Published on September 26, 2024 at 09:48. / Modified on September 26, 2024 at 9:07 p.m.
This evening at 6:30 p.m., the French political scientist Loïc Blondiaux will give in Geneva (Uni-Mail, room MS160) the public conference “Citizen assemblies to the aid of democracy? », followed by a round table with Martine Brunschwig Graf (former member of the Geneva government and the National Council), Lisa Mazzone (president of the Swiss Greens) and Sylvie Nicoud (Extinction Rebellion).
The results of last Sunday’s votes brought the question of the functioning of direct democracy back to the forefront of the Swiss political scene. Only 45% of people with the right to vote expressed their opinion on the reform of the 2nd pillar. Certainly close to the average, this participation rate is low given the importance of this issue for everyone, even more so if we compare it to that of the vote on the 13th AVS pension last March where participation was well higher (58%). The explanation often given is that the subject was “too complex” for the average citizen. “Many voters did not know what the reform meant in concrete terms for them and therefore said no out of security,” commented Monday the NZZ. “If we had a purely representative democracy, it would be easier to implement social policy reforms in Switzerland,” he told the Tages-Anzeiger a German-speaking guru of polls.
We are in Switzerland, a country of popular rights, and no one dares to say it too loudly, but the implicit message is this: the “average” citizen is not able to understand such a complex subject; it would be preferable to let the “knowledgeable” decide, namely parliamentarians, or even experts. However, we should not overestimate the knowledge of complex files of an average parliamentarian either; not due to lack of intelligence, but due to the division of parliamentary work (the in-depth study of files is delegated to committee members) and strong party discipline, without forgetting the influence of lobbies. This distrust of the intelligence of citizens challenges us. Indeed, the great progress of the idea of democracy for our societies was to give everyone the right to vote with equal weight. No competency test is required, neither for the citizen voter, nor for the citizen candidate and elected officials.
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