Swiss Responsible Business vote set to fail after missing regional majority (updated)

Cerro De Pasco Resources

29/11/2020 13:38

(Adds further voting results, comment and background)
    By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi
    ZURICH, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A vote setting Swiss companies up
for higher scrutiny over human rights and environmental abuses
looked set to fail on Sunday, according to early counts, despite
backing from nearly half the population in the historically
divisive vote.
    In a referendum on Sunday, voters are choosing between
proposals by the Responsible Business Initiative to extend
companies' liability over human rights abuses and environmental
harm caused abroad, and a milder government version.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2I54JP
     The government proposal would force firms to step up checks
on their overseas operations and supply chains, but stops short
of extending liability to Swiss courts. 
    In unusual support for a politically and economically
progressive initiative in the traditionally staid country, just
under 50% of voters accepted the Responsible Business
Initiative's proposals, according to government interim voting
results.
    But regional results showed the initiative was no longer
able to gain backing in a majority of cantons, a necessary
condition for a public initiative to be enacted in Switzerland.

 (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Kirsten
Donovan and Jan Harvey)
 ((brenna.neghaiwi@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 77 35;))