Act on the Election of the Grand Council (Grossratswahlgesetz) - Candidate Voting System

1. The Grand Council is elected using the candidate voting system.

2. The eligible voter has as many votes as there are mandates to be awarded in the electoral district. Each vote for a candidate counts for the party to which he belongs.

1. The personal designations used in this law refer to both genders.

1. The number of persons residing in a district is divided by the allocation divisor and rounded to the nearest whole number. The result indicates the number of mandates to be allocated in the respective district.

2. The calculation basis is the population figure according to the cantonal population statistics. The government council regulates the details by ordinance.

3. The allocation divisor is determined such that exactly 140 mandates are allocated according to the procedure in paragraph 1.

4. If there are equivalent rounding options, the decision is made by drawing lots.

5. The Grand Council undertakes the allocation of mandates prior to each election upon the proposal of the government council.

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1. A nomination list may contain no more names of eligible persons than are to be elected in the electoral district. No name may be listed more than once.

2. The nomination list must be signed by at least 15 eligible voters residing in the electoral district.

3. It must bear a suitable designation that distinguishes it from other nomination lists.

4. Only eligible voters residing in the electoral district can be proposed.

1. An eligible voter may sign only one nomination proposal. Once submitted, the voter cannot withdraw their signature. Candidates are not permitted to sign the nomination proposal on which they are listed.

2. The signatories must provide a certificate from the competent municipal authority confirming their eligibility to vote.

1. The voters of the electoral district may inspect the electoral proposals and the names of the signatories at the State Chancellery.

1. The purified election proposals are called lists.

2. The lists are numbered with Arabic numerals. The numbering of the individual lists is based on the number of votes that were decisive for the allocation of seats and were attributed to the lists in the last general renewal election. The list that achieved the highest number of votes in the canton receives No. 1 in all electoral districts.

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4. Newly submitted lists receive numbers that are not yet assigned by the existing lists. The allocation is decided by lot.

1. List connections are excluded.

1. Appeals against decisions in preliminary proceedings are decided by the Administrative Court.

2. Appeals must be submitted within 3 days from the delivery of the order or the notification of the directive. They do not have a suspensive effect.

1. The voter may exercise their voting right only with an official ballot.

2. They may cross out printed candidate names, write in names from other lists (cross-voting), and/or list the name of the same candidate on the ballot twice (accumulating).

3. The list designation and ordinal number may be crossed out or replaced by others. If the list designation and ordinal number do not match, the list designation prevails.

4. They may enter the names of eligible candidates on a ballot without a preprint, as well as provide the list designation and/or ordinal number of a list.

5. If a ballot contains fewer valid candidate votes than the number of members to be elected to the Grand Council in the electoral district, the empty lines count as additional votes for the list whose designation or ordinal number is indicated on the ballot. If the designation and ordinal number are missing or the ballot contains more than one of the submitted list designations or ordinal numbers, the empty lines do not count (blank votes).

1. Ballots are invalid if they

a) are not official,

b) do not contain the name of a candidate from the constituency,

c) are filled in or altered in a manner other than handwritten,

d) contain defamatory statements,

e) do not comply with the regulations issued for postal voting,

f) do not bear an official stamp impression.

2. If the name of a candidate appears more than twice on a ballot, the excess repetitions shall be struck off.

3. If a ballot contains more names than there are seats to be allocated in the constituency, the last excess names shall be struck off.

1. The allocation of seats is carried out by the State Chancellery.

1. Lists with the same designation form a list group in the canton.

2. A list group participates in the allocation of seats only if its lists receive at least 5% of all party votes in at least one district of the respective district, or if they achieve a voter count that corresponds to a voter share of at least 3% canton-wide.

1. The number of party votes for a list is divided by the number of seats to be allocated in the relevant district. The result is called the voter number of the list.

2. In each list group, the voter numbers of the lists are added together. The sum is divided by the cantonal election key and rounded to the nearest whole number. The result indicates the number of seats for the respective list group.

3. The State Chancellery calculates the cantonal election key so that 140 seats are allocated according to the procedure specified in paragraph 2.

4. If there are equally feasible rounding options, the decision is made by drawing lots.

1. The number of party votes for a list is divided by the electoral district divisor and the list group divisor, and rounded to the nearest whole number. The result indicates the number of seats for this list.

2. The State Chancellery establishes an electoral district divisor for each electoral district and a list group divisor for each list group, in such a way that when proceeding according to paragraph 1,

a) each district receives the number of mandates allocated to it by the Grand Council,

b) each list group receives the number of seats to which it is entitled according to the overall allocation.

3. In the event of ties in rounding, the decision is made by drawing lots.

1. The seats allocated to a list are distributed among the candidates based on the number of votes each candidate receives. In the case of a tie, the candidate first listed on the list is awarded the seat.

2. The candidates who are not elected serve as substitutes in order of the number of votes they received. If a seat cannot be filled, the State Chancellery declares the first substitute candidate on the relevant list as elected. If this candidate cannot or does not wish to assume office, the next candidate in line takes their place.

3. If a list is allocated more seats than it has candidates, a supplementary election is conducted for the surplus seats in the relevant district in accordance with § 18a.

1. Complaints against the election procedure must be submitted to the State Chancellery for the attention of the Administrative Court within 3 days after the announcement of the election results.

1. The validity of the election is decided by the Grand Council at the constituent meeting.

1. Elected candidates who are subject to a ground of incompatibility must declare, after the election, which of the two offices they choose.

2. Persons who have a public-law employment relationship with the canton and who have a ground of incompatibility must resign from this employment relationship no later than 3 months after taking office in the Grand Council.

1. If a member resigns from the Grand Council during their term of office, the State Chancellery shall declare elected the candidate who received the most votes among the non-elected candidates on the respective list.

2. If this candidate is unable or unwilling to assume the office, the next candidate will take their place.

1. If a vacated seat cannot be filled by a successor, the signatories of the list to which the departing council member belonged may submit a replacement proposal within a deadline set by the State Chancellery. This proposal requires the consent of at least eight of the original signatories.

2. The candidate proposed by the signatories of the list for the supplementary election shall, after a formal review of the proposal, be declared elected by the State Chancellery without a ballot.

3. If the signatories of the original list do not exercise their right to propose or cannot reach an agreement, the government council shall order a public election in the respective electoral district. If only one seat is to be filled in the district, the person who receives the most votes is considered elected. In the event of a tie, a lot shall decide.

1. The Executive Council is entrusted with the enforcement.

2. In a regulation, the Executive Council shall regulate the organization, the preliminary procedures, the election procedure, and the determination of the election results.

1. Upon the entry into force of this law, the following are repealed

a) Law on the Proportional Representation of the Grand Council dated January 10, 1921;

b) Decree on the Implementation of the Constitutional Provision on Representation in the Grand Council Based on Population Size dated January 25, 1864.

1. Upon the entry into force of this law, the Law on Municipalities (Municipal Law) of December 19, 1978, is amended as follows

*Text inserted in the relevant enactment.*

1. This law is to be published in the official law collection. The government council determines the date of its entry into force.