Commercial collectors of signatures for initiatives and referendums could receive a legally non -binding code of conduct. This proposal comes from the federal chancellery after the discovery of thousands of falsified signatures.
The code of conduct is in work, the federal chancellery in Keystone-Ats said on Thursday. The actors who adhere there will have to commit to self -regulating. It had already been specified upstream that the code would not be legally restrictive. The project is in consultation until September 5, when the federal chancellery will inform about the rest of the procedure.
Four criminal complaints
She also specified that she had so far filed four criminal complaints for irregularities during signature collection. No new complaint has been filed and the Chancellery confirmed that it would continue to denounce the suspicious cases in the future. However, it does not provide any indication of the current criminal procedures due to the secrecy of function and surveys.
With the national reporting system launched in November 2024, the cantons and communes transmit the irregularities they observe to the Chancellery. This then allows him to quickly detect questionable practices, to identify the schemes and actors involved, and to give instructions to the cantons and communes.
According to the indications provided, this mechanism is bearing fruit because dubious collections still exist, but at a “much lower level” than in 2024. Once the report is done, the federal chancellery examines even closer to the signatures validated by the municipalities by individually verifying all the leaves and the lines of signatures, by seeking the writing anomalies and other suspicious models.
Double control
The checks were reinforced in early 2024. Since then, the federal chancellery has also been checking the declared signatures not valid by the municipalities. In September 2024, she extended this procedure to all popular initiatives and all cantons.
It also introduced the principle of double control. In addition to exchanges at the level of the authorities, the federal chancellery is in permanent contact with the initiative and referendum committees.
The use of reflection AI
To preserve the integrity of signature collections, the Chancellery develops scientific methods to detect falsifications. Currently, reflections are underway on how artificial intelligence and automatic text recognition can help in this area.
Start-ups were put on the spot to offer solutions to the Federal Chancellery. Finally, the latter trained her counting team at the Zurich Criminology Institute to learn to detect falsifications.
Even before the launch of a popular initiative, the Federal Chancellery makes guides available to those interested. The municipalities and the cantons have a vade-mecum on the control of signatures. These documents are currently entirely revised by the administration.
The cases of alleged “fraud with signatures” were revealed at the end of the summer of 2024 and caused a stir. Tamedia surveys have uncovered that thousands of signatures collected by paid companies could have been falsified.