System

System

Making parliament and people's rights fairer: a 20 percent cap, dynamic popular initiatives, a nomination filter for everyone.

Eliminate one-party risk

Seat allocation system with a hard 20% cap:

• No party or independent, at any political level, right, centre or left, may hold more than 20% of all parliamentary seats.
• If a party receives more than 20% under normal seat allocation, the surplus seats are deducted and redistributed as follows:
• To the largest possible party of the strongest opposing direction, from right → left or from left → right.
• If this counter-party thereby exceeds the 20% limit itself, the further surplus seats are passed on to the next possible party in the original direction, but closer to the centre.
• For surpluses from the centre, the seats are distributed equally to left and right.
• If individual residual seats remain at the end, splinters that cannot be allocated in accordance with the rules, these go to independents and unaffiliated delegates. These splinters each go to the opposite direction of the original surplus party: surplus from the right → independent with a tendency towards left-liberal views, surplus from the left → independent with a tendency towards conservative/right views, surplus from the centre → 50-50.

Example

• Right-wing party A originally gets 25% → 5 percentage points surplus.
• These 5% go to the largest left-wing party B, 16% + 5% = 21%
• 1% in favour of centre-right, 4% + 1% = 5%

This system would effectively make any form of strong majority impossible and force a parliament that would practically always need coalitions of at least 5 to 6 relevant camps.

Dynamic popular initiatives

A minimum of 100,000 signatures has been fixed since 1977 for submitting popular initiatives.

Eligible voters increased from 4 to over 5 million, +33%.

Reform: on submission, the number of eligible voters at the end of the last calendar year applies.

Example 2026: at 5.62 million, as of 2025, this gives 134,000 signatures.

This keeps the relative hurdle permanently fair and constant with the voting-age population.

Candidacy filter for everyone

To submit candidacies and lists, ALL should have to find a certain number of supporting signatures, newly and specifically including established parties.

In addition, the number of submitted candidacies, candidates, on the submitted lists should be a determining factor.

If 20 list places are available, with 20 registered candidates, the hurdle, e.g. Canton of Bern, is as follows: 20 candidates × 50 signatories = 1000 signatures. In addition, the current 400 base signatures must be found, e.g. for National Council elections. Total: 1000 + 400 = 1400 signatories.

For 2 list entries, e.g. independent: 50 + 50 + 400 = 500 signatories.

This is applied nationally according to a uniform key in relation to population size.

Every candidate must personally and independently recruit the signatories and countersign at signature, including their share of the base requirement.

The scheme is applied to all mandates, explicitly including Council of States, cantonal government councillors and others, and is exportable EU-wide.

This keeps democracy democratic, fair, with fewer echo chambers, and the voting population is confronted and involved even before the election. Candidates, including those already elected, thus find the connection to the population and its concerns.