Facts
On December 4, 1998, the Swiss Democrats (SD) of the City of Zurich submitted a popular initiative entitled "Swiss Citizens First!". The initiative aimed to give priority to the needs of Swiss citizens in the City of Zurich. The Zurich Municipal Council declared the initiative invalid with the required two-thirds majority on May 30, 2001.
[A.] and co-participants, as well as [G.], filed a complaint against this decision. The Zurich District Council upheld the complaints and instructed the City and Municipal Council to submit the initiative to a municipal vote. The Municipal Council, represented by the City Council, then filed a complaint with the Cantonal Government Council of Zurich, which upheld the complaint on November 27, 2002 and confirmed the decision of the Municipal Council of May 30, 2001.
[A.] and co-participants, as well as [G.], are now filing a voting rights complaint with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the decision of the Cantonal Government Council be overturned and the initiative be declared valid.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the complaints, insofar as it enters into them. It justifies this as follows:
The priority status of Swiss citizens over foreigners demanded by the initiative in areas where the principle of legal equality and the prohibition of discrimination apply violates the guarantees of the Federal Constitution. The initiative aims to disadvantage foreigners compared to Swiss citizens in order to keep Zurich a "Swiss-influenced city". This is incompatible with the…