Foreigners domiciled in Moutier will be able to benefit from municipal and cantonal voting rights this year, even before the Provost city becomes Jura on January 1, 2026. For the Autonomous Socialist Party (PSA), this extension of political rights must be supported. a conference intended to familiarize foreign communities with the exercise of voting and election rights, an approach welcomed by the municipality.
Unlike the canton of Bern, the canton of Jura grants the right to vote in cantonal matters to foreigners established in Switzerland for 10 years and in the canton for 1 year. The only exception is votes affecting the Constitution. They are also voters in municipal matters under certain conditions.
Foreign citizens from the Provost will therefore be able to participate in political life as provided for in Jura law. They will be able to take part in the Jura cantonal elections of October 2025 as voters but not as candidates.
Citizens of foreign nationality will also be able to participate in two municipal votes which will take place under the Jura regime: the revision of the organizational regulations in May and the 2026 budget at the end of summer or beginning of autumn.
Partnership with Jura
To prepare for this transition, the PSA tabled a motion proposing to the Municipal Council to organize an information session or a workshop on the theme of civics. For the first political formation of the Provost legislature, the event must be carried out in collaboration with foreign communities and the canton of Jura.
“It’s about familiarizing foreign communities with all the subtleties of the right to vote,” Mathieu Houmard, the author of the motion, explains to Keystone-ATS. With this approach, he also wants to encourage citizen participation in the elections.
-The signatories of the motion want this event to take place in the presence of representatives of political parties to allow participants to address them directly. Granting foreigners the right to vote was a campaign argument for supporters of the transfer of Moutier to the canton of Jura.
Approach of the City of Moutier
The City of Moutier welcomes this approach and is preparing a communication for foreigners. “We planned to send a document which reminds the rules and informs these people,” underlines municipal councilor Valentin Zuber. In charge of Jura affairs, the elected official emphasizes that this file constitutes one of the priorities of the Municipal Council this year.
The Provost city is in favor of organizing a conference to raise awareness of the exercise of voting and election rights as requested by the motion, while being careful not to link it to a municipal vote and be accused of propaganda. She plans to present in detail the extension of political rights in view of the Jura cantonal elections.
Drawing up the list of these new voters and determining who will have the right to vote takes time, because each case must be examined, notes Valentin Zuber. At least 500 people would be affected by the extension of political rights, representing an increase of 10% in the number of registered voters.
