The majority of the Swiss voted on Sunday for the changes to the national Covid-19 law that had already been decided by the government and parliament.

According to projections, 63 percent voted for the adjustments, which, among other things, create the legal basis for the use of the Covid certificate and for contact tracking.

As in many other countries, in Switzerland you need proof of being vaccinated, recovered or tested in order to gain access to public buildings, restaurants and larger events.

Johannes Ritter

Correspondent for politics and business in Switzerland.

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On the other hand, a broad opposition has formed.

Various associations of corona skeptics and opponents of the Covid measures collected enough signatures in record time to force a referendum on the Covid 19 law for the second time.

In the first vote in June, opponents of the law still had 40 percent of the vote on their side.

The national-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) also recommended that the law be rejected, while all other parties in parliament campaigned for the bill to be accepted.

Despite the low vaccination rate of 65 percent, SVP finance minister Ueli Maurer openly showed sympathy for those who refused to be vaccinated and was photographed in the costume of the so-called freedom drychlers, who with their cowbells have become a symbol of the protest movement.  

Security measures to protect members of government 

Proponents of the law faced hostility and threats on an unprecedented scale. The police had to significantly increase security measures to protect members of the government. This is especially true for the Social Democratic Minister of Health Alain Berset. Because of the aggressive mood and suspicious calls in relevant channels, people even prepared for riots on Sunday in Bern: a protective fence was drawn around the Federal Palace, seat of the Swiss Parliament. That has never happened before on a voting Sunday.

The seven-day corona incidence in the Confederation is higher than in Germany (447) with 523 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. The supporters were all the more pleased with the result of the vote, which supports the government's course in the pandemic. Lorenz Hess from Die Mitte (formerly CVP) said that one is now much better prepared for the further challenges that Switzerland is facing with the new virus variant and the approaching winter. The vote had become a question of faith in which the opponents argued underground. He himself received many threats. "I've never seen it like this before."

Peter Metzinger, who led a civil society campaign for the Covid-19 law, has also been insulted, insulted and threatened by his own admission. “That was bad. That is not what one is used to from Switzerland, ”said Metzinger on Swiss television. But now a clear majority of the Swiss have spoken out in favor of a science-based pandemic fight and the fight against fake news. "It shows that reason rules in Switzerland."

There were two more votes in Switzerland on Sunday. The judicial initiative of the entrepreneur Adrian Gasser, which aimed at a depoliticization of the judges' elections, rejected the citizens according to projections with 68 percent of the votes. Anyone who wants to become a federal judge in Switzerland must therefore continue to have a party membership book and, after the parliamentary election, surrender part of their salary to their party every year.

With a yes share of 61 percent, the Swiss accepted the care initiative. This requires strengthening the nursing profession and remedying the considerable shortage of skilled workers in this branch. According to the initiators' demands, Switzerland will have to invest more in the training and further education of nursing staff in the future. In addition, the job is to be upgraded through higher wages and better working conditions. Parliament must now draft a law on all of this.

The high level of approval certainly has to do with the Corona crisis.

It also showed the Swiss how important and how demanding work in hospitals is.

During the pandemic, 10 to 15 percent of critical care workers quit their job.

In view of the rapidly increasing number of cases, there are hardly any vacancies in intensive care units in many cantons.