The Swiss populist right has clearly won this Sunday in the general elections, according to the projections of results for the lower House of Parliament, consolidating its position as the country’s leading political party with 28.9% of the votes. The Swiss People’s Party (SVP, in its German acronym), which rises 3.3 percentage points, thus recovers a good part of the support lost four years ago in the heat of the debate on the fight against climate change, which favored the green vote. The projections bring the ultranationalist right closer to its historical maximum in 2015, when it achieved 29.4%, driven by the immigration crisis. Once again, in this campaign he has managed to mobilize the vote with a message against immigration and with the launch of a popular initiative in which he advocates drastic measures to prevent the population from exceeding 10 million inhabitants in 2050 – the country is now close to nine million, of which nearly a quarter are foreigners.
The first national projection of the vote, carried out by the Gfs Bern institute on behalf of the Swiss radio and television group SRF, maintains the Social Democrats of the SP in second position, which would rise slightly to 17.5%. The losers of these legislative elections are the Green party, which achieved its best result four years ago with 13.5%, which is now reduced to 9.2%, while the Green Liberals (GLP) are left behind at 0, 6 points and they drop to 7.2%. Concern about the environment, although still present among voters, has been surpassed at the polls by voters’ fears about immigration and asylum, and the overpopulation scenario drawn by the populist right, which has been trying for years with different proposals to stop the entry of foreigners and the free movement of people agreed with the European Union in 2002.
The SVP has also attracted votes from people concerned about the slowdown in the economy and the rising cost of living, according to pollster GFS Bern. The increase in health costs, the main concern of voters after the announcement of a strong increase for next year, has in principle directed votes towards the Social Democrats.
Pending the final results, the third place is disputed by the liberals (FDP) and the Center party, both around 14.6%.
The election of a new Parliament (200 seats in the lower house and 46 in the upper house) does not imply in the Swiss system a change of Executive, a collegiate body of seven representatives that is renewed or confirmed next December and that follows a rule of distribution between the main parties established in 1959. For now, it was only readjusted in 2003 to give more weight to the ultranationalists given their growth at the polls.
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