Committee wants to cancel Swiss e-ID vote result

The referendum committee that opposed the Swiss e-ID wants the vote to be annulled. 

Swiss citizens voted in favor of a government move to introduce a digital ID in a narrow referendum result, with 50.39 percent of voters in support. 

However, the referendum committee claims the vote was unduly influenced by “illicit interference by state-controlled Swisscom.” Swisscom is a private company but it is majority-owned by the Confederation (the Swiss state) with such companies expected to be bound by political neutrality, and not influencing the democratic process. 

In its appeal, the referendum committee against the digital identity law asserts that Swisscom donated 30,000 Swiss Francs (US$37,780) to a pro-eID committee and asked a senior executive to promote the project publicly. Additionally, it claims Switzerland’s umbrella organization for digitalization, the Digitalswitzerland Foundation, which has Swisscom’s CEO sitting on its board, donated CHF 150,000 ($188,925) to the pro-eID committee. 

The referendum committee believes Swisscom’s involvements are in contravention of the freedom to vote, which is backed by the federal constitution, and further claims the financial assistance was “concealed.” 

RTS analyzed whether this appeal would mean Switzerland would have re-run the vote on e-ID. Such voting repeats are rare and hinge on the result being very close and the appeal needing to be filed quickly. Both of these conditions are satisfied in this case, but the contravention must also be consequential enough to have influenced citizens to vote in a certain way. 

The federal judges will have to decide if Swisscom’s financial contributions amount to an irregularity and whether the funds had a decisive influence on the votes of 10,000 people, with the result having been decided by 20,000 votes. 

The result of the referendum means the new digital identity law establishes the basis for a state-issued e-ID that Swiss can use to identify themselves to authorities and businesses. Use of the e-ID is voluntary and free. 

The Swiss Abroad were in a larger majority in favor of the e-ID, with nearly 64 percent of expat voters marking yes (data is available for only 12 cantons that provide them). Swissinfo.ch argues that this is not a surprise as overseas Swiss are among those who can expect to benefit the most from the e-ID. Some of the Swiss Abroad may also have experience of a digital ID system in their adopted countries. 

Political scientist Martina Mousson, at research institute gfs.bern, said that those aged between 40 and 64, with high incomes and higher level of education, and living in cities are more represented among overseas Swiss than in the rest of the population. “Our surveys have shown that these profiles are more favourable to the e-ID,” she told Swissinfo. 

Takeaway lessons from the Swiss e-ID vote, referenda can be instructive

Swissinfo analyzes the results of the referendum, with the e-ID only narrowly crossing the line, the publication puts it down to unintended voter mobilization around a separate issue — abolishing rental value taxation. 

Conservative rural voters, drawn by tax reform, turned out in high numbers but overwhelmingly rejected the e-ID, citing distrust of government and digital tools. Meanwhile, urban voters, more likely to support e-ID, were less motivated to vote.

The revised e-ID proposal, unlike the 2021 version rejected by 64 percent of voters, is now state-managed and designed with data minimization in mind. It allows users to prove eligibility, such as age, without revealing full personal details. But its limited functionality and cautious rollout (free and identity-only) left many unconvinced of its practical value, the media site argues. 

The opposition was fragmented but effective. The Pirate Party split internally, and the Swiss People’s Party only unified late in the campaign. Despite this, they mobilized significant resistance, with 49.6 percent voting no and most cantons opposing the measure.

Concerns persist about overuse of digital identity, erosion of trust and marginalization of digitally illiterate citizens, which is almost a third of the population. Although e-ID is officially optional, critics warn it may become de facto mandatory, deepening reliance on smartphones and risking a wider digital divide. Lucie Škopková, a privacy analyst for Informa, observed that the question of whether the Swiss are “truly convinced” on the e-ID proposal remains largely unanswered as the vote margin was so tight and nearly evenly split. 

Swiss voters narrowly approved the e-ID, reversing a 2021 referendum in which nearly two-thirds had rejected a similar proposal. The earlier version had been criticized for outsourcing e-ID issuance to private companies, raising concerns about data privacy and control. 

In response, politicians from across the spectrum submitted motions that addressed these criticisms, advocating for a public e-ID system with decentralized data storage and minimal data collection. Rather than ignoring the previous vote, these initiatives explicitly incorporated its arguments, demonstrating how referendums can shape policy beyond a binary outcome.

Political scientist Marc Bühlmann, a professor at the University of Bern, notes that most rejected referendums in Switzerland lead to renewed efforts that reflect public concerns. He points out that interpreting a “no” vote is itself a political act, citing the CO2 Act as an example where a revised version may not satisfy all parties. In contrast, the e-ID case shows how authorities, under pressure to win public support, can adapt legislation to include civil society input and address voter objections that ultimately secures a majority.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital identity  |  e-ID  |  legislation  |  Switzerland