Why fewer than one eligible voter in two votes in Switzerland

At the 2023 federal elections, 46.7% of eligible voters cast a ballot. The figure is not an exception. Since 1983 turnout at federal elections has moved within a narrow band, with a low of 42.2% in 1995 and a high of 48.9% in 1983.

Popular votes generally draw more participation than elections. An initiative put to the vote in June 2026 reached 58.9%.

In international terms Switzerland sits among the OECD countries with the lowest turnout. Australia votes at around 90% and Uruguay at over 89%, but in both cases voting is compulsory. Switzerland has around 5.6 million eligible voters.

The reasons identified by research

The political scientist Andreas Goldberg, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, identifies several causes. The first concerns the stability of the system. Elections produce only small shifts between parties, and the composition of the Federal Council rarely changes after the vote.

The second concerns voter behaviour. Around 80% of eligible voters take part selectively, turning out for some occasions and not others. Only about 10% never vote.

Goldberg also observes that Swiss voters tend to give less weight to parliamentary elections and more to popular votes. When the questions on the ballot are complex, turnout tends to fall.

The data also show a difference between generations. Younger people vote less often, while middle-aged voters form the most consistent core.

The jurist Léonie C. Marti moves the question onto another level. In her view this is not simply about low figures, but about the structural exclusion of certain social groups.

That reading touches the basic promise of direct democracy, according to which citizens decide. If participation is concentrated among particular parts of the population, decisions reflect their priorities more than those of everyone else.

The question also concerns Italian-speaking Switzerland, where the relationship between voters and institutions is measured at the same federal deadlines. How to widen participation remains open, since the causes identified by research cannot be corrected with a single measure.