Laufental change of canton

The transfer of Laufen District in north-western Switzerland from the canton of Bern to the canton of Basel-Landschaft in 1994 was preceded by decades of protracted political and legal disputes, also known as the Laufental question.

The district's cantonal affiliation was closely linked to the Jura question. Like the Jura region, the valley of Laufen (German: Laufental) once belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Basel and only became part of Bern in 1815 after the Congress of Vienna. The region had little influence on cantonal politics, while economic and cultural ties with the Basel metropolitan area remained close. The same amendment to the Bernese cantonal constitution that enabled the founding of the canton of Jura in the nearby French-speaking areas after the Jura plebiscites in 1979 granted the district, which had become an exclave, the right to decide whether to join one of its neighboring cantons.

In 1978, the people of Laufental decided to initiate the procedure, and in 1980 they chose the canton of Basel-Landschaft as their preferred accession option (other options would have been the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Solothurn). On September 11, 1983, however, they voted against the change of canton with 56.7% of the votes. When the Bernese financial affair was uncovered in 1984, it came to light that the cantonal authorities had massively influenced opinion-forming through secret illegal payments to the Aktion bernisches Laufental (Bernese Laufental Action) campaign. In 1988, the Federal Supreme Court upheld a constitutional complaint by the separatist Laufentaler Bewegung and declared the result of the vote invalid. The repeat of the vote on November 12, 1989, resulted in a majority of 51.7% in favour of the change of canton. In 1991, Basel-Landschaft agreed to the incorporation of Laufental, and in 1993 the people and cantons also gave their approval in a federal referendum. The transfer finally took place on January 1, 1994.