Swiss Vote to Maintain 165-Year-Old Military Draft

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2013-10-03 04:35

Article here. Excerpt:

'Swiss voters rejected a third proposal in two decades to end the draft in a referendum, opting to keep the military tradition which critics say costs an annual 4 billion francs ($4.4 billion) in lost work days.

The initiative to replace Switzerland’s 165-year-old militia service with volunteers was supported by just 26.8 percent of voters today, Swiss television channel SRF said on its website. About 73.2 percent voted against the proposal. A poll by gfs.bern signaled that outcome as probable.
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Young men must complete 300 days in the army, or opt for civilian community service on ethical grounds, which lasts about 150 days longer. Women are able to join the armed forces on a voluntary basis.

Neighboring Germany, Italy and France have all abolished the draft, as has the U.S. Austrian voters rejected an abolition in a nationwide referendum earlier this year.'

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