Though the Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne is often called upon to rule on the most serious issues of the day, a recent hearing may have offered a rare moment of levity. In a ruling published on May 1, the court declared that bees are not eligible to vote in Swiss elections and referendums.
In this case, our story starts with the rejection of the Biodiversity Initiative. Under the proposed scheme, the government would have been required to do everything in its power to preserve Swiss wildlife, landscapes, towns, historical sites and areas of natural and cultural heritage.
In practice, this would have seen large swathes of the country designated as protected areas, barring any form of development unless it was in the country's “overriding interests” to do so. Faced with strong opposition from most political parties, interest groups and the Federal Council, 63 percent of voters rejected the proposal in September 2024.
Following the vote, a mother and daughter from Canton Zurich launched an official appeal against the result. In what must have raised a few eyebrows among officials, the complaint was officially filed by the pair alongside all the wild bees “resident” in Switzerland.
As it stands, over 600 species of bees live in Switzerland, providing pollination that contributes nearly half a billion francs to the economy every year. Sadly, due to climate change, habitat loss and the arrival of the Asian hornet, the bee population has been in severe decline in recent years.
“The colony losses of honey bees are far too high, and their health is worrying…Many wild bees in Switzerland are also in decline or even threatened with extinction,” Peter Neumann from the Institute of Bee Health in Bern told the media back in 2023.
According to the court filing, all creatures from the families of “silk bees, sand bees, furrow bees, narrow bees, saw-horn bees, breech bees, leafcutter bees, mortar bees, and true bees" are opposed to the referendum result. The complaint demanded that people who are not Swiss citizens, children and bees should have been able to vote on the Biodiversity Initiative, as younger generations and wildlife are the groups most affected by the impact of biodiversity loss.
After appealing a lower-court ruling, which sent the matter to the Supreme Court, the final appeal was rejected by judges. In the ruling revealed at the start of May, the Supreme Court argued that bees, along with all other animals, are not "bearers of fundamental rights and are therefore excluded from the scope of political rights from the outset."
The daughter’s case was also rejected on the grounds that, as a minor, she is technically not entitled to launch a voting rights appeal. The mother was also denied, as though she was of legal age at the time of the referendum, she held a residence permit at the time.
The court also rejected the pair’s demands for a public hearing and the inclusion of "interspecifically inclusive, speciesism-free language." Instead, as a final sting in the tail, the mother and daughter must pay 1.000 francs in legal costs.