Facts
The municipal assembly of Werthenstein approved the landscape zoning plan as well as amendments to the settlement zoning plan and the building and zoning regulations on May 10, 2006. It refrained from including an extraction and landfill zone in the Schwanden area. Subsequently, the "Municipal Initiative to Secure the Regional Gravel Supply" was submitted, which aimed at designating an extraction and landfill zone in the Schwanden area. The initiative was declared valid.
On April 28, 2008, the municipal assembly voted in favor of the municipal initiative in a secret ballot, with 201 votes in favor and 179 votes against. Erwin Duss and Hans-Rudolf Steffen unsuccessfully filed appeals against this decision with the Cantonal Government. The Federal Supreme Court upholds the consolidated appeals and annuls the decision of the Cantonal Government and the vote of the municipal assembly on the municipal initiative.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concludes that the presentation of a servitude agreement by the proponents of the municipal initiative at the municipal assembly on April 28, 2008 violated the freedom of voting of the eligible voters. The agreement was concluded on the same day and presented to the eligible voters for the first time at the assembly, without them having the opportunity to review and examine it.
Furthermore, the statements of the initiative proponents about the agreement contained obviously untrue and misleading information…