Switzerland’s Town Votes To Decide Its Fate Of Nationality

Residents of a small town located in northwestern Switzerland, Moutier, have voted in a referendum to decide whether they will be citizens of Germany or France.

The town of Moutier has a population of 7,500 and the debate on whether the town should remain a part of the German-speaking canton or join the French-speaking one has been a testy issue decades.

In 1978, when Switzerland established a French-speaking canton of Jura, a handful of districts opted to stay with the German-speaking Bern, including the town Moutier.

But separatist administrations have been hoping to break away from Bern for a long now, insisting the town would progress more as a part of the French-speaking canton of Jura.

Before this, a referendum was put to vote in 2017 in which only a small number of people voted to join the Jura but the poll had to be overturned because of electoral irregularities.

This time, the security forces took the charge of assuring that there are no irregularities in this year’s vote.