ZURICH - For much of Sunday evening the e-ID act looked lost on a map of cantons. Then Zurich's numbers arrived and pulled the national yes to 50.4 percent. A majority of cantons still said no. The text was a federal act, so the popular majority sufficed. Turnout was about 49.6 percent.
Privacy campaigners said a win this thin was a warning. Ministers said a win was a win. The second-home tax decree had already passed more comfortably, at 57.7 percent.
Implementation is the next argument
Ordinances will take years. The night's other lesson is older: wait for Zurich. The national story is in our Bern result report.