Published
The No to the Vote at 16 Committee uses fabricated statements and agency photos in its campaign. An approach that irritates but does not pose a legal problem.
On May 15, voters in the canton of Zurich will have to vote on the right to vote at age 16. The project is supported by the center and left parties as well as by their young parties, and it is opposed by the PLR and the UDC. The opponents launched their campaign on Monday.
On its website, it presents statements from young people who are against it. Susanne, 16, says: “I’m not allowed to drive yet, but I should be able to decide the law on the roads? Hey, I don’t understand!” “I don’t have to pay taxes yet but I should be able to vote on tax increases? What is this mess? Voting at 16 makes no sense!” says Sofie, of the same age.
Problem: it’s not about real people or real statements. An investigation by “20Minuten” showed that the messages had been invented by the no committee and that the images came from an agency. Why didn’t opponents look for real young people against the right to vote at 16? “The aim of the campaign was to draw attention to the statements with the help of the images,” explains Andreas Leupi, leader of the no committee and president of the Dietikon district SVP. This is why the committee chose to feature “exaggerated stock photos” and fictitious statements.
indignation
Andreas Leupi assures that the arguments of real people would have been published later. For Hans-Peter Brunner, member of the Grand Council of the PRD, it “does not matter” who is represented. “Images and quotes are of course exacerbated, as they can be quite provocative.” He is also convinced that it would not be possible to find young people in the street letting themselves be quoted in such a way. In his eyes, the illustrated declarations go to the heart of the problem of the right to vote at 16 years of age.
On Twitter, many people are indignant at the no committee’s approach, like the two users below. The first considers it “quite significant that we don’t want to ask the young people themselves what they think of the subject” and the second declares that it is “embarrassing that the @FDP_Liberalen/@fdp_zh are not too embarrassed by this kinds of things”.
Among supporters of the right to vote at 16, the approach is also irritating. Amélie Galladé, representative of the yes committee, does not understand anything. “In Swiss democracy, we live on people putting their face to their statement. There are enough people with diverse opinions that we can have real open discussions.”
From a legal point of view, the use of agency photos and invented quotes is allowed, says Urs Saxer, lawyer and professor at the University of Zurich. The situation only becomes legally problematic if the voting campaign is conducted in such a way as to distort the will of the voters and thus influence the outcome of the elections. That’s not the case here, although that use of the images is “misleading,” Saxer concludes.
(hor / aze)