Facts
The city of Zurich planned the renovation of the Hardbrücke, which had been in operation since 1973 and showed significant damage. The Zurich city council approved an object credit of 1.85 million francs for the construction of a combined bike and pedestrian path and bound expenditures of 88.5 million francs for the renovation of the bridge. The financial decisions were not subject to a referendum.
Niklaus Scherr and other individuals filed a voting rights appeal against the city council's decisions and argued that some of the expenditures were new expenditures that should be subject to a mandatory referendum. The Zurich district council and the government council of the canton of Zurich dismissed the appeals.
The appellants filed a voting rights complaint with the Federal Court and requested the annulment of the government council's decision and the remand of the case to the lower authorities. They complained of a violation of their voting rights and their right to a fair hearing.
Considerations
The Federal Court reviewed the application of cantonal and communal law, which regulates the content of voting and electoral rights or is closely related to it, with free cognition. It found that the cantons must establish a judicial authority as an appellate body within the meaning of Art. 88 para. 2 sentence 1 FSCA.
The Federal Court concluded that the appellants were entitled to file the present appeal and that the appeal period had been observed. It examined the complaint of a violation of Art. 29 para. 2 Cst. and the voting…