Absentee Voting Does Not Indicate Participation
Published: Tuesday, Oct 17th 2023, 15:01
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In the larger cities of Switzerland, the number of postal ballots received for the federal elections on October 22 is lower than the number received in the last elections in 2019. This does not allow for any conclusions to be drawn about the voter turnout. Generally, a low voter turnout is expected for the federal parliamentary elections on Sunday. Five days before the elections, no trend can be seen from the received postal ballots in larger Swiss cities. Increases are as common as decreases, according to a survey by the news agency Keystone-SDA on Tuesday.
In the largest Swiss city, Zurich, 28.9% of the eligible voters had already made their decision in writing, according to the city on Tuesday. This is the same as in 2019. From Winterthur, the authorities reported a postal voting participation of 24%. These figures are in the middle range compared to the elections in 2015 and 2019. Decrease in Bern and both Basel
The federal city of Bern registered a return flow of 24.2% of the ballot envelopes until Monday. Four years ago, it was 25.1% at that time. In the second largest city in the canton of Bern, Biel, the postal voting participation was 16.7%, a clear increase compared to 13.1% in 2019 and 11% in 2015. Thun came to 20%, the same as in 2019.
In the Basel region, a slightly lower voter turnout was indicated. The canton of Basel-Stadt came to a provisional voter turnout of 29.1% by Monday, minimally lower than in 2019. The election office of the Baselbieter main town of Liestal reported a figure of 23.3% on Tuesday. This value is below expectations, according to the head of the population services department.
In the canton of Aargau, the survey of some municipalities showed a similar interim turnout of 27 to 30% as in 2019. More postal voting in Central Switzerland
In the city of Zug, 38.6% of the ballot envelopes were present on Tuesday morning. In 2019, only 26% had voted by post at this point in time. The city of Lucerne came to a postal voting participation of 25.8%, slightly 1.8 percentage points more than in 2019. The responsible persons attributed this to the free return. The situation in Eastern Switzerland was mixed. In St.Gallen, 31.5% had voted by post by Tuesday. Wil, the third largest city in the canton of St. Gallen, recorded a decrease of 0.6 points to 26.6%, Rapperswil-Jona an increase to 28%. In Chur, the participation was 19.5% on Monday, slightly lower than in 2019. Davos reported an interim figure of 22.1%. Glarus registered a slightly above-average value of around 30%.
In the French-speaking part of Switzerland, there were no major shifts in postal voting compared to 2019. In Lausanne, 18.3% of the eligible voters had voted by post by Monday evening, slightly more than in 2019. In the canton of Neuchâtel, the proportion of postal voting decisions was 12.5% by Saturday, after 14.2% at the same time in 2019. This was partly due to the fact that the voting documents arrived with the electorate during the autumn holidays. The city of Geneva registered a higher postal voting turnout of 22.3% on Monday, compared to 20% in 2019. In Sion, 17.3% of the eligible voters had voted by post by Monday morning. In 2019 it was 21.8%. The Jura will not have any information on postal voting until election Sunday. In Lugano, the largest city in Ticino, the voter turnout was 18% on Monday evening, 0.9 percentage points lower than in 2019. The participation was slightly higher in Locarno with 18.9%. It remained the same in Bellinzona at 14%. By election Sunday, the voter turnout is likely to increase significantly. In 2019, it was 45.1% nationwide, a decrease of 3.4 percentage points compared to 2015.
©Keystone/SDA
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