Switzerland rejects basic income referendum- Use these resources to find out more!

This week Swiss voters rejected the introduction of a universal basic income in a referendum.
Use these resources to find out more!
The Guardian has reported that a number of other European nations are ready to undertake similar schemes

For official information on the referendum see documents from the Swiss government website. 
and the results.
Swiss Info (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) also has official results.


Organising support for the minimum wage in Switzerland include: Grundeinkommen
An English language Basic Income site  also has many materials relating to the campaign in favour.
These include audiovisual and leaflets.
Other backers included RBI 
The Government did not support the measure and reports were issued which showed a possible negative impact.

The Basic Income Network site has Europe wide news and materials relating to the theme.  It also includes reports and analysis of why the Swiss vote failed.

For discussion of why many commentators consider a minimum income as necessary look at this World Bank data on purchasing power of consumers in different nations worldwide.

and this Oxfam report that stated that 62 people own as much wealth as half of the world.

Switzerland - referendum on immigration see our quick links

This week Switzerland has been voting in a series of referendums. One of which covers proposals relating to immigration.

Here are some receommended starting points for some quick academic research.

The IFES website has a brief guide in English to what the referendum was about.

Detailed materials, legislation and statements from the Swiss Government can be found on the official website.

why are the Swiss worried about immigration? See the Swiss Federal office for Migration which has official policies and data

The Office fédéral de la statistique also has a useful page with statistics on numbers of immigrants where you can trace trends. Interestingly Martin Grand Jean has mapped the results of the referendum at a local level with statistics the local population. so you can see if votes for quotas coincided with areas of high immigrant population.

For further news coverage, discussion and comment.

Try Swiss Info (English)
24 heures.ch (French) has a special dossier with photographs, images of Swiss front pages and graphs showing results

Le Temps has coverage of immigration issues in Switzerland (in France) and their relationship to the vote.

Popular newspaper le Matin - has a 6 point guide in French to the impact of the vote on immigration.

Switzerland referendum - cap bankers bonuses

In the news this week the recent Swiss referendum- the
A three-part referendum will be held in on 3 March 2013 asked the electorate whether they supported a federal order on family policy, an amendment to the federal law on spatial planning, and an initiative on executive pay that would introduce binding shareholder votes on salary levels, as well as banning golden hellos for new employees and golden parachutes for departing staff. See the results on the Federal statistical website
Find out more about the text and legal position of the referendum on the Chancellerie federale website.

More information on the referendum can be found on these resources.
Direct democracy has some background on ther frequent use of referendums in Switzerland
The oui campaign website has details about Initiative populaire «contre les rémunérations abusives» du 3 mars 2013. Download documents relating to it too. Find out the supporters
Find out more about Thomas Minder from his official website.

the 2013 Office fédéral de la statistique has some useful official statistics on executive pay and bonuses in Switzerland.

New sources.
The following have some useful news and analysis
Get some basic English language news from Switzerland in the Swiss Review.
Le Matin has maps of voting outcomes.
Berner Zeitung.
Der Bund switzerland

Other useful swiss politics resources.
Department of Political Science Zurich swiss elections and referendum project.
C2D database- information on referendums worldwide.