We are proposing a similar democracy system to the Swiss. Not exactly the same, but similar. The Swiss system puts the people at the heart of decision making. Their country is run mostly by the people with more referendums annually than New Zealand has had in 200 years, and now the country decides with minimal government intervention on most key subjects.

Before we take a closer look at how their system works, its important to understand we are talking about using a similar process to them, but that the actual decision making itself has absolutely nothing to do with Switzerland. We are two different sovereign nations and what the Swiss people decide has absolutely no bearing on New Zealand decisions.

We are proposing some key differences such as neighbourhood level decision making as well as large national decisions. The eligibility and the process and decision making content will vary between the different types of referendums.

For now, lets just take a look at how the Swiss do things and lets hear your comments.

This content has been taken directly from their website.

Direct Democracy

Direct democracy is one of the special features of the Swiss political system. It allows the electorate to express their opinion on decisions taken by the Swiss Parliament and to propose amendments to the Federal Constitution. It is underpinned by two instruments: initiatives and referendums.

In Switzerland the people play a large part in the decision-making process at all political levels. All Swiss citizens aged 18 and over have the right to vote in elections and on specific issues. The Swiss electorate are called on approximately four times a year to vote on an average of fifteen such issues. In recent decades, voter turnout has been a little over 40% on average. 

Citizens are also able to propose votes on specific issues themselves. This can be done via an initiative, an optional referendum, or a mandatory referendum. These three instruments form the core of direct democracy.

Popular initiative

The popular initiative allows citizens to propose an amendment or addition to the Constitution. It acts to drive or relaunch political debate on a specific issue. For such an initiative to come about, the signatures of 100,000 voters who support the proposal must be collected within 18 months. The authorities sometimes respond to an initiative with a direct counter-proposal in the hope that a majority of the people and the cantons support that instead.

Optional referendum

Federal acts and other enactments of the Federal Assembly are subject to optional referendums. These allow citizens to demand that approved bills are put to a nationwide vote. In order to bring about a national referendum, 50,000 valid signatures must be collected within 100 days of publication of the new legislation.

Mandatory referendum

All constitutional amendments approved by Parliament are subject to a mandatory referendum, i.e. they must be put to a nationwide popular vote. The electorate are also required to approve Swiss membership of specific international organisations.

Could New Zealand do something similar?

What would we do differently?

Would it work for New Zealand?