The Swiss Custom of Voting While Shitfaced and Heavily Armed

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The Swiss Custom of Voting While Shitfaced and Heavily Armed

Landsgemeinde is a wonderful chance to get hammered in public and vote for a farmer to be your "city captain."

All photos by Evan Ruetsch.

This article originally appeared onVICE Alps.__

The Landsgemeinde, or "cantonal assembly," is Switzerland's oldest form of direct democracy—a rural voting ritual with roots in the 16th century. Basically, everyone who's eligible to vote gathers in his or her local city square and communally hashes out whatever issue is up for discussion on a given day. Everybody in attendance has an equal right to voice an opinion or protest a notion, and all final decisions are made via a show of hands.

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The only people in the square who aren't actually allowed to vote are the service folk, who are far too busy filling voters full of beer and sausages. Decisions are best made when shitfaced, after all.

To get a better idea of the whole ritual, a few weeks ago we headed over to a town called Appenzell-Innerrhoden, which is actually one of the two Swiss cantons where the Landsgemeinde is still being practiced. It's one of the country's oldest assemblies, where women have only had the right to vote for the past 25 years.

Historically, men have had to prove their voting eligibility by carrying a bayonet or side arm. The idea presumably being that if you carry a weapon in public, you are obviously a rational human-being who ought to have their opinion taken seriously.

Local musicians Harmony Appenzell kicked off the electoral proceedings by somehow managing to make the Swiss national anthem sound like "The Imperial March." It was an apt soundtrack to the march of local dignitaries and their guest of honor, the Minister of Commerce, which traditionally takes place before the assembly.

On that particular day, the people of Appenzell-Innerrhoden gathered to elect their new "city captain"—which is Swiss for "village mayor." The choice was between some right-wing guy, locally famous for owning a golf course, and a farmer with no real political agenda.

Related: The Heroin-Loving Piss-Takers Running Against Nigel Farage in Kent:

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The election process was full of pints, heckling, and rogue last-minute candidate propositions. It was, for all intents and purposes, a complete shit show. After the final show of hands, the farmer was crowned victorious. Sure, the whole affair may be a little more dramatic than the elections we're used to, but at the end of the day, everyone seemed to enjoy voting a lot more than the UK did last week.