The association behind the initiative claims local governments had authenticated and declared valid at least 5,000 signatures that were not found in a recount.
Keystone-SDA
The association behind the food protection initiative is to file a criminal complaint against unknown persons, claiming at least 5,000 signatures went missing during an official recount.
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The current whereabouts of these signatures remain unknown, the Association for GMO-free Food said in a statement on Thursday. As these signatures are crucial to the success of the initiative, the association is calling for a full and transparent investigation.
According to the association, local governments had authenticated and declared valid at least 5,000 signatures that were not found in a recount carried out by the Federal Chancellery. The association says this figure is based on a survey of 240 municipalities. In their press release, they estimate that the actual number of missing signatures could be even higher. The reasons for this discrepancy, as well as the actual location of the signatures, remain unknown.
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The association believes that if these missing signatures were taken into account, the required threshold of 100,000 signatures would “with a high probability” have been exceeded, enabling a popular vote to be held on its proposal to guarantee control over genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) even after the current moratorium on GMOs expires in 2030.
Close result in the first audit
Due to the very close result of the first count, a recount of the signatures for the initiative “For foodstuffs without genetic engineering (Food Protection Initiative)” was ordered at the end of March.
According to the Federal Chancellery, an additional count involving several departments is necessary when a text has between 95,000 and 101,000 valid signatures.
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The Federal Chancellery’s initial count and a second check carried out in accordance with the “four eyes” principle showed there were around 98,200 signatures, the Chancellery said. Of these, around 96,400 were considered valid.
The initiative committee contested these results in March. According to its own statements, it had submitted 104,015 certified signatures to the federal authorities.
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