Switzerland’s E-Challenges — And What the World Can Learn
Geneva, November 8th 2025 — As a global leader in direct democracy, Switzerland faces a unique test: how to scale secure, private, and verifiable E-Collecting, E-Voting, national E-ID, patient health records across 26 cantons — without eroding public trust and losing digital sovereignty.
Democracies worldwide grapple with the same tensions between security, privacy, and trust in digital public services, Switzerland — as a neutral, innovative, business friendly and small alpine nation — is uniquely positioned to experiment, refine, and export globally viable solutions.
on anonymity, linkability and the need of continuous governance
“Voting Without Tracing: A Holistic Look at Privacy in Digital Democracy” by Michal Pietrus
This article written by a core contributor to the Human Colossus Foundation’s open protocols Decentralised Key Management System (DKMS) and Overlays Capture Architecture (OCA), offers a solid blueprint:
✅ Cryptographic tools (Merkel trees, zero-knowledge proofs, end-to-end verifiability) can preserve ballot secrecy and enable audit trails — critical for Swiss federalism
✅ Governance must match technology: transparency, cantonal autonomy, and public oversight are non-negotiable. Therefore digital governance has to become continuous, not fragmented in isolated digital signature events.
✅ Switzerland’s experience is not an exception — it’s a prototype for democracies worldwide grappling with digital transformation
🌍 The global takeaway: In an era of rising digital authoritarianism and voter distrust, secure, privacy-preserving e-voting isn’t optional — it’s a democratic necessity. Switzerland has the chance to leverage its historical direct democracy tradition to lead the way in the digital era. The world should be watching.
🔗 Read the full analysis
🔗 Read HCF news post with more details on Human Colossus Foundation contribution to the E-Collecting program
