Switzerland: Clear majority votes against "neutrality initiative"
Around 70 percent of the Swiss have rejected a tougher version of the country's traditional neutrality on Sunday. The proposal by the right-wing populist SVP provided, among other things, for the constitutional prohibition of economic sanctions.
In Switzerland, a referendum on a neutrality initiative failed to gain support, with 70.2% of voters opposing it, according to the Federal Office for Statistics. The majority rejected the proposal to include a very strict interpretation of Swiss neutrality in the constitution. The initiative would have prohibited the acceptance of economic sanctions and cooperation with military alliances like NATO.
The Swiss government and most political parties had opposed the measure, as indicated by polls suggesting defeat. The debate dominated national discussions for weeks. The initiative was put forward by the "Pro Switzerland" organization, which is aligned with the right-conservative SVP party, the most popular party. SVP founder Christoph Blocher (85) had stated in advance, "When we lose, we come back anyway."
Blocher's family owns the global company Ems Chemie, which also has two plants in Russia. The push for the initiative followed Switzerland's decision to join the European Union's sanctions against Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
