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The campaign posters in Geneva draw attention to the three issues on which the Swiss are called to vote – including the protection of cow horns
Swiss voters on Sunday approved a law that gives insurance companies a wide margin of maneuver to spy on suspected social assistance fraudsters, despite concerns about the right to privacy.
The measure was adopted by referendum. Two other proposals were voted: an attempt to give Swiss judges supremacy over international tribunals and a call for incentives to prevent the removal of horns from the cow. public broadcaster RTS.
Voting was part of the Swiss system of direct democracy, in which voters voted on national issues four times a year.
The insurers of the wealthy alpine nation had been spying for a long time on customers suspected of making misrepresentations. But that stopped after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in 2016.
The government however insisted that such monitoring was necessary to limit insurance fraud and reduce costs for all. Following the rejection of its judgment by the European Court, Bern has updated its legislation to restore the supervisory powers of insurers.
Opponents of the revised law then mobilized the necessary support to hold a referendum.
But about 64.7 percent of voters eventually supported the government.
"What the Swiss wanted to show is that the social safety net is important, but that (for this to work), we must all be absolutely responsible," said Benjamin Roduit of the Christian Democratic Center Party. right to RTS.
Critics argued that the measure was hastily written under pressure from the insurance company's lobby and did not explicitly prohibit serious and unjustified privacy breaches.
Legal analysts noted that the law does not prohibit insurers, or the detectives they hire, from recording or filming a person lying on their private balcony or in their backyard, provided that these areas are visible from a public space.
Companies also do not need a legal authorization to carry out surveillance, but simply "concrete indications" of misrepresentations.
"No" to cow horns
The cow horn initiative was launched by cattle rancher Armin Capaul, who caught the attention of the media after collecting more than 100,000 signatures to force the vote in an imminent campaign that began with little resources and no political support.
The proposal did not call for a ban on dehorning but aimed at a constitutional amendment that would have prompted farmers to let the horns grow.
In October, Capaul told AFP that his campaign was inspired by conversations he had with his flock in Perrefitte, a municipality in northwestern Switzerland.
After his initiative was rejected, with about 55% of the votes cast, Capaul said his greater efforts to protect livestock from unnecessary human abuse had not been a failure.
"I alerted people about the suffering of animals and put the cow in people's hearts," he told RTS.
Environmental and animal rights groups eventually joined Capaul's efforts, but the government objected, saying farmers should remain free to manage their livestock as they please.
Supreme Law
Voters also overwhelmingly rejected the so-called "Swiss Law First" initiative, which advocated placing national law above international law.
The People's Party of Switzerland (SVP), a right-wing party opposed to migrants, has sought to describe this measure as essential for safeguarding national sovereignty.
But the government and the business community were strongly opposed, warning that hundreds of trade deals vital to the Swiss economy and the country's reputation would have been threatened by official repudiation of international tribunals.
"It's a huge defeat," RTS vice-president Celine Amaudruz said after only 34 percent of voters supported the proposal, showed the results.
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