Electoral participation in Vernier: the discomfort grows

ThoseMunicipal elections in Vernier –Electoral participation, these new figures which fuel suspicions

Unpublished differences in participation, especially among voters of foreign origin, strengthen fears of manipulation in Vernier.

Posted Today at 7:30 am

The honesty of the vote in Vernier is called into question. At least three appeals have been filed and The Council of State suspended validation Results of March 23, while waiting for justice to decide on possible electoral irregularities. New elements fuel the thesis with a possible manipulation.

Between the two towers, an investigation by the “Genève tribune” revealed that more than 600 bulletins of the party freedoms and social justice (LJS) had been modified in an almost identical way. These “variegated” bulletins notably propelled three candidates from other parties (PS, PLR, MCG) at the top of their lists for the municipal council. The number of internal toe in LJS had reached records.

Three weeks later, in the second round for the administrative council, the candidate LJS Djawed Sangdel sees his score falling suddenly: Bulletins with only its name go from 951 to 634, a decrease of 33%. For some observers, this tumble suggests that an electoral network could have been activated and then disabled between the two laps. Nothing to do according to LJS, who attributes these losses of voice to “media attacks”. The party Request the cancellation of the ballot to the Administrative Council.

Amazing variations in electoral participation

But it is now the figures for the participation of foreign voters – in particular Kosovars – who question. According to recently made public data by the Cantonal Statistics Office (Hoteat), their participation rate increased from 27.9%to the first round of 2020 to 34.3%in 2025. A level equivalent to that of the Swiss (34.9%) and higher than that of other communities such as Italians (27.5%) or Portuguese (14.9%).

This increase is not surprising in itself. Many candidates of Kosovare origin presented themselves on various lists, which was able to strengthen a legitimate community mobilization. But it is the collapse of participation in the second round that challenges: divided by two, it drops at 15.4%, with only 113 voters against 248 in the first round. In 2020, the drop between the two laps had only been 28%.

This electoral discontinuity fuels doubt. The fall in participation in the Kosovars is without common measure with that observed in the Swiss (-15%) or foreigners as a whole (-20%). Such a drop in decline is exceptional in the Geneva electoral landscape. “Such a gap suggests that very targeted actions have been implemented during the first round, but that they were not renewed in the second,” analyzes Pascal Sciarini, political scientist at the University of Geneva.

Meyrin: another dynamic

Vernier is not the only municipality to display an increase in the Kosovar vote. In the neighboring town of Meyrin, the mobilization also surprised, As the RTS has already revealed. The participation of this community went from a meager 14.6% in 2020 to a 41.7% massif in 2025, even exceeding that of the Swiss (37%).

For Pascal Sciarini, this progression “is not natural” and testifies to a “targeted activation action of this electorate”. “In research carried out on the vote of foreigners in 2020, the Kosovars were among the least mobilized. In 2025, their participation reached heights in Meyrin, ”he added.

Targeting a particular electorate is not illegal: it is a common practice of all parties. What would break the law, on the other hand, would be practices such as the grouping of envelopes, the assisted filling of bulletins or the pressure exerted on voters.

“All parties want their Albanians”

Leonard Feraiti, elected PS of Kosovare origin, calls for not to generalize and to differentiate the varnish situation from the rest of the municipalities. In his eyes, Meyrin’s strong participation is explained in particular by the presence of a Kosovare candidate in the second round, Xhevrie Osmani, elected PS in the Administrative Council.

“The Kosovare community is politicized, marked by a past of democratic struggles, but it is not homogeneous,” he said. “There is a very militant left, but also conservative or liberal profiles, especially among the police or entrepreneurs.” An analysis corroborated by the data of participation in the city of Geneva and throughout the canton, where the Kosovar vote progresses more linear.

It is precisely in Vernier and Meyrin – where Kosovare participation has increased the most – that LJS experienced its strongest breakthroughs: six seats in Vernier, three in Meyrin. Coincidence or targeted strategy? Leonard Feraiti, without accusing namely, warns: “All parties want their Albanians. And some political leaders activate communities to garner votes. Danger is an instrumentalization for electoral purposes. ”

The 2018 precedent of suspicions of electoral fraud

This risk echoes a previous one. As we had revealed, one of the LJS candidates in Vernier, of Kosovare origin and close to Pierre Maudet, had already been heard in 2018 Like “person called to give information” in an investigation for suspicion of electoral fraud. Photos of bags filled with voting envelopes had then been paid to the file. The investigation, quickly classified by Olivier Jornot, had not made it possible to identify their origin.

Today, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Vernier’s modified bulletins. But according to our information, no hearing has yet taken place. Justice remains silent on the state of the procedure. The Chancellery, for its part, is content to indicate that “the Council of State will make validation decisions in a timely time”.

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