At noon on Sunday the ballot boxes will close. Swiss citizens are voting on two popular initiatives: on replacing compulsory military service with a civic duty extended to women, and on introducing an additional inheritance tax for the very rich to finance climate initiatives. The results will be out on the same day. At present, all able-bodied Swiss men between the age of 18 and 40 must serve in the army. Conscientious objectors can alternatively serve longer in a civilian institution, typically in the social, health or environmental sectors. For women military service is voluntary. A popular initiative now aims to replace this this system with a general civic duty, extended to women. The proposal is not to be seen as a response to the current geopolitical situation, in which some European countries are bringing back conscription. The committee that has collected the necessary 100,000 signatures to bring the popular initiative to the ballot box was founded in 2013. It considers ...
