Miscalculation undermines the people’s trust in politics
Published: Tuesday, Aug 6th 2024, 16:50
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For the news portal srf.ch, voters' trust in politics is dwindling following the AHV calculation error by the Federal Social Insurance Office.
"The Federal Social Insurance Office has miscalculated. Badly miscalculated. Of course it is difficult to estimate future expenditure. (...) But the fact that incorrect formulas have been used for five years and no one has noticed the error is serious. The decisions of the voters are based on federal forecasts. If it turns out that such forecasts are wrong, this massively undermines the voters' trust in politics. Especially because the most recent case is not an isolated one. If the electorate makes decisions based on false predictions, this lowers the legitimacy of these popular decisions. For example, the SP women are today calling for the vote on raising the AHV retirement age for women to be repeated. (...) So far, losers in Switzerland have accepted their defeats in votes. This is central to the functioning of the political system. But this requires trust in the system. (...) The Confederation has been expanding its workforce for years. And federal employees receive above-average salaries compared to the private sector. In return, voters can expect quality - and not fatal miscalculations."
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