Voters in Switzerland have cast their final ballots on Sunday on an initiative championed by the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million.
According to early results by the federal government, nearly 53% of voters rejected the proposal, with nationwide turnout exceeding 57%. Results were still pending from many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.
Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency had suggested the poll could be a close contest.
A “yes” vote would have required the Swiss government to take action to cap the population by 2050, including limiting immigration.
The populist SVP, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighbouring European Union.
Seeing the referendum could jeopardise Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things; some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit”.
Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them
Foreigners make up nearly one-third of Swiss population
The number of people living in Switzerland has soared by nearly one-quarter over the last generation, and foreigners today make up nearly one-third of the Swiss population of around 9.1 million people.
Critics say the boom in migration has brought foreign labour and skills to sectors such as healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology.
The SVP party put forward the “sustainability initiative” measure, arguing that Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programmes, natural resources and way of life have been strained by the spike in demographic growth.
The federal government, Parliament and EconomieSuisse, a major business association, oppose the idea.
Early results showed about two-thirds of voters in the Geneva region, Switzerland’s second-largest city and a hub of UN institutions and humanitarian groups, opposed the measure.
Maria Lalu, a former diplomatic mission worker from the Philippines who arrived in Switzerland in the early 1980s, said she supported the proposal. “I have nothing against immigration. I also am a stranger,” she said after casting her vote, adding that she wants immigration to be more orderly.
Schoolteacher Natascha Robert said she voted against the bid, expressing concern that approval could hurt Switzerland’s relationship with the EU. She also said Switzerland’s growing diversity is an asset.
“I think people always have something to bring us,” she said outside a polling station in the central Paquis neighbourhood, emphasising that she was born in Switzerland to two Swiss parents. “Does that mean that we have more foreigners and I feel less Swiss? Really, not.”
Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year. Most ballots are cast through the mail, and in-person voting ends at noon local time on Sunday.
The government would be compelled to limit asylum, family reunification, and residency permits and might have to terminate Switzerland’s EU agreement on free movement of people if the population reaches 9.5 million before then.
Meanwhile, voters voted yes to approve an amendment to the Civil Service Act in another referendum poll on Sunday.
With the “yes” vote, six new measures in the Civilian Service Act will be introduced in the country.