By Dave Graham
ZURICH, June 15 (Reuters) - Older voters and city dwellers were instrumental in defeating a right-wing proposal to cap Switzerland’s population at 10 million, data from Sunday’s referendum showed, as the government and business leaders expressed relief at the outcome.
Following a close campaign that pitted fears of uncontrolled immigration against the threat of Swiss isolation in Europe, voters ultimately rejected the initiative by a margin of 55%-45%.
Championed by the Swiss People’s Party, the proposal that could have ended free movement of labour between Switzerland and the European Union tapped into concerns that overcrowding is stretching public services, fuelling crime and pushing up rents.
The Swiss People’s Party is the largest party nationwide, and despite the cap’s rejection, it pledged to keep up the pressure on immigration. Polling data indicated younger voters were more enthused by the population cap than older ones.
Voters aged 65 and above were most sceptical of the proposal, with 60% of them against the cap, as were 57% of those aged 50 to 64, figures published by Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger showed.
By contrast, the group most in favour were those aged 35 to 49, with 51% of them backing the proposal. Among those aged 18 to 34, 48% supported it, according to data obtained for online news site 20 Minuten/Tamedia by pollster Leewas.
Cloe Jans, a political scientist at pollster GFS Bern, told 20 Minuten that while there was support for the proposal’s aims, the public did not want rigid limits enshrined in law.
“In geopolitically uncertain times people aren’t keen on experiments and burning bridges unnecessarily,” she said.
BUSINESS GROUPS OPPOSED
The referendum was held after a challenging 2025 for Switzerland, which was saddled with the highest U.S. tariffs in Europe when President Donald Trump pressed the wealthy country to cut its trade surplus with the United States.
Switzerland is in the process of trying to ratify an accord with the EU that would deepen economic ties. The campaign against the population cap ran posters with an image of a smiling Trump and the caption: “Breaking with Europe, now of all times?”
Business groups, the government and parliament had opposed the cap, warning it would complicate access to the EU labour market, a vital source of labour for Swiss companies.
A breakdown of voting data showed that the biggest cities Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Bern had decisively rejected the proposal, which drew its strongest support from rural, conservative cantons focused on central Switzerland.
It was also rejected in Valais and Grisons, two sparsely populated cantons famous for their ski resorts. The proposal generally fared poorly in French-speaking Switzerland.
The Swiss People’s Party initiative stipulated that the population, currently at 9.1 million, must not exceed 10 million before 2050 and that once it reached 9.5 million, the government would have to introduce stricter immigration rules.
(Reporting by Dave Graham, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
