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The Swiss appeared Sunday to have voted down a divisive anti-immigration proposal to cap the country\u2019s population, early projections showed.<\/p>\n
Shortly after polls closed at noon (1000 GMT), initial projections from the gfs.bern institute indicated around 55 per cent opposition to the initiative, which had sparked warnings of \u2018chaos\u2019 and devastating impacts for the Swiss economy and European Union relations.<\/p>\n
\u2018We are very relieved and happy. This is an important result for our country and for our relations with the EU,\u2019 Monika Ruhl, director of the employers\u2019 organisation economiesuisse, told public broadcaster RTS.<\/p>\n
Opinion polls had suggested that the vote, held under Switzerland\u2019s direct democracy system, would be tight.<\/p>\n
Tensions have been running particularly high over the \u2018No to a Switzerland with 10 million!\u2019 initiative, put forward by the hard-right Swiss People\u2019s Party.<\/p>\n
That proposal wanted measures to stop the wealthy Alpine nation\u2019s population \u2014 currently 9.1 million \u2014 going above 10 million before 2050.<\/p>\n
In a country where foreigners make up more than a quarter of the population, the proposal, if accepted, would slam the brakes on immigration.<\/p>\n
\u2018There has to be a limit,\u2019 retiree Gilles Hirt said at a polling station in Bern Sunday morning, comparing the situation in Switzerland to a ship.<\/p>\n
\u2018If it is designed for 150 people and you put 250 on-board, it becomes too small. If you put 350 on-board, it will sink,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The SVP, Switzerland\u2019s largest party, insisted drastic measures were needed, blaming \u2018mass immigration\u2019 for a host of problems, from housing shortages and rising rents to overcrowded trains and traffic jams.<\/p>\n
SVP parliamentarian Celine Amaudruz told RTS she was \u2018disappointed\u2019 by the projected results of Sunday\u2019s vote, insisting that Switzerland was facing \u2018colossal challenges\u2019 from immigration.<\/p>\n
Before the vote, SVP parliamentarian Yvan Pahud highlighted to AFP that \u2018Switzerland is a small country that cannot be expanded\u2019.<\/p>\n
We \u2018do not want to welcome all of Europe\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018The stakes are very high,\u2019 Swiss justice minister Beat Jans told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper before the vote, warning that the vote could provoke the equivalent of a Swiss \u2018Brexit\u2019.<\/p>\n
The initiative faces broad opposition from the government, parliament and multiple sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n
\u2018In a globalised world, it\u2019s just stupid to try and close borders and put a number on the people that can be in here,\u2019 teacher Josefina Luque said in Bern as she cast her vote against the initiative.<\/p>\n
The Swiss also voted Sunday on a bill passed by parliament to make civilian service less attractive and less accessible, at a time when the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions are pushing European countries to bolster army numbers.<\/p>\n
It was the political left in the militarily neutral country that called the referendum. They argue the bill is dangerous and could ultimately lead to the alternative to military service being scrapped altogether.<\/p>\n
Initial projections indicated that the referendum would pass with 53 per cent in favour, although the gfs.bern institute highlighted that the margin of error was three per cent, meaning the final outcome remained uncertain.<\/p>\n
Switzerland has compulsory military service for men. They serve in a unique militia system in which army conscripts do at least four months\u2019 service before being called up repeatedly over a decade for weeks-long refresher sessions.<\/p>\n
People who conscientiously oppose military service have since 1996 been permitted to perform civilian service instead.<\/p>\n
Since access to civilian service was simplified in 2009, the numbers choosing that option have steadily climbed \u2014 a trend the government warns has become \u2018problematic\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Swiss appeared Sunday to have voted down a divisive anti-immigration proposal to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[7752,7751,7749,7746,7748,104,7745,7750,7747,7743,7744],"class_list":["post-84069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bern","tag-bangla-online-news","tag-bangladesh-latest-news","tag-bangladesh-news","tag-bangladesh-newspaper","tag-bangladeshi-newspapers","tag-bern","tag-daily-new-age","tag-latest-bangladesh-news","tag-most-popular-outspoken-english-daily-newpaper-in-bangladesh","tag-new-age","tag-the-new-age"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116750344764914338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}