A new investigation from the TX Group (better known as Tamedia) has claimed that a number of referendums in Switzerland were submitted with fraudulent signatures. Here’s a guide to the so-called Signature Scandal and why it is significant for Swiss democracy.

Companies accused of collecting fake signatures for Swiss referendums

Our story starts with Incop, a company based in Lausanne, and the co-president of the Service-Citoyen initiative Noémie Roten. Roten told Tamedia that Service-Citoyen had agreed on a deal with Incop and its director Franck Tessemo, stating that the firm would secure 10.000 signatures for their referendum at a rate of 4,50 francs per signature.

Incop itself is part of a growing industry in Switzerland. As publicly backed federal referendums require at least 50.000 signatures to be voted on, multiple companies predominantly based in western cantons offer to approach residents and collect signatures for referendums for a set fee. They also promise that they will only deliver valid signatures, eliminating the lengthy authentication process typically carried out by local councils.

Up to 90 percent of signatures were invalid, Roten claims

However, Roten claimed that most of the valid signatures provided by Incop were not valid at all. Of the 1.159 signatures from Lausanne, 423 were invalid. The most common fraudulent techniques involved taking signatures from people who weren’t residents of certain cantons, fake birthdays and addresses, and even a case of the same person writing multiple signatures with slightly different handwriting styles.

In all, Roten surmised that between 35 and 90 percent of the signatures provided by Incop were invalid, way above the traditional rate (8 to 12 percent). Mark Wilmes, an expert on the process, told Tamedia that the alleged activities of Incop and other firms amounted to an “attack on democracy”.

The legitimacy of referendums in Switzerland called into question

Wilmes argued that the findings mean that some referendums in Switzerland were put to a vote without having enough valid signatures. The impact of this is felt across the political divide, with the scandal alleged to have affected initiatives from the No 10 million Switzerland! and Neutrality Initiatives from the SVP to the import bans on foie gras, fur products and the initiative against factory farming.

"Forging signatures endangers our institutions and direct democracy," Green Party national councillor Greta Gysin told 20 Minuten. She called for the government to ban commercial signature collections for referendums in Switzerland - such a ban was debated in parliament last year, but was rejected by lawmakers.

Swiss federal authorities to conduct full investigation into scandal

In response to the allegations, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it would investigate "several proceedings on suspicion of electoral fraud", and has already completed "various coercive measures, in particular house searches and interrogations". While they could not say who was under ongoing investigation, signature collection companies and popular initiative committees were the sectors under the magnifying glass.

For their part, the Federal Chancellery told Tamedia that it had filed complaints against election fraud as early as 2022. They suspect that around a dozen federal votes were affected by the signature scandal, and called on each canton to report suspected fraud “immediately.” 

However, the chancellery rejected Wilmes' assessment, noting that "from the number of indications, it cannot be concluded that referendums or initiatives with fewer than the legally required number of valid signatures were put to the vote." They said that they would be monitoring the situation closely.

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