An attempt to speed up the time it takes to put a people's initiative to a national vote has failed. A large majority of the Swiss people turned down the proposal in a nationwide vote.

An attempt to speed up the time it takes to put a people's initiative to a national vote has failed. A large majority of the Swiss people turned down the proposal in a nationwide vote.

The Swiss people voted by an overwhelming 70 per cent against the plan, which was also turned down by every canton. A people's initiative needs the support of both a majority of the people and a majority of cantons to be accepted.

The vote to speed up the time it takes to put an initiative before the people comes less than three years after a law was passed on this very issue. In 1997, the government cut the time-frame to a maximum of 39 months.

Those who put forward this initiative wanted it reduced further still - to a maximum of 12 months. They say the public will lose interest in issues unless they are voted on quickly.

The idea for a 12-month limit was put forward by the boss of the Denner supermarket chain, Karl Schweri. He says the current 39 month-period does not respect the public's needs.

The only party in government which supported the so-called "Denner initiative" was the conservative Swiss People's Party. It said 12 months is ample time to put an issue to a vote, because preparations can start before an initiative is officially handed in to the government.

Opponents agreed that it is logistically possible to hold votes within a 12-month period. But they said such a short time-span risked trivialising the process, because it would have given decision-makers too little time to seriously consider the issues and produce counter-proposals.

The 39-month time limit was introduced in response to a vote on health insurance, which took nine years to come before the people. Everyone agreed that was too long, but most people are evidently happy with 39 months.

In the true Swiss spirit of compromise, the Denner initiative took just over two years to come to a vote - exactly halfway between the existing time limit and the one proposed.

The issue was put to a national vote after its supporters collected the necessary 100,000 signatures to force a referendum.

swissinfo with agencies

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative