I. History of origins

1 Art. 32a was added to the PRA with the 2014 revision. As the number of lists and candidatures in the National Council elections continues to grow, the Federal Council stated in its dispatch that there is a growing risk that multiple candidatures will not be discovered in time. In order to ensure a correct proportional representation election, it should therefore also be possible to subsequently declare multiple candidatures invalid.

II. Significance of the provision

A. General

2 The provision regulates how to deal with (intra-cantonal and cross-cantonal) multiple candidacies that are only discovered after the expiry of the deadline (Art. 29 PRA). It allows for the subsequent invalidation of such candidacies on all lists concerned. The purpose of allowing subsequent official deletion is to prevent unnoticed double candidacies from thwarting the correct allocation of all votes. Pursuant to Art. 38 para. 2 letter b PRA, all names of persons whose candidature has been subsequently declared invalid due to multiple candidatures must be deleted from the ballot papers when the election is determined (cf. further the explanations on Art. 38 PRA).

B. Legal comparison

3 Most cantons do not have any corresponding rules in their parliamentary election law. The fact that multiple candidacies are only discovered after expiry of the purification period is unlikely to occur in cantonal parliamentary elections and therefore does not constitute a problem requiring regulation. An exception is the canton of Graubünden, which explicitly provides for the subsequent deletion of multiple candidatures discovered after the purification period.

III. Invalidation of candidatures

A. Multiple candidatures discovered subsequently (para. 1)

4 The provision allows for the invalidation of multiple candidacies that are only discovered subsequently - i.e.: after the expiry of the purification period of Art. 29 para. 4 PRA, the point in time after which election proposals can in principle no longer be changed. Subsequent deletion is carried out by the cantonal electoral authority if the same person is on more than one cantonal list (letter a). It is carried out by the Federal Chancellery if the same person is a candidate on lists from several cantons (letter b).

5 The rules concerning the deletion of multiple nominees before the expiry of the purification period can be found in Art. 27 PRA. Those who have been removed due to multiple candidature still have the possibility to be nominated again on a single election proposal as a substitute proposal in the sense of Art. 29 para. 2 PRA. A subsequent deletion of multiple candidates pursuant to Art. 32a PRA, on the other hand, is final; no more substitute nominations are possible here.

6 The provision has never been applied. In the 2019 National Council elections, the first election since the norm came into force, no multiple candidature was subsequently discovered, according to the Federal Chancellery.

B. Notification (para. 2)

7 The provision requires that the cantons concerned and the Federal Chancellery inform each other immediately of the subsequent invalidation of candidatures.

C. Cancellation before announcement (para. 3)

8 As far as possible, the names of persons whose candidature has subsequently been declared invalid shall be removed from the lists before they are announced. The provision has never been applied. According to the Federal Chancellery, no intra-cantonal or cross-cantonal multiple candidacies were subsequently discovered in the 2019 and 2023 National Council elections. Moreover, in many cantons - in view of the tight timetable for preparing for the elections - the process of printing the lists is likely to be started immediately after the end of the purification period.

D. After announcement (para. 4)

9 The invalidation of a candidature on lists that have already been announced must - for the information of those entitled to vote - be published immediately electronically and in the official gazette of all the cantons concerned and in the Federal Gazette, stating the reason (multiple candidature subsequently identified).

Materials

Botschaft des Bundesrates zur Änderung des Bundesgesetzes über die politischen Rechte vom 29.11.2013 (BBl 2013 S. 9217).