Several cantonal votes were organized in German-speaking Switzerland this Sunday. The population of Lucerne has agreed to give a boost to wind turbine installations. In Aargau, the right to vote at 16 was clearly rejected. In Uri, the people gave the green light to a large hotel complex.
LUCERNE: POSITIVE SIGNAL FOR THE INSTALLATION OF WIND TURBINES
A boost will be given to the installation of wind turbines in Lucerne. The citizens of the canton clearly approved on Sunday (68.51% yes) a modification to this effect of the law on planning and construction. Participation reached 44.51%.
The new situation will allow the introduction of an authorization procedure based on a cantonal master plan comprising 22 potential sites. It only concerns large wind turbines.
Only the UDC opposed the text, because it saw it as a way of removing powers from municipalities in terms of building permits. According to the other parties, the municipalities will be consulted and may propose modifications.
ARGOVIA: THE RIGHT TO VOTE AT 16 YEARS OF AGE SHARPLY REFUSED
In Aargau, the population clearly rejected a popular initiative for the introduction of the right to vote at 16 at the municipal and cantonal level. The text was swept aside by nearly 80% of voters. Participation was just over 41%.
The government, Parliament and the bourgeois parties opposed this initiative. The pink-green camp, the Liberal Green Party and the Evangelical Party, for their part, were favorable to the proposal emanating from several party youth groups.
In recent years, the lowering of the voting age has been largely rejected in the vote by the residents of Zurich, the Bernese, the Neuchâtel residents and the Uranese. Only the canton of Glarus lowered, to everyone’s surprise, the age giving the right to vote cantonally, during a Landsgemeinde in 2007.
An initiative submitted in the canton of Lucerne is currently under discussion and projects are underway in Graubünden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden. At the federal level, the Chambers buried, in the spring, a parliamentary initiative for the vote at 16 years old.
URI: OPEN PATH TO A LUXURY HOTEL RESORT
Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris will be able to build a hotel complex with a small marina on the Isleten peninsula (UR), on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Uranian citizens on Sunday rejected by 66.42% an initiative by the Greens, who wanted to block it. The participation rate in the vote reached 52.8%.
The environmentalists’ text demanded that the canton govern the site in such a way as to offer restricted exploitation, respecting nature and sustainable development. The Greens suggested the construction of a small holiday village, a youth hostel or the installation of a campsite.
After transforming Andermatt (UR) into a high-end winter sports resort, Samih Sawiris intends to build a 50-room hotel in Isleten, flanked by 30 hotel apartments – 3 to 4 stars – as well as 70 rental apartments and seven bungalows. on the site of a former explosives factory. The investor has already scaled down his original project.
SCHAFFHOUSE: TIGHTENING OF PARTY FINANCING RULES
Schaffhausen political parties will now have to declare donations of more than 3,000 francs per year that they receive from individuals or companies. The citizens of the canton approved by 58.84% an initiative to implement a first text which had been approved by the people more than four years ago. They preferred it to a less restrictive counter-project from the authorities (52.23% no). The participation rate reached 64.02%.
By favoring the implementation initiative, the people of Schaffhausen have decided that the financing of electoral campaigns and votes will now be made public in an exhaustive manner, as will the links of interest of the people concerned. They also confirmed the limit of 3,000 francs per year for anonymous donations. At the municipal level, communities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants will be exempt from these rules.
Several cantons have legislated in recent years on transparency in the financing of political campaigns. In the cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Valais, Friborg and Neuchâtel, the limit for anonymous donations from individuals is set at 5,000 francs. In the Jura, anonymous donations are even limited to 750 francs. This bar is set at 1,000 francs in Schwyz and 10,000 francs in Ticino.
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