ABSTRACT
Swiss municipalities enjoy a large degree of autonomy despite the small size of most of them. Citizens elect their local executive and their mayor directly. In about 20% of the municipalities, especially in the larger cities and the French-speaking municipalities, they also elect a local parliament. Being a federalist and a rather heterogeneous country, the political and electoral systems, and the citizens’ propensity to participate, vary considerably. Turnout figures are comparatively low, but for local elections they are – at least in the smaller municipalities – higher than on the cantonal and national levels. Given the autonomy and the importance of municipalities for the citizens’ everyday lives, local elections are no second-order affair. The electoral results differ quite significantly from the results on national level.
