Hans-Urs Wili

I spent Tuesday morning at the Kafigturm, the former women's prison in Bern that has been converted into the leading spot for holding political forums, press conferences and meetings. (It's a short walk from the headquarters of the government and the Parliament). My reporter friends and I visited with Hans-Urs Wili, a Swiss institution who has been spent the last third of a century (today was the day when he reached exactly one-third, and this man knows how to count) as the Swiss referee in matters of direct democracy. His title is head of the department of political rights at the federal chancellery. As such, he advises lawmakers and citizens alike in matters of referenda and initiatives. His is the office to which you turn in signatures. Just as Liz Hill, the legislature's non-partisan analyst in California, was long known as the budget nun, you could call Wili the Swiss initiative monk. (He declined the title when I offered it, but still, it fits).

Wili was looking forward to a long weekend of checking signatures on referendum petitions, which are due in his office by 6 p.m. Thursday. Finding valid signatures is a problem in Switzerland as it is in other places with direct democracy, but the problem is a bit different for Wili. Municipalities review petitions first to check that those who signed are citizens and eligible voters. There isn't much problem there. Wili's headache is weeding out repeat signatures. It's not uncommon for Swiss voters to sign the same referendum or initiative multiple times. Why? It's not necessarily intentional.