2012 Swiss referendums
Twelve national referendums were held in Switzerland during 2012. On 11 March voters across the country were asked five questions on employment leave, second houses, building society savings, the Fixed Book Price Agreement and gambling revenues. On 17 June there were three questions on healthcare, foreign policy and home buying. On 23 September there were three on a smoking ban, secure housing in old age and music lessons at school. A final referendum was held on 25 November on the Animal Diseases Act. Background. Swiss law says that any issue can be put to a referendum if  it attains 100,000 signatures to do so. The rules further state that for a measure to be nationally adopted into the constitution it has to get a majority of both votes and the number cantons that support the issue. March referendums. The five topics of the March referendum were: Sub-national referendum topics included: Campaign and history. The issues behind each national measure were: The issues behind each sub-national measure were: Results. Results by sub-national issue were: Reactions. After the vote results were tallied and the results released, the SBA reacted to the rejection of the holiday measure  saying that it was in realisation of "something which sounds nice at first, brings many disadvantages on closer look." However, though labour unions were disappointed with the result, the president of "Travaile.Suisse", Martin Fluegel, said that he was still "proud to have raised the theme of overwork." June referendums. The three June referendums asked voters questions on healthcare, foreign policy and assistance with purchasing homes. All three were rejected by voters. September referendums. Three referendums were held on 23 September on a smoking ban, secure housing in old age, and music in schools. November referendum. The final referendum of  the year was held on 25 November on the Swiss Animal Diseases Act, and was approved by 68% of voters.