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Comment by mrow84 | Hacker News Reader

The title of the article is "Switzerland will be the first country in the world to vote on having a national wage of £1,700 a month", and the omission of the word "on" led me to believe that they had actually voted for the proposal, rather than that they will vote on the proposal, which is what the article actually says. It is a minor point, but I think the title as it is is slightly misleading.

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I was about to write this. Minor mistake, but misleading nonetheless.

Especially since the proposal is very unlikely to pass.

Can you explain why this is the case and/or provide links for reading more?

Polls, as well as the results of similar initiatives (eg minimum wages). Would need a massive shift to see it pass imo (especially since the small rural cantons have a disproportionate weight and they don't tend to vote in favor of those issues).

Actually, it completely changes the meaning so it's not minor.

The Swiss have referendums all the time and most, especially liberal ones like this, fail.

This would not necessarily be considered "liberal" in Switzerland, as the Liberal and FDP parties (now merged) are not liberal in the sense that Americans misuse the term.

I'm Canadian, so there's that. The Swiss are pragmatic conservatives, so this might pass if you can convince the bulk of them it makes sense financially, i.e. it will reduce overall costs of aid and social assistance programmes.

We edited the title to make that clearer.

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