Before 1993, Switzerland’s national day was not a public holiday. Swiss national day in Vevey © Petr Pohudka | Dreamstime.comUp until 1977, surveys showed that Switzerland’s cantons were overwhelmingly against making the day a federal public holiday. However, on 26 September 1993, 83.8% of Switzerland’s voters agreed to make the 1st of August a federal public holiday starting in 1994. The vote received the highest rate of approval in the history of federal popular initiatives, a record that still stands – other types of votes1 have received higher support but no popular initiative has passed by a higher percentage. Only workers in the cantons of Zurich, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and Ticino were given the whole day off.

Source: Le News July 26, 2024 22:06 UTC