Bring Your Sword to Vote in This Swiss Town

Citizens attend the Landsgemeinde, a traditional public vote in Appenzell, Switzerland, where historically the only proof of citizenship required for men to vote was the display of a sword or Swiss military sidearm.

One of Switzerland’s oldest forms of direct democracy, the vote… pic.twitter.com/uWwInMb255
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 27, 2026

The Landsgemeinde is a traditional Swiss political event that consists of non-anonymous voting on public issues in an open air assembly. Such an assembly recently took place in the Swiss town of Appenzell in a canton of the same name in the northeastern part of the country.

In this direct democracy, only those men willing to bear arms in defense of the community were allowed to vote. Although military service is no longer a requirement and women were granted the right to vote in 1991, some participants still carry swords to the Landsgemeinde.

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That's sad. In my country, one can legally openly carry a sword.

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This would not be possible in my country. Here you are not allowed to carry a fix blade knive having a blade length of more than approximately 8 inch. In case you want to use the subway, you aren't even allowed to carry any folding knife (except locked up in a closed encasing).