Opaque political financing blights Swiss democracy rating

Once again, the Swiss democratic system has received poor marks for refusing to identify the deep pockets that finance political parties. This time the condemnation comes from a German democracy barometer, which otherwise bestows a good score on Switzerland. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation ‘Sustainable Governance Indicators’ (SGI), Switzerland has is fifth healthiest democracy of 41 developed countries in the European Union and the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Switzerland was awarded the highest score of 10 in four areas: direct democracy, the fair treatment of registered candidates and parties during elections, the electoral process for citizens and access to information. But many observers feel that a lack of access to information on political party donors has been an Achilles heel of Switzerland for some time. The Bertelsmann Foundation agrees, dishing out the worst score of 1 in this category. Without this handicap, Switzerland ...