Statistics

43,412,407 Valid signatures Since 1892

553 Initiatives launched 9 launched in 2025

241 Reached the ballot 43.6% of all initiatives

26 Accepted at the ballot 4.7% of all initiatives 15 Collecting signatures Add your name! 4 Awaiting a popular vote Next vote on September 27, 2026

Initiatives per decade

Not enough signatures (159)
In progress (43)
Rejected at vote (209)
Accepted at vote (26)
Other outcome (116)

1890s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

View as table

Decade	✍️ Not enough signatures	📊 Results being validated	⏳ Active	❌ Rejected at vote	✅ Accepted at vote	↩️ Withdrawn	⛔ Declared invalid	🗑️ Written off	🏁 Concluded	Total
1890s	1			4	1					6
1900s				2	1	1				4
1910s				5	3					8
1920s	1			6	1	1				9
1930s				8		12		1		21
1940s				7	1	3				11
1950s				9		13	1			23
1960s				7		9		1		17
1970s	1			26	1	11	1		1	41
1980s	24			27	4	14				69
1990s	34			42	2	8	2			88
2000s	19			20	7	19				65
2010s	52			44	4	16				116
2020s	27	6	37	2	1	2				75

Signature distribution

Not enough signatures (159)
In progress (43)
Rejected at vote (209)
Accepted at vote (26)
Other outcome (116)

No data

0–25k

25–50k

50–75k

75–100k

100–125k

125–150k

150–175k

175–200k

200k+

View as table

Valid signatures	✍️ Not enough signatures	📊 Results being validated	⏳ Active	❌ Rejected at vote	✅ Accepted at vote	↩️ Withdrawn	⛔ Declared invalid	🗑️ Written off	🏁 Concluded	Total
No data	93		16							109
0–25k	63									63
25–50k	1									1
50–75k				40	2	16			1	59
75–100k	2			11	1	9	2	2		27
100–125k		4	16	120	15	49	2			206
125–150k		2	5	23	4	13				47
150–175k				8	2	11				21
175–200k				2	1	2				5
200k+				5	1	9				15

Official recommendations

An initiative reaching a vote has a 11.1% likelihood of being approved. However, if the Federal Council and the Parliament recommend voting against it, the likelihood drops to 6.8%.

Parliament recommendation

	Federal Council recommendation
	Accept	Reject	Not recorded	Total
Accept	100% (3/3)	100% (1/1)	100% (1/1)	100% (5/5)
Reject	0% (0/3)	6.8% (14/207)	35.7% (5/14)	8.5% (19/224)
No recommendation	–	40% (2/5)	0% (0/1)	33.3% (2/6)
Total	50% (3/6)	8% (17/213)	37.5% (6/16)	11.1% (26/235)

From launch to acceptance

Launched 553
43.6% of the previous stage Put to a vote 241
10.8% of the previous stage Accepted 26 (4.7%)

Involvement by canton over time

The largest proportion of each canton population that signed an initiative by decade.

Note: Most initiatives that fail to collect enough signatures never publish their signature counts, so the mean and median are skewed upwards.

Records and close calls

Largest signature collections

Initiative	Year	Valid signatures
for an affordable health insurance	1984	390,273
Coordination of public transport	1937	384,760
Measures against economic crisis	1934	334,699
Abuse of the emergency clause	1937	289,765
concernant un programme national de création d'occasions de travail	1937	278,909

Most signatures relative to population

Initiative	Year	Population share (%)
Coordination of public transport	1937	9.18
Measures against economic crisis	1934	8.09
Abuse of the emergency clause	1937	6.91
concernant un programme national de création d'occasions de travail	1937	6.65
for an affordable health insurance	1984	6.05

Narrowest results

Initiative	Year	Yes share (%)
against the abuse of asylum rights	2002	❌ 49.91
Postal service for all	2004	❌ 49.77
Consumers' and lessees' protection	1955	❌ 50.24
Exportation of arms	1972	❌ 49.67
Against mass immigration	2014	✅ 50.33

Highest yes shares

Initiative	Year	Yes share (%)
Federal work-free holiday on 1 August (1st August Initiative)	1993	83.77
Referendum on treaties	1921	71.35
Against fat-cat payouts' / "against fat-cat bonuses	2013	67.96
Proportional election of the National Council	1918	66.78
Federal popular initiative 'Paedophiles should no longer be allowed to work with children' (until 20 april 2011)	2014	63.53