The Federal Council shall submit the popular initiative to a popular vote within ten months of the final vote thereon in the Federal Assembly, but at the latest ten months after expiry of the statutory period allowed for Parliament to consider the popular vote.
In the event of a conditional withdrawal in favour of an indirect counter-proposal, the Federal Council shall submit the popular initiative to a popular vote and the cantons within ten months of its validation in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 1 of the result of the popular vote rejecting the indirect counter-proposal.
If a popular initiative in the form of a general proposal is approved, the draft amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to a popular vote and the cantons within ten months of the final vote in the Federal Assembly.
3bis. The time limits in paragraphs 1–3 shall be extended by six months if they begin less than ten months but more than three months before the next general election to the National Council.1
The procedure for dealing with a popular initiative to be followed by the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly and the deadlines that must be observed are governed by the provisions of the Parliament Act of 13 December 20022.
Footnotes
Inserted by No I of the FA of 26 Sept. 2014 (National Council Elections), in force since 1 March 2015 (AS 2015 543;BBl 2013 9217). ↩