Jue, Oct 19th 2023
The Swiss federal elections on October 22nd are being monitored by an expert team from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The team consists of Elissavet Karagiannidou from Greece, Enira Bronitskaya from Belarus and Adrià Rodríguez-Pérez from Spain. They began their mission in Switzerland on October 9th and will end it on October 26th. The team will visit a few polling stations on Sunday and evaluate the elections based on OSCE commitments, international standards for democratic elections and national legislation.
They will focus on the transparency rules for the financing of political parties and campaigns. For the national elections, national guidelines apply for the first time. Political actors must disclose election campaign budgets of 50,000 francs and the source of donations and contributions of more than 15,000 francs.
The experts will also look at internet voting trials in Basel-Stadt, St. Gallen and Thurgau, as well as the participation of people with disabilities in the elections.
Approximately two months after the elections, the three experts will submit a report on the Swiss federal elections of 2023.
The team was sent to Switzerland at the invitation of the Swiss government by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Swiss citizens aged 18 and over are eligible to vote in the National Council elections. The voting process for the Council of States is regulated by each canton, with some allowing 16-year-olds to vote.
The Swiss Post sent out over 5 million voting envelopes at the end of September, weighing 500 grams each due to the record number of candidates. To ensure that the envelopes arrive in time for the election weekend, the Post recommended sending them by A-Post by October 19th or B-Post by October 17th. Any B-Post sent after October 18th will not arrive in time.
In cantons with paid return postage, voting by post is necessary in order to count the votes for parties and candidates. Adding an additional A-Post stamp to the pre-paid envelope will not be recognised by the Post.
Those who have not yet sent their voting envelope for the National Council and Council of States must do so by Thursday at the latest, otherwise they will only be able to vote at the ballot box.
©Keystone/SDA
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