Confederation and the Cantons of the Swiss Confederation), published in 2000, as "(too?) generous"; Anina Weber assessed it in 2016 in a practically identical formulation as "(too) generous". Andreas Glaser and Florian Frei were stricter in an essay in 2020. With a view to the genesis of the norm, they came to the conclusion that non-partisan sub-list connections were unlawful. In 1993/1994, when enacting the provision, parliament had only wanted to allow list connections between different parties, but not sub-list connections. The latter were limited to connections within a party. In the meantime, the authors of the second edition of the work "Democratic Rights", published in 2023, have also come to this conclusion.
19 In 2021/2022, during the debate on a parliamentary initiative, the Federal Councillors stated that different parties (as in the cases from Basel-Stadt and Vaud cited above) could not be the wings of one grouping. Accordingly, sub-list combinations between lists with the same designation, where different parties form the wings, are to be regarded as inadmissible in future. The Federal Council explicitly states this in its new circular on the National Council elections. The vote of the President of the SPK-S as well as the votes of the Speaker of the SPK-S correspond to an explicit reservation of interpretation with reference to the ratio legis, which justifies a change in practice. In a landmark decision, the Federal Supreme Court upheld this legal opinion and rejected an appeal against the non-admission of a sub-list link between the "Mitte" and the EPP in the canton of Neuchâtel in the 2023 National Council elections. The historical and teleological interpretation of the provision clearly shows that sub-list connections are only permitted between lists of the same party or grouping. Nor does the ban on non-party sub-list combinations violate the equality of electoral rights guaranteed by Article 34 paragraph 2 of the Federal Constitution.
C. Note on ballot papers (para. 2)
20 The provision requires that list and sub-list connections are to be noted on the ballot papers using pre-printed forms. In the light of freedom of choice, it is imperative that voters know which alliances the individual lists have entered into and who could benefit from their vote. The provision was introduced with the enactment of the PRA in 1976 ("so that the circumstances are clear to everyone", as the Federal Council wrote in the dispatch).
21 The reference to the list connections and sub-list connections must be made "in a readily understandable and readily apparent form", as the Federal Council states in the circular letter on the National Council elections. It is recommended that the references to the links be placed at the top of the ballot paper instead of at the bottom (which is standard at least in the larger cantons). It would also be helpful to provide voters with better information if the list abbreviations, rather than just the list numbers, were included in the references to the links. Individual cantons (such as Zurich, Bern or Thurgau) not only note the list connections and sub-list connections on the pre-printed ballot papers of the respective lists, but also include an overview of all list connections and sub-list connections at the front of the ballot paper block.
22 A list connection that has not been made known to the eligible voters is invalid. This was the ruling of the Federal Supreme Court in a case concerning the elections to the Grand Council in the canton of Vaud in March 1978. The registered list connection between the Parti radical démocratique and the Parti libéral in the electoral district of Lausanne was erroneously neither published nor noted on the electoral lists nor made known to the electorate in any way. The Federal Supreme Court considered this to be an interference with the will of the electorate, as it could not be ruled out that individual voters would have cast their vote differently if they had been aware of the list combination. According to the Federal Supreme Court, the free formation of will requires that those entitled to vote receive all important information on the election in an appropriate manner - this necessarily includes the list combinations entered into. The distribution of seats was recalculated (without the undisclosed list combination) and the seats were reallocated accordingly.
D. No revocation (para. 3)
23 Declarations of list connections and sub-list connections cannot be revoked. The provision was newly inserted with the 1994 revision "to prevent uncertainties and tactical skirmishes", as the Federal Council wrote in its dispatch. It explicitly referred to a case that had occurred in the 1987 National Council elections in the canton of Bern. A list affiliation between two groups was first declared, then revoked in writing by one group and renewed again shortly before the deadline, which a third party tried to prevent by threatening a complaint.
Materials
Bericht des Bundesrates vom 13.3.1931 an die Bundesversammlung über das Postulat des Nationalrates vom 5.12.1928 betreffend die Unterlisteverbindung (BBl 1931 I S. 354).
Botschaft des Bundesrates an die Bundesversammlung zu einem Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte vom 28.4.1975 (BBl 1975 I S. 1317).
Botschaft des Bundesrates über eine Teiländerung der Bundesgesetzgebung über die politischen Rechte vom 1.9.1993 (BBl 1993 III S. 445).
Bericht der Bundeskanzlei vom 21.8.2013: Proporzwahlsysteme im Vergleich (zit. Bericht Bundeskanzlei Proporzwahlsysteme).
Bericht des Bundesrates vom 13.11.2019 an den Nationalrat über die Nationalratswahlen für die 51. Legislaturperiode (BBl 2019 S. 7461) (zit. Bericht BR NRW 2019).
Leitfaden der Bundeskanzlei für kandidierende Gruppierungen für die Nationalratswahlen vom 20.10.2019.
Parlamentarische Initiative SPK-NR 21.402 Präzisierung der Unterlistenverbindungen. Bericht der Staatspolitischen Kommission des Nationalrats vom 5.11.2021.
Parlamentarische Initiative SPK-NR 21.402 Präzisierung der Unterlistenverbindungen. Bericht der Staatspolitischen Kommission des Ständerats vom 8.4.2022 (zit. Bericht der SPK-S vom 8.4.2002).
Kreisschreiben des Bundesrates an die Kantonsregierungen vom 19.10.2022 über die Gesamterneuerungswahl des Nationalrates vom 22.10.2023 (BBl 2022 S. 2547) (zit. Kreisschreiben BR NRW 2023).
Bibliography
Glaser Andreas/Frei Florian, Rechtswidrige Unterlistenverbindungen zwischen verschiedenen Parteien, ZBl 2020, S. 308–314.
Häfelin Ulrich/Haller Walter/Keller Helen/Thurnherr Daniela, Schweizerisches Bundesstaatsrecht, 10. Aufl., Zürich et al. 2020.
Hangartner Yvo/Kley Andreas, Die demokratischen Rechte in Bund und Kantonen der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft, Zürich 2000.
Hangartner Yvo/Kley Andreas, Braun Binder Nadja, Glaser Andreas, Die demokratischen Rechte in Bund und Kantonen der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft, 2. Aufl., Zürich 2023.
Muheim Anton, Wahl des Nationalrates, in: Das Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte, Veröffentlichungen des Schweizerischen Instituts für Verwaltungskurse an der Hochschule St. Gallen, St. Gallen 1978, S. 65–89.
Schmid Benno, Die Listenverbindung, Zürich 1961.
Tschannen Pierre, Staatsrecht der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft, 5. Aufl., Bern 2021.
Weber Anina, Schweizerisches Wahlrecht und die Garantie der politischen Rechte, Zürich 2016.