Swiss citizens rejected this Sunday in a referendum, although by a narrow margin, two legal reforms that sought to increase the rental prerogatives of owners, but which according to opponents of these modifications were going to reduce the protection of tenants.
In the first of these consultations, and with the scrutiny of all the cantons of the country completed, 51.5% of voters said “no” to a reform proposed by the Government that sought to force tenants to obtain express authorization from the landlord to be able to sublet part of the property (for example, a room).
The second referendum related to the housing market rejected, with 53.8% of the votes counted, another government reform that made it easier for owners to terminate a rental contract if they claimed their own need.
The Government had recommended voting “yes” in both consultations, in the first case because it assured that the evolution of the rental market and the emergence of online platforms in the sector had increased abuses, and in the second because it defended the right of landlords to use their property as soon as possible.
However, Swiss citizens, especially in large cities such as Zurich, Basel or Geneva, chose to reject the federal initiatives, which tenant protection groups had managed to submit to a referendum by obtaining the more than 100,000 signatures necessary for it.
Improvement of country roads
In the third of the four federal referendums that the Swiss voted on this Sunday, citizens also demonstrated against (52.7% “noes”) the projects to improve some of the country’s main roads, in which the Government budgeted spending of 4.9 billion francs (5.2 billion euros).
The rejected works included more lanes on the A1 highway, the country’s main highway, in sections such as the one that links Geneva with the rest of the national territory, or in the vicinity of Bern, the national capital.
Opponents of the project argued that the cost of the works was excessive, and that the expansion of roads would only increase traffic jams and emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas causing climate change.
Financing of national healthcare
On the other hand, the Swiss voted in favor (53.3% “yes”) of modifying a federal law on the financing of national healthcare, so that benefits will now be covered on a shared basis by the social insurances paid by citizens. and cantonal governments.
Until now, the social insurance that all Swiss people have to pay to private health companies (healthcare in the country is private but mandatory) took care of all expenses in outpatient treatments, while in hospitals, at home or in centers For dependent people, approximately half was paid between insurance and local authorities.
The new reform will extend this shared payment to all treatments, although with a different percentage (around 25% for the local government and 75% for insurance), something that according to the authorities will reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and will give way to a health sector more guided by medical than economic priorities.
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