In citizenship cases, Swiss direct democracy shows its cracks

GIPF-OBERFRICK: Nancy Holten is annoying. She is so annoying in fact that residents of the small village in Switzerland she calls home voted, twice, to bar her from becoming Swiss.

The 45-year-old, with her long, flowing dark hair, was born in the Netherlands, but moved to Switzerland when she was just eight years old.

She speaks fluent Swiss German, her children are Swiss and she says she feels Swiss.

“Switzerland is my home,” she told AFP in a recent interview in the small apartment she shares with her three teenage daughters in the northern village of Gipf-Oberfrick.

So when she finally got around to applying for citizenship back in 2015, she expected the process to be easy.

She was wrong. As part of Switzerland´s famous direct democratic system, some smaller municipalities leave naturalisation decisions up to a vote by the town assembly.

Critics say the system allows for more emotionally-charged and potentially more discriminatory decisions. When Holten showed up for the vote in the village of around 3,500 inhabitants, her neighbours had turned out in unusually high numbers, to reject her.

The outspoken vegan and animal rights activist had rubbed many in the small, conservative community up the wrong way with her alternative lifestyle and vocal criticism of the ultimate Swiss symbols: the cowbell.

“These bells hurt their ears,” she said, picking up a heavy brass cowbell she had purchased.

She passed the colourfully embroidered strap over her head, and covered her ears as the bell clanged loudly around her neck.

“I don´t mind traditions as long as they don´t hurt anyone,” said Holten, who also angered many with calls for silencing the village church bells at night. “I guess I made too much noise for people,” she said.

In the village assembly, many railed against her, booed those who came to her defence and overwhelmingly rejected her citizenship application.

“Emotions ran a bit high,” said Urs Treier, a spokesman for the village administration, which in vain had urged the inhabitants to allow Holten to become Swiss.

Holten appealed the vote to the regional authorities in Aargau Canton, who asked the village assembly to vote again.

The result? Even more people turned out to reject Holten, with the media dubbing her “too annoying” to receive citizenship.