Landsgemeinde

In closest proximity to the government on the «big chair», the elder members of the rural community, seated on a bench, will be able to follow the events of the meeting and to cast their vote.

In closest proximity to the government on the «big chair», the elder members of the rural community, seated on a bench, will be able to follow the events of the meeting and to cast their vote. Behind on the «little chair» on the left side of the ring are seven of the thirteen cantonal judges and on the right side (cannot be seen) still six cantonal judges in their black official robes. They are framed on both sides with seven Rhods standard bearers and their flagmen.

Some 3000 of the citizens of Appenzell I.Rh. who are entitled to vote meet on the square near the linden tree at Appenzell to form the traditional rural community always on the last Sunday in April. Considering the different hindrances like too great a distance, lack of transport and necessary looking after the cattle, the attendance can be seen as satisfactory.

Extraordinary rural community meetings are seldom and are convened only by a resolution of the Great Council; only five such meetings were held since 1850. At these meetings cantonal citizens domiciled in Switzerland having reached the age of eighteen must attend. The men carry a bayonet or, most of them, a sword inherited from their fathers and held in great honour, and the women a licence to vote, thus proving their rights. An agenda with corresponding bills and commentaries contained in a printed rural community mandate apprived by the Great Council and submitted to the citizens ever since 1953, serves as the basis for dealing with current business.

The rural community is the supreme electorial and legislative authority which decides on constitutive revisions, laws, initiatives, major financial decisons at the discretion of the Great Council for which there are no laid down rules and it passes resolutions on Common Law. It is the electorial office that elects members of the cantonal government and also the nine members of parliament which still bear such traditional names like landammann, idle landammann, governor, treasurer, head of government (director of agriculture), building owner, standard bearer (chief of police), treasurer of the poor (welfare director) and armourer (military director); they are also being elected to reside over a certain department; then the 13 members of the cantonal court and from their midst the president, also the head clerk of the chancery and the usher of the court, and, besides, the parliament every four years.

Votes are cast by acclamation and shouts by voters to the rural community. It is being resided over by the governing landammmann who decides on the basis of a clear majority but in the event of their being any uncertainty he will, together with his colleague of office, estimate the show of hands from the chair. But if the majority cannot be clearly assessed, votes will have to be singly counted. Ballots relating to cantonal matters are not known. A voter may give his opinion on the subject and he can bring forward a supporting or a disapproving motion, but alterations to the text are no longer considered. The landammann’s decisions at elections and votings are not always accepted free of criticism, but one resigns hoping that the decisions will turn out to the benefit of the country in the end.

Owing to the existing narrow circumstances, it is not always easy for businessmen/buisnesswomen to vote in accordance with their convictions since this might aversely affect their activities. Nevertheless, the rural community is approved of by the majority of the people and it does not appear to be endangered. It is still being practiced even since womens suffrage has been introduced (1991).