How Swiss direct democracy works: Many nations admire Switzerland’s system of direct democracy. But what do direct democratic tools like popular initiatives and referendums really entail?

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No other country in the world holds as many popular initiatives as Switzerland.

The first votes took place more than 100 years ago, and to this day Swiss citizens are regularly called to the ballot box to decide on local, regional and national issues.

Switzerland’s representative democratic system comes with direct democratic tools, some of which have actually reshaped the system itself. In 1891, for example, the introduction of the popular vote gained a majority, while in 1918, a popular initiative altered Switzerland’s electoral system by establishing proportional representation in most cantons. This means that if a political party receives 30% of the votes in a canton with ten seats in the House of Representatives, it is entitled to three of those ten seats.