Ordinance of May 24, 1978, on Political Rights (OPR) - Political Domicile (VPR)

The following, in particular, may establish a political domicile that does not correspond to the domicile as defined by civil law: a. persons under guardianship; b. persons residing at their place of work during the week, notably students; c. spouses who, with the consent of their partner, because the judge has ordered them to do so, or because the law directly authorizes them, reside, with the intention of settling there, in a place other than the domicile of the common household.

A person who changes their political residence within the four weeks preceding the date of a federal vote must, in order to receive voting materials from the municipality of their new residence, prove that they have not already voted in their former political residence.

The following Sundays are reserved for federal popular votes: a. the second Sunday in February in the years when Easter Sunday falls after April 10, and the fourth Sunday before Easter in other years; b. the third Sunday in May in the years when Pentecost Sunday falls after May 28, and the third Sunday after Pentecost in other years; c. the Sunday following the Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer; d. the last Sunday in November.

For overriding reasons, the Federal Chancellery, after consulting the cantons, proposes to the Federal Council to move a particular date or to set additional dates.

There is no federal popular vote in the month of September in the year of the complete renewal of the National Council.

The Federal Chancellery publishes no later than the month of June each year the dates that are reserved for federal popular votes for the following year.

The cantons shall ensure that the authorities competent under cantonal law are able to dispatch voting materials to Swiss citizens abroad and, upon their express request, to other voters residing abroad no earlier than one week before the official dispatch date of said materials.

The Federal Chancellery shall take the necessary measures for the execution of the voting, as provided by legislation.

In conjunction with the competent department, it shall prepare the explanations intended for the voters and submit them to the Federal Council for a decision.

The minutes must be drawn up according to the model specified in annex 1 a (normal case) or 1 b (initiative and counter-proposal).

The cantons can obtain the necessary forms at cost price from the Federal Chancellery.

The Federal Chancellery determines the time from which the minutes can be destroyed.

The cantonal government assigns the official services designated for this purpose by cantonal law to immediately transmit the voting results, by an appropriate means, to the cantonal central service responsible for collecting them.

The cantonal central service immediately transmits the provisional results electronically to the federal service designated by the Federal Council.

The provisional results transmitted by the cantonal central service for the municipalities and the canton include

a. the number of voters;

b. the number of yes and no votes, blank ballots, and null ballots;

c. additionally, in the case of popular initiatives accompanied by a counter-proposal, the number of votes recorded for each of the three questions in the report under the heading "without response" and the number of votes collected, on the subsidiary question, by the popular initiative and by the counter-proposal.

The provisional results must not be made public before the day set for the vote, at 12 o'clock.

The cantonal government shall immediately publish the content of the voting minutes, excluding any observations or decisions, in the official cantonal gazette. It shall indicate the means of appeal as referred to in Art. 77 LDP.

The seats in the National Council are allocated among the cantons in proportion to their share of the permanent resident population of Switzerland, as defined in Art. 19, letter a, of the Ordinance of 19 December 2008 on the Census.

Printed ballots must provide sufficient space for voters to mix and cumulate votes in a legible manner.

The cantonal government shall take the necessary measures for the organization and execution of the elections to the National Council. It shall designate the entity (cantonal electoral office) responsible for managing and overseeing the electoral operations, receiving and processing the lists of candidates, as well as summarizing the election results.

The cantonal government shall regulate the composition of the electoral offices of the municipalities, provide them with instructions, and supply them with forms for ballot counting, in accordance with models 1 to 5 listed in Annex 2.

Cantons may obtain the ballot counting forms from the Federal Chancellery at cost price.

The Federal Council may, upon duly substantiated request, authorize a canton to modify the forms. The request must be submitted before January 1 of the year in which the election takes place. Modifications to forms previously authorized by the Federal Council do not require new approval.

Each canton shall communicate to the Federal Chancellery, by March 1 of the election year at the latest, the Monday that will constitute its deadline for the submission of candidate lists, and shall inform it whether it has set a period of seven or fourteen days for the finalization of the lists.

Exempt from this obligation are cantons that are entitled to only one seat in the National Council and do not implement the system of tacit election.

Candidate lists must include at least the information provided on the standard form (Annex 3 a).

By signing the candidate list (Art. 24, para. 1, LPR), a candidate with political domicile in the district declares that they simultaneously accept their candidacy (Art. 22, para. 3, LPR).

The canton immediately strikes the name of the elector who has signed multiple lists from all lists.

A group may submit multiple lists of candidates bearing the same denomination provided that each list is differentiated from the others by an addition.

The lists of the same group can only be cross-affiliated if the addition concerns the gender, age, ideological wing of the group, or region.

If the addition does not pertain to the regional delimitation of the lists, the group shall designate the list of candidates that will serve as the main list. ...

The competent services of the cantons referred to in Art. 8a shall send to the Federal Chancellery a copy of each candidate list no later than the day following the deadline for the submission of lists.

The Federal Chancellery retains on the first list it received the name of a candidate who appears on other lists. ...

It shall communicate to the canton by email, within 72 hours of receiving the list, the deletions it has made.

The canton shall transmit a copy of each list to the Federal Chancellery no later than 24 hours after the expiration of the deadline for finalizing the lists. It shall indicate on this copy that the list is definitively established.

The declarations of related lists and sub-related lists must include at least the information indicated on the standard form (Annex 3 b).

The time at which the competent cantonal office receives the declarations of related lists and sub-related lists determines the validity of the related lists and sub-related lists.

The electoral offices of the municipalities shall transmit to the cantonal electoral office, immediately after summarizing the results, the election minutes and the accompanying forms, as well as the ballots.

The ballots must be packaged in the order in which they were counted and dispatched in sealed envelopes.

The electoral office of the canton shall immediately determine the results of the electoral district and the allocation of seats.

If there is doubt regarding the accuracy of a municipality's results, the cantonal electoral office shall conduct a recount itself or instruct the municipal electoral office to do so.

The cantonal electoral office shall prepare the election results record in duplicate. For all constituencies where the election is conducted under the proportional representation system, this record must conform to Model 5 of the annex both in content and format.

The record must list the names of elected and non-elected candidates from each party list in order of votes received. For each candidate, the record must indicate the first names and surname, year of birth, place of origin, domicile, and profession.

The cantonal government shall publish without delay in the official gazette the content of the election record, excluding any remarks and decisions. It shall indicate the possibilities for appeal pursuant to Art. 77 LDP.

It shall inform the elected candidates and the Federal Council of the provisional election results in writing.

It shall immediately transmit an unsigned copy of the election record to the Federal Chancellery.

Upon the expiration of the period allowed for appeals, the cantonal government shall transmit to the Federal Council the record prepared by the cantonal electoral office, attaching the official sheet and, if applicable, the appeals accompanied by its opinion.

Within ten days following the expiration of the appeal period, it must also submit to the Federal Statistical Office forms 1 to 4 as well as all electoral ballots. These must be packaged by municipality.

The General Secretariat of the Federal Assembly informs the cantonal government of the resignation declarations.

The cantonal government promptly communicates to the Federal Chancellery and the Secretary General of the Federal Assembly, for the attention of the President of the National Council, the name of the substitute declared elected and publishes it in the official gazette.

If a supplemental election is necessary (Art. 56, para. 1, LDP), the cantonal government invites the representative of the concerned list to submit, within thirty days, a new list of candidates. For this purpose, it provides them with a copy of the old list of candidates, including the names and addresses of all signatories.

Before each complete renewal of the National Council, the Federal Council issues, by means of a circular, additional instructions regarding the communications to be made, the presentation, sorting, and finalization of ballot papers, the manner of completing forms, and the establishment of results by municipality.

Model signature lists prepared in each of the official languages can be obtained free of charge from the Federal Chancellery.

A voter who signs a referendum request on behalf of a voter unable to write shall enter all the required information concerning the person on whose behalf they are signing. In the "handwritten signature" section, they shall write their own name followed by "by order/p. o." in capital letters and sign it personally.

The certificate is granted when the signatory is registered in the electoral roll on the day the list of signatures is submitted for certification.

When the service refuses the certificate, it must state the reason using one of the following formulations: a. illegible; b. not identifiable; c. signature given multiple times; d. signatures from the same hand; e. non-manual signature; f. not registered; g. absence of a manual signature; h. incorrect birth date.

The service indicates on each list or in the collective certificate the number of valid signatures and the number of invalid signatures.

...

The Federal Chancellery issues instructions on the issuance of the collective certificate according to Art. 62, para. 4, LDP.

The service maintains the secrecy of the vote.

The signature lists must be submitted to the Federal Chancellery and sorted by canton.

When the deadline for collecting signatures falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, the referendum request can still be submitted during office hours on the next working day.

To determine whether a referendum request has been successful, the Federal Chancellery ensures notably that the signature lists comply with legal requirements and that the certification of voter eligibility is presented in proper form.

When the authors of an initiative submit a text drafted in several official languages for preliminary examination, they must indicate to the Federal Chancellery, with a view to possible revisions, the version that is authoritative.

When they present the text in only one official language, it shall be translated by the Federal Chancellery as soon as the authors of the initiative have declared it final.

All authors of the initiative must provide their handwritten signature, thereby confirming to the Federal Chancellery that they are members of the initiative committee. The Chancellery provides the appropriate forms free of charge.

The Federal Chancellery will strike out the last names on the signature lists that include more names than the initiative committee can contain.

In its decision following the preliminary examination of the initiative, the Federal Chancellery also publishes the names and addresses of all the authors of the initiative in the Federal Gazette. If the authors wish for their initiative to be translated into Romansh, the Chancellery will have it translated into that language and publish the translation in the Federal Gazette in German.

Before the Federal Council sets the date for the popular vote, the Federal Chancellery sends the initiative committee a withdrawal declaration form accompanied by a list to be signed.

The form complies with the model set out: a. in Annex 4 a (unconditional withdrawal declaration), if the Federal Assembly has not adopted an indirect counter-proposal to the initiative; b. in Annex 4 b (conditional or unconditional withdrawal declaration), if the Federal Assembly has adopted an indirect counter-proposal to the initiative.

The Federal Chancellery grants the initiative committee a ten-day period to fill out the withdrawal declaration and submit the list with the required number of committee members' signatures.

If one of the signatories imposes conditions other than withdrawal in favor of the indirect counter-proposal, their withdrawal declaration is null and void.

The initiative committee must send the withdrawal declaration and the list of signatures to the Federal Chancellery within the allotted time.

The Federal Chancellery publishes the withdrawal of the initiative in the Federal Gazette.

The provisions of Section 4 apply by analogy to popular initiatives.

Electronic voting trials in the context of federal popular votes require a general authorization from the Federal Council.

The Federal Council grants a general authorization for a maximum of five ballots to cantons applying for the first time.

If a canton has conducted at least five consecutive trials without any disruptions during federal ballots, the Federal Council may authorize electronic voting for a maximum duration during federal popular votes, restricting its use to certain parts of the territory, specific dates, and certain issues.

Electronic voting trials in the context of the election of the National Council always require a special general authorization from the Federal Council.

If the Federal Council has granted a general authorization, deviations from the legal provisions regarding in-person voting and postal voting are permitted insofar as necessary.

General authorization is granted: a. if the canton guarantees that it will conduct the trials in compliance with federal law requirements; it must, in particular, take all effective and appropriate measures to ensure: 1. that only eligible voters can participate in the voting (verification of voter eligibility), 2. that each voter has only one vote and votes only once (uniqueness of vote), 3. that third parties cannot systematically and effectively intercept, alter, or divert electronic votes (assurance of the faithful expression of voters' intent), 4. that third parties cannot become aware of the content of electronic ballots (secrecy of the vote), 5. that any systematic fraud is excluded (regularity of the election); b. if the Federal Chancellery has determined that the conditions required for the granting of approval, as provided in Art. 27e, para. 1 bis, are met.

The application for the grant of a general authorization must include: a. assurance that the trial will be conducted in compliance with federal law regulations and that there is a plan of financial and organizational measures enabling the conduct of the trials; b. the provisions issued by the canton for this purpose; c. the specification of the system to be used and the operating procedures; d. the maximum proportion of the cantonal electorate that may participate in the trials; e. if several trials are planned, the number of ballots or the maximum duration for which the general authorization will be granted.

...

The Federal Council determines in the general authorization: a. the federal votes or the maximum duration for which it permits the use of electronic voting; b. the period during which electronic voting can take place; c. the territory and the portion of the electorate for which electronic voting is authorized.

A canton that has received a general authorization must request approval from the Federal Chancellery for each ballot in which it intends to use electronic voting.

The Federal Chancellery sets the conditions for granting approval, particularly the requirements applicable to the electronic voting system and its operation.

Approval is granted if the conditions set out in para. 1 bis are fulfilled.

If the Federal Chancellery concludes, after reviewing the application for approval, that the conditions are not met, it informs the concerned canton of its findings with justifications.

If the canton does not agree with the conclusions of the Federal Chancellery, the latter submits the application to the Federal Council for a decision.

The use of electronic voting in the context of federal votes is only permitted if it pertains to the territories designated for this purpose and covers all items submitted to vote and all elections scheduled during the relevant ballot.

The maximum portion of the cantonal electorate allowed to vote electronically is 30%. The 10% ceiling of the national electorate must not be exceeded.

The Federal Chancellery regularly reviews whether the limits set in para. 1 should be reconsidered in light of developments in electronic voting.

Swiss voters abroad and voters who cannot express their vote autonomously due to a disability are not included in the calculation of the limits.

The electronic voting process must be designed in such a way that the needs of voters who cannot express their vote autonomously due to a disability are taken into account.

The Federal Chancellery may authorize accommodations for these voters within the framework of implementing the applicable requirements for electronic voting, provided that this does not significantly compromise security.

Electronic voting systems must be designed and operated in such a way as to prevent any manipulation of opinion formation during voting. In particular, they must ensure the avoidance of systematically displaying manipulative messages overlaid during the voting process on the device used for voting.

Proxy voting is prohibited.

The cantons shall ensure that the correct processing of votes and the accuracy of the electronic voting results are verified.

They shall establish the plausibility of the electronic voting results.

The Federal Chancellery shall set the terms and conditions for verifiability and the establishment of plausibility.

If irregularities are found during verification or while establishing plausibility, it must be possible to assess the number of invalid votes or, at the very least, the extent of the impact on the election count result.

The cantons must take all effective and appropriate measures to ensure that the conduct of the vote and its conclusion are executed properly.

In particular, they must ensure that no vote is permanently lost before the validation of the voting result.

A canton lacking its own system may: a. allow its voters to vote electronically using a system operated by another canton; b. enlist a private company for the administration of electronic voting.

...

Inspection of a system and its operating procedures is required: a. before launching a new system; b. for any major modifications to a system or its operating procedures; c. periodically.

The inspection is carried out by independent bodies. These entities ensure: a. that the requirements set by the Federal Chancellery are met; b. that the security measures and the electronic voting system are in line with the latest technological advancements.

The Federal Chancellery determines the frequency and procedures of the inspection and the requirements that the independent bodies must meet.

It decides which inspections fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Chancellery and which are the responsibility of the cantons.

The cantons conducting trials shall make public the operation of the electronic voting system, its security features, and its main operational modalities.

They shall ensure that the following information is published: a. the documentation regarding the system and its operation; b. the source code of the software; c. the documentation of the development process; d. evidence proving that the machine-readable programs were created using the source code of the software as published.

Exceptions provided by legislation on transparency and data protection are reserved.

The Federal Chancellery and the cantons conducting trials shall ensure the involvement of the public and specialized sectors.

The cantons shall particularly encourage the participation of the public and specialized sectors in the improvement of electronic voting systems.

The cantons conducting trials shall inform voters, in an understandable manner, about how electronic voting is organized, technically designed, and operated. They shall indicate the procedure to be followed when issues arise and shall explain how verifiability functions.

Representatives of the voters must be able to monitor all the main operations carried out by the authorities during an election where electronic voting is used, and also have access to the relevant documents.

The cantons shall publish the results of votes cast electronically in federal elections or referendums. The publication must be carried out in a manner that guarantees the secrecy of the vote.

The Federal Chancellery and the cantons engage independent experts tasked with assisting them in carrying out their duties as long as this assistance is appropriate and particularly contributes to enhancing confidence in electronic voting and its security.

The Federal Chancellery ensures that trials are subject to scientific monitoring and may, for this purpose: a. commission research work, particularly in the fields of social sciences and technology; b. collect data on the use of electronic voting or have it collected by the cantons.

It ensures that electronic voting trials are studied regarding their effects, particularly on the evolution of participation and voting habits.

After each trial, the cantons transmit anonymous statistical data related to the use of electronic voting to the Federal Chancellery. If they conduct more in-depth follow-up surveys, they inform the Federal Chancellery of the results obtained.

The Federal Council may authorize trials on the electronic signature of referendum requests or popular initiatives at the federal level provided that all effective and appropriate measures have been taken to ensure voter eligibility verification, the secrecy of the vote, and the ability to establish the signatory's intent infallibly, as well as to exclude any risk of targeted or systematic fraud.

The cantonal implementation provisions of the federal legislation subject to referendum must be submitted to the Federal Chancellery after the popular vote is held; those that are subject to referendum must be submitted at the expiration of the referendum deadline or if the referendum request has not succeeded; those exempt from referendum must be submitted after their acceptance by the competent cantonal authority.

In non-contentious cases, they are approved by the Federal Chancellery.

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The following are repealed: 1. the regulation of May 2, 1879, concerning the requests for popular voting on federal laws and decrees and revision of the federal constitution; 2. the ordinance of July 8, 1919, for the implementation of the federal law concerning the election of the National Council; 3. the federal decree of December 10, 1945, concerning the participation of military personnel in federal, cantonal, and communal votes and elections.

This ordinance shall enter into force on July 1, 1978.