Switzerland to hold referendum on 2020 law allowing same-sex marriage

April 28 (UPI) -- Switzerland will hold a national vote on whether to keep a 2020 law allowing same-sex couples to marry, the country's Federal Chancellery said.

The court ruled Tuesday that opponents of the law had gathered enough valid signatures -- 61,027 -- to put the issue to a national referendum.

Critics of the law -- mostly the conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland Party and the Swiss People's Party -- had to collect at least 50,000 valid signatures within 100 days of the official publication of the act to veto it.

Opponents delivered the signatures in mid-March. Supporters, meanwhile, submitted their own petition with 107,000 signatures to keep the law, Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve reported.

The Swiss Parliament voted in December to allow same-sex marriage.

The court will set a date in May for the vote, which cannot be held prior to September, The Guardian reported.