On 28 March 2021, the citizens of Moutier confirmed their 2017 choice at the ballot box: by 54.9% (2,114 yes to 1,740 no), the town decided — this time definitively — to leave the canton of Bern and join the Republic and Canton of Jura.
The re-run was the direct consequence of the annulment of the 18 June 2017 vote, invalidated over municipal propaganda and «electoral tourism». To rule out any challenge, the 2021 ballot took place under unprecedented supervision: a locked electoral register, controlled procedures, and 18 observers from the Federal Office of Justice supervising the count and validating every decision of the polling station.
The campaign replayed the themes of 2017, in a climate strained by four years of litigation: Jurassian identity and gentler taxes on the yes side; the hospital’s future, schools and big-canton support on the no side. This time the gap widened: a 374-vote majority, against 137 four years earlier.
No appeal was lodged. The way was clear for the Bern-Jura intercantonal concordat, signed in 2023, endorsed by both cantonal electorates in 2024, and executed on 1 January 2026: Moutier is Jurassian today.
▲ Result — ACCEPTED Yes: 54.9% — 2,114 votes to 1,740 (a 374-vote margin). Municipal ballot of 28 March 2021, under federal observation. No appeal lodged. | ▼ Voting map The no fell to 45.1%: some of 2017’s undecided switched sides. The town nonetheless remains split into two blocs — the legacy of half a century of the Jura Question. |
Key players
▲ Yes camp (pro-Jura) • «Moutier, ville jurassienne» committee and the autonomist movement • Autonomist majority on the town council, around mayor Marcel Winistoerfer (Christian Democrat) • Jura cantonal government, preparing to welcome the town | ▼ No camp (pro-Bern) • «Moutier-Prévôté» committee and pro-Bern circles • SVP of the Bernese Jura and politicians favouring staying with Bern • Bernese pledges of support: regional merger, all-day schooling, backing for the hospital |
Arguments and verdicts — 5 years on
▲ Arguments FOR (Yes camp) In Jura, the tax burden will fall for most Moutier residents. «Applying Jura’s tax scales would lower the tax burden, especially for low and middle incomes.» — Expert reports cited in the campaign (RTS) ✓ Argument confirmed Verified on 1 January 2026: the new tax framework cuts taxes for most Moutier taxpayers, and the canton of Jura raised no tax rate to absorb the town. Employers have applied Jura’s withholding scales since the transfer. Source: jura.ch; RFJ, 25 September 2024; moutier.ch (2026 budget) This second, unchallengeable vote will allow an orderly, definitive transfer. «The ballot will take place under the supervision of federal observers, with a locked electoral register.» — Commitments made before the vote (FOJ, cantons of Bern and Jura) ✓ Argument confirmed Not a single appeal was lodged against the 28 March 2021 ballot. The process then followed the announced timetable: concordat signed in November 2023, double cantonal endorsement in September 2024 (72.9% in Jura, 83.2% in Bern), effective transfer on 1 January 2026. Source: Le Temps, 30 April 2021; sta.be.ch; jura.ch | ▼ Arguments AGAINST (No camp) Jura will hollow out Moutier’s hospital, whatever the promises. «Several mandates would be withdrawn from Moutier’s hospital, breaking a campaign promise made ahead of the 28 March 2021 vote.» — Criticism during the debate on Jura’s hospital list ✓~ Partly confirmed The fear partly came true: the first draft of Jura’s hospital list left the site only 5 mandates (against 25 under Bernese planning), later raised to 11 under pressure. The list still has to be adapted to Moutier’s arrival — the file remains open and sensitive. Source: RTS, 11 July 2022; Le Quotidien Jurassien; RJB Leaving will cost dear: Moutier will lose Bernese support and destabilise Jura’s finances. «Moutier benefits from Bern’s sizeable cantonal support for companies and Covid-hit sectors.» — Pro-Bern camp, 2021 campaign ✗~ Partly refuted The transfer happened without a tax shock or service disruption: the concordat settled schools, justice, administration and hospital continuity, and Jura’s 2026 budget absorbs the town (a 16.2-million deficit, deemed manageable). Real costs remain, handled outside Moutier: a 65-million shortfall in federal equalisation, compensated by contributing cantons over five years. Source: RTS (2026 budget); Le Temps, December 2025; jura.ch |
Factual record · 5 years on (2026)
2 Confirmed | 1 Partly confirmed | 1 Partly refuted | 0 Refuted |
| ✓ | An uncontested ballot: under the eyes of 18 federal observers, the yes won 54.9% and no appeal was lodged. The legal saga born of the annulled 2017 vote did not repeat itself. |
| ✓ | The Bern-Jura concordat: signed on 24 November 2023, overwhelmingly approved by both parliaments (57-1 in Jura, 112-19 in Bern), then by the voters on 22 September 2024 (72.9% and 83.2%). |
| ✓ | 1 January 2026 — Moutier is Jurassian: 7,300 inhabitants change canton, the largest municipal transfer in recent Swiss history. Taxes down for most, administrative continuity assured. |
| ~ | The hospital, a promise under strain: fewer mandates than under Bernese planning (25 → 5, then 11), with Jura’s hospital list still set to evolve with the town’s arrival. |
| ~ | The equalisation bill: the transfer deprives Bern and Jura of 65 million francs in federal equalisation; a deal reached in late 2025 spreads compensation across contributing cantons (13 million a year for five years). |
28 March 2021 achieved what 18 June 2017 had missed: an unchallengeable verdict. Same question, same town, but an unprecedented federal supervision apparatus — and a clearer result that no appeal came to contest. The institutional lesson is considerable: by cleanly re-running a flawed ballot, Swiss democracy closed its last great territorial conflict without drama.
Five years on, the winning camp’s promises have essentially held: taxes fell for most residents, and the transfer ran to the announced timetable without service disruption. The losing camp saw its main warning partly validated on the hospital front, where Jura’s list first slashed the site’s mandates before correcting course under pressure.
What remains is the one thing the vote could not settle: a durably divided town, where 45% of voters wanted to stay Bernese. Whether that minority is successfully integrated — more than any tax scale — will determine whether the wager of 28 March 2021 is fully won.