Switzerland experienced a clear shift to the right in the parliamentary elections. According to projections by the survey institute gfs.bern, the right-wing conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is likely to get 29 percent. That would be an increase of 3.4 percentage points, more than expected in surveys.
The SVP has been the party with the largest number of voters for more than 20 years. A debacle was looming for the green camp. The Greens are likely to get 9.2 percent, minus 4 percentage points, the Green Liberals at 7.1 percent, minus 0.7 points.
“The bitter thing is: the climate has lost,” said Aline Trede from the Green Party leadership on SRF television. For the SVP, the issue of immigration was the key to success, as Vice President Marcel Dettling said: “The people have spoken, a course correction is urgently needed.” The SVP demands border controls and the rejection of asylum seekers. However, the elections will not change the government. The parties with the highest number of voters in the long term have been governing together for decades, including the SVP.
The political scientist Michael Hermann had foreseen the SVP’s new strength, among other things, because of international tensions. “In times of crisis, the need for stability always increases and there is less need for experiments,” he told the German Press Agency. Increased prices play a less important role than in neighboring countries. The inflation rate has never been higher than 3.4 percent in the past 18 months. This is due, among other things, to protectionist measures that generally keep prices high, but are adjusted in times of crisis and can thus absorb price shocks.
In the election campaign, the SVP, as always, relied on fear and fear of loss: it agitates against foreigners, warns against rapprochement with the EU and some representatives see themselves in a war over the preservation of Swiss culture. She is in favor of cutting social spending and development aid and a strong military. It has had the most seats in the National Council since 1999. The AfD sees the SVP as a role model.
“The SVP already anticipated a lot of what right-wing populist parties like the AfD or the Scandinavian representatives are doing today: the style of posing as the voice of the people, the “little people”, addressing issues such as migration and asylum, and provocative posters about,” said Damir Skenderovic, history professor at the University of Freiburg/Fribourg.
Paradoxically, the SVP is both a government and a protest party. It represents two of the seven members of the government, the Federal Council. In addition to the SVP, the Social Democratic Party (SP) and the liberal FDP are represented with two seats each and the Christian Center Party with one seat. In the Federal Council, the SVP is right-wing conservative and supports compromises; in the election campaign it is right-wing populist, for example with initiatives such as those currently against immigration and for stricter neutrality, which would prohibit sanctions against Russia. This is how she repeatedly stabs the government in the back. “Double play is very established and accepted,” said Hermann.
According to projections, the SVP is likely to gain 8 seats in the National Council, the larger parliamentary chamber with 200 seats. The Greens are likely to lose 6 seats and the Green Liberals 5 seats. Between the Polish SVP and the Greens, the Social Democrats are likely to gain a slight increase to 17.4 percent and gain one seat for the first time since 2003. The liberal FDP and the Christian “Center” party are likely to end up less changed at just under 15 percent, with the center gaining two seats. The second chamber, the Council of States with 46 seats, was also filled.
A good 5.5 million Swiss people were called to vote. According to projections, voter turnout was only around 46 percent. This is due, among other things, to the fact that the Swiss decide on numerous proposals via referendum four times a year. That’s why they rarely use parliamentary elections as an outlet to give rulers a lesson.
This article is part of an automated service from the German Press Agency (dpa). It will not be edited or checked by the idowa editorial team.
2023-10-22 15:37:37
#Shift #Swiss #parliamentary #election #debacle #Greens
