Facts
The complainants, Rudolf Güntert, Sonja Sorg and André Besson, filed election complaints with the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich against the federal decree on the approval and implementation of the exchange of notes between Switzerland and the European Community concerning the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 on biometric passports and travel documents. The vote of 17 May 2009 resulted in a narrow outcome of 953,136 yes votes (50.14%) against 947,632 no votes (49.86%). The complainants requested that the vote be declared invalid nationwide and that a new vote be ordered.
The Government Council of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the complaints, and the complainants appealed to the Federal Court. They argued that the vote should be declared invalid due to the narrow majority and the usual error rate in counting the votes.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the complaint and came to the conclusion that the vote could not be declared invalid. It stated that the narrow majority alone was not a reason for overturning the vote and that the usual error rate in counting the votes was not sufficient to call into question the validity of the vote.
The court emphasized that the election complaint to the cantonal government (Art. 77 para. 1 lit. b PRA) was an unsuitable legal remedy in this context, as the cantonal government was not competent to order recounts in other cantons or for the whole of Switzerland. It was up to the legislature to adapt the…