Yahoo – AFP, Nina Larson, June 5, 2016
Geneva (AFP) - The Swiss on Sunday flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income.
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| A giant poster promoting the basic income for all initiative in Switzerland was laid out in May in Plainpalais Place in Geneva (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini) |
Geneva (AFP) - The Swiss on Sunday flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income.
Final
results in the referendum showed 76.9 percent of voters opposed the initiative
to provide an unconditional, basic income (UBI) to each Swiss national, along
with foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years.
Supporters
had argued that such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a
world where good jobs with steady salaries are increasingly hard to come by.
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If the
Swiss people vote in favor, the
government would pay every Swiss
resident about
$2,500 each month.
|
Such a sum,
however, would hardly cover basic living costs in Switzerland, which is one of
the world's priciest nations where the median income is above 6,000 francs a
month.
The idea,
which stirred up debate both in Switzerland and abroad, was embraced in a few
counties in the cantons of Jura and Vaud, while several neighbourhoods of
Geneva and Zurich voted in favour.
But
overall, the response from the 46 percent of eligible voters who cast their
ballots was a resounding "no", in line with the recommendation from
the government and nearly all political parties.
The scheme
to dish out an income to people whether they work or not was controversial from
the start in Switzerland --a country where craftmanship and work ethic are
highly valued.
'Marxist
dream'
Andreas
Ladner, a political scientist at Lausanne University, told RTS the Swiss were
"realistic" in their assessment of the UBI plan.
Accepting
that people can "be paid without having to work would have been a very big
step" for the industrious Swiss, he said.
Critics
condemned the initiative as "a Marxist dream", warning of sky-high
costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, causing economic chaos.
Authorities
have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to
cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.
That
argument likely hit home with the Swiss who have previously turned up their
nose at initiatives that would have ushered in a minimum wage and increased
paid holidays from a minimum four to six weeks, fearing they would hurt
competitiveness.
But
supporters of the UBI initiative were not cowed by the resounding defeat,
insisting that their main objective had been to get people talking about the
idea.
"We
are very happy," Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told the ATS
news agency.
Supporters
threw a party in Lausanne to celebrate the 23 percent of votes they had
garnered.
"One
out of five people voted for the unconditional basic income, so that is a
success in itself," Sergio Rossi, an economics professor and backer of the
initiative, told ATS.
Europe-wide debate
The idea of
a basic income has been bouncing around in more radical circles for centuries,
but it has recently entered mainstream thinking.
Projects to
introduce some variation of the UBI, albeit at a lower level than the Swiss
proposal, are underway in a range of countries, including in Finland and the
Dutch city of Utrecht.
Sunday's
referendum came after reformers mustered more than the 100,000 signatures
required to hold a popular vote, a feature of the Swiss system of direct
democracy.
While the
UBI initiative was clobbered, several other contentious issues put to the vote Sunday
sailed through.
A full 66.8
percent of voters and all 26 cantons embraced a government push to speed up the
country's asylum process, despite harsh opposition from the populist rightwing
Swiss People's Party.
The aim is
for most cases to be handled within 140 days or less, compared to an average of
around 400 days at the moment.
And 62.4
percent of voters and all but three half-cantons supported a call to allow
genetic testing of embryos before they are inserted in the uterus in cases of
in vitro fertilisation where either parent carries a serious hereditary
disease.
No
screening would be permitted for elements like gender, hair and eye colours,
but that has not stopped opponents from dubbing the initiative the
"eugenics law".
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