Al Jazeera News :
A large majority of Swiss voters have rejected by a 63-37 percent margin a right-wing party’s proposal to annul a pact with the European Union allowing the free movement of people, broadcaster SRF has projected.
Nearly 5.3 million voters were eligible to vote on Sunday to decide whether to annul the pact with the EU in an important test of attitudes towards foreigners who make up a quarter of Switzerland’s population.
Opinion polls had found most voters opposed the plan, which would have given non-EU member Switzerland unilateral control of immigration but severely disrupted ties with the EU, the country’s biggest trading partner.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – the biggest in the parliament – led the charge for Sunday’s referendum to take back control of immigration, echoing some of the arguments pro-Brexit politicians used in the run-up to Britain’s exit from the EU.
A gfs.bern poll had found that 63 percent of respondents opposed the SVP proposal and 35 percent supported it, suggesting voters wanted stability at a time of economic uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic.
The SVP painted a gloomy picture of young foreigners supplanting older Swiss citizens, housing prices rising, schools and transport becoming overcrowded and construction running rampant.
Opponents said the plan would rob businesses of skilled workers and torpedo accords that enhance Switzerland’s access to the bloc’s single market.
Citizens of the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, which with Switzerland are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), made up 68 percent of the 2.1 million resident foreigners in the country in 2019.
A large majority of Swiss voters have rejected by a 63-37 percent margin a right-wing party’s proposal to annul a pact with the European Union allowing the free movement of people, broadcaster SRF has projected.
Nearly 5.3 million voters were eligible to vote on Sunday to decide whether to annul the pact with the EU in an important test of attitudes towards foreigners who make up a quarter of Switzerland’s population.
Opinion polls had found most voters opposed the plan, which would have given non-EU member Switzerland unilateral control of immigration but severely disrupted ties with the EU, the country’s biggest trading partner.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – the biggest in the parliament – led the charge for Sunday’s referendum to take back control of immigration, echoing some of the arguments pro-Brexit politicians used in the run-up to Britain’s exit from the EU.
A gfs.bern poll had found that 63 percent of respondents opposed the SVP proposal and 35 percent supported it, suggesting voters wanted stability at a time of economic uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic.
The SVP painted a gloomy picture of young foreigners supplanting older Swiss citizens, housing prices rising, schools and transport becoming overcrowded and construction running rampant.
Opponents said the plan would rob businesses of skilled workers and torpedo accords that enhance Switzerland’s access to the bloc’s single market.
Citizens of the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, which with Switzerland are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), made up 68 percent of the 2.1 million resident foreigners in the country in 2019.
