“Isleten Initiative” suffers shipwreck at the ballot box
Published: Sunday, Nov 24th 2024, 15:00
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In the canton of Uri, nothing stands in the way of Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris building a tourism resort on the Isleten peninsula in Uri. The Green Party's "Isleten for all" initiative was rejected by voters in Uri with 66.4 percent of votes against.
The initiative submitted by the Greens was rejected by 9,253 voters and approved by 4,677. The turnout was 52.8 percent, according to the Uri authorities.
In the affected municipalities of Isenthal and Seedorf, the population also voted clearly in favor of rejecting the initiative. In Isenthal, 148 to 51 people voted against the initiative, in Seedorf 557 to 347.
Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris wants to build a hotel with 50 rooms and 30 hotel apartments in the three- to four-star range as well as 70 apartments and seven bungalows on the Isleten peninsula.
The initiators were not completely against the use of the site of a former explosives factory for tourism. However, according to the committee, this should be "close to nature, gentle and sustainable". They were thinking of a camping site, a vacation village or a youth hostel. However, they were opposed to overbuilding. The Isleten should be preserved and protected as a local recreation area.
The government and the cantonal parliament rejected the initiative. The request neglected the "economic, tourism and regional policy interests", according to the voting message. The initiative also violated the autonomy of the municipalities.
The referendum proposal was the subject of much discussion in the canton of Uri in the run-up to the vote. The initiative committee lodged a complaint against the referendum message due to alleged "misinformation". The cantonal government then forwarded the complaint to the Federal Supreme Court "for lack of jurisdiction", where a decision is still pending.
©Keystone/SDA
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