A right-wing initiative titled “No to a 10-million-strong Switzerland” was rejected by Swiss voters in a referendum on Sunday, with 54.8% voting against the tighter migration policy amid an unusually high 59% turnout.
Had the initiative—championed by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP)—been approved, the government would have been forced to severely restrict family reunification. Furthermore, if Switzerland’s population exceeded 10 million before 2050, the government would have had to suspend international treaties, directly impacting also the free movement of persons with the EU.
Ahead of the vote, Social Democratic (SP) co-president Mattea Meyer warned that, if the initiative were passed, Switzerland could return to the era of seasonal worker status, “when foreign workers were treated like commodities and half a million families were torn apart”.
