Where Democracies Like Switzerland Draw The Line On Popular Votes

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Rules about which issues can come to public vote – and in what form – vary around the world, but they all reveal similar tensions at the heart of direct democracy, including in Switzerland. This content was published on October 2, 2026 - 09:00 9 minutes

As part of the democracy team, I report on the dynamic relationship between citizens and their institutions in Switzerland and abroad. Born in Ireland, I have a BA in European Studies and MA in International Relations. I've been at SWI swissinfo since 2017.

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The number 1,937 suggests Hungary is a direct democracy hotspot. From 1990 to 2020, it marks the total amount of initiatives and referendums launched in the country, a figure that should make it a champion of citizen participation. Yet most never even gathered signatures. Authorities deemed 93% invalid from the start.

In Switzerland, by contrast, just four people's initiatives have ever been shelved as“inadmissible”, or non-compliant with the rules of what can be put to public vote – the last time in 1996.

What's behind the difference? When it comes to what's allowed and what's not, both are extreme cases in Europe, from Hungary's seemingly restrictive approach to Switzerland's liberal one – not to mention places with no citizen initiative rights at all. They also raise more fundamental questions about democracy: how much citizen involvement is too much – and who gets to draw the line?

Rules stacked in favour of authorities

In Hungary, the second part of that question is crucial, says János Mécs, a constitutional law expert at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Under Viktor Orbán's government, in power from 2010 to 2026, courts and the National Election Commission were politicised, Mécs tells Swissinfo.“If the government was behind a referendum, they were soft, but if it was anyone else, they had impossible requirements.”

One requirement – that initiatives have to make clear what their implications would be – became in particular“a very flexible rule on which basically anything could be rejected”, Mécs says. For instance, a 2015 referendum against mandatory Sunday shop closures, whose invalidation Mécs describes as“ridiculous”.“Democracy is about deciding on public affairs. And if people can't decide whether shops should be open on Sundays or not, this is a very undemocratic line of reasoning.”

And the mistrust is not limited to Orbán, Mécs adds.“There's a sort of elitism among many Hungarian constitutional lawyers that is sceptical about direct democracy and referendums,” he says. Whether this will change under new Prime Minister Péter Magyar is uncertain, he says – not least because it would mean overcoming years of what Mécs says is a“mutual lack of trust” between politicians and the people.

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