Over 100,000 citizens oppose the wave of regeneration of the F-35 plan in Switzerland

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 17th. An organizer of a Swiss citizen's voting initiative submitted more than 100,000 signatures to the relevant departments on the 16th to prevent the Swiss government from purchasing the US F-35 fighter in a referendum.

The "stop F-35" referendum initiative was initiated by two Swiss political parties and one group. 100,000 people are the threshold for the number of people required for referendum. Once the number of people is confirmed by relevant departments, the Swiss government needs to hold a referendum on a day.

This is the "F-35" fighter shot at the Berlin International Aerospace Show on April 27, 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shan Yuqi

In Switzerland, many matters are determined by a referendum. In September 2020, a referendum, with the result of the weak advantage of agreements, passed a plan to purchase new fighters in the military's 6 billion Swiss franc (approximately $ 6.3 billion). In June last year, the Swiss government decided to purchase 36 F-35A fighters of Lockheed Martin in the United States. The Hornet "fighter is out.

However, the two committees of the Swiss Parliament decided to purchase the F-35 startup investigation because the fighter aircraft exposed a series of technical issues and expensive.

The organizer emphasized in the statement that the "prevent F-35" initiative "only target" F-35, and if the Swiss government reaches other fighters, the referendum plan is withdrawn.

The Swiss government said in May this year that he intends to accelerate the procurement process, so the procurement may be a foregone conclusion before the referendum. The referendum initiative requires the government and parliament to "make every effort to enable the referendum to be held and urgently hold the necessary public discussions on the largest military equipment contract in Switzerland." (Hui Xiaoshuang)

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