[The Slim Reaper]

https://thehill.com/policy/internati...-referendum-as

Switzerland's top court has for the first time in the country's modern history overturned the outcome of a nationwide referendum, saying voters were given "incomplete" information on the measure.

The country’s supreme court on Wednesday voided the result of a ballot held in 2016 that asked voters whether cohabiting partners and married couples should be required to pay the same taxes.

The proposal was narrowly rejected by voters at the time, with 50.8 percent of voters opposing the measure and 49.2 percent favoring it.

However, the court overturned the result of the referendum after finding that information provided to voters during the referendum campaign was "incomplete” and therefore in violation of the “freedom of the vote,” according to the BBC.

Ahead of the February 2016 vote, the Swiss government reportedly told voters that only 80,000 married couples paid more in taxes than couples who resided together.

However, the government later said that the true number was roughly 500,000, according to the BBC.

"Keeping in mind the close result and the severe nature of the irregularities, it is possible that the outcome of the ballot could have been different," the nation’s court said in a statement, according to the BBC.

The Christian Democratic party, which had reportedly proposed the 2016 vote on whether married couples were unfairly penalized under the country’s tax regime, brought an appeal against the result last year, arguing that voters had been misinformed.

The group praised the court’s recent decision in a statement to BBC, calling it a "boost for the political rights of Swiss voters.”

However, some critics of the court’s move have argued that the ruling could open the door to more complaints about referendums in the country.