GUARDIAN EUROPE: Public broadcaster SSR reports party on track to win 29% of vote, an increase of almost 3.5 percentage points on 2019 results
The rightwing populist Swiss People’s party (SVP) was set to further strengthen its position as the largest political force in parliament, exit polls have suggested, as voters appeared to back the party’s hardline stance against mass migration and what it called “woke madness”. » | Ashifa Kassam and agencies | Sunday, October 22, 2023
Showing posts with label SVP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SVP. Show all posts
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Monday, October 19, 2015
Anti-immigration Party Wins Swiss Election in 'Slide to the Right'
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| Swiss People's Party SVP President Toni Brunner laughs after a debate at the house of Parliament in Bern |
The anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP) won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday's national parliamentary election, keeping pressure on Bern to introduce quotas on people moving from the European Union.
Success for the SVP, coupled with gains made by the pro-business Liberal Party (FDP), led political commentators to talk of a "Rechtsrutsch" - a "slide to the right" - in Swiss politics.
Immigration was the central topic for voters amid a rush of asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe.
"The vote was clear," SVP leader Toni Brunner told Swiss television. "The people are worried about mass migration to Europe."
Sunday's result cemented the SVP's position as the dominant force in Swiss politics. » | Reuters | Monday, October 19, 2015
Thursday, October 20, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The far-right Swiss People's Party is aiming to make history at Sunday's elections by winning over 30 per cent of the vote, a result which could upset the main parties' long-standing power sharing deal.
While the SVP's anti-immigrant campaigns, including calls to ban minarets and expel foreign criminals, have drawn sharp criticism on the international arena including from the United Nations, the party has managed to increase its vote share in successive Swiss elections.
In 2003, the party obtained 26.6 per cent of votes case. At the last elections that improved to 28.9 per cent.
Those 1997 results were the highest for any Swiss party since the introduction of the proportional representation system in 1919, an SVP spokesman said.
Crossing the 30 per cent mark "would therefore be a new record," he added.
The latest opinion polls showed 29.3 per cent of voters planning to back the SVP, far more than the next most popular party the Socialists, with just 19.9 per cent.
That could bolster the populist party's case for greater cabinet representation. » | Thursday, October 20, 2011
My comment:
The Swiss are very clever people who always look after 'number one' first. The Swiss are a very proud people who love their country. They like it the way it is, and they want to keep it that way. And who can blame them for that? – © Mark
A modified version of this comment appears here
Sunday, November 29, 2009
BBC: Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show.
More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban.
The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation.
The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Bern, says the surprise result is very bad news for the Swiss government which also fears unrest among the Muslim community.
Our correspondent says voters worried about rising immigration - and with it the rise of Islam - have ignored the government's advice.
"The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted," said the government in a statement, quoted by the AFP news agency.
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the result reflected fear of Islamic fundamentalism.
"These concerns have to be taken seriously. However, the Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies," she said.
She sought to reassure Swiss Muslims, saying the decision was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture".
Switzerland is home to some 400,000 Muslims and has just four minarets.
After Christianity, Islam is the most widespread religion in Switzerland, but it remains relatively hidden.
There are unofficial Muslim prayer rooms, and planning applications for new minarets are almost always refused.
Supporters of a ban claimed that allowing minarets would represent the growth of an ideology and a legal system - Sharia law - which are incompatible with Swiss democracy. >>> | Sunday, November 29, 2009
20MINUTES.ch: Des minarets ne pourront plus être érigés en Suisse. L'initiative populaire «contre la construction de minarets» a été clairement acceptée dimanche, ce qui constitue une surprise.
Près de six votants sur dix et ont appuyé le texte. Celui-ci était perçu par les opposants comme une menace pour la paix religieuse en Suisse.
L'initiative antiminarets était donnée perdante par les sondages. Elle a pourtant clairement passé la rampe: une majorité de 57,5% des votants (1.534.054 personnes) ont dit «oui» et seuls quatre cantons s'y sont opposés, à savoir Genève (59,7% de «non»), Vaud (53,1%), Bâle-Ville (51,6%) et Neuchâtel (50,8%). En Suisse romande, les cantons du Valais, de Fribourg et du Jura ont approuvé l'initiative par respectivement 58,0%, 55,9% et 51,2%. Le Tessin a dit «oui» à 68,1%, Berne à 60,7% et Zurich à 51,8%. La participation s'est élevée à 53,4%.
Lancée par des membres de l'Union démocratique du centre (UDC) et de l'Union démocratique fédérale (UDF), l'initiative «contre la construction de minarets» avait été déposée en juillet 2008 avec plus de 113.000 signatures valables. Demandant d'inscrire dans la Constitution fédérale la phrase «la construction de minarets est interdite», elle requerrait la double majorité du peuple et des cantons. L'UDC était le seul parti gouvernemental à recommander le «oui». «Islamisation sournoise» >>> ap | Dimanche 29 Novembre 2009
NZZ ONLINE: In der Schweiz wird der Bau von Minaretten künftig per Verfassungsartikel verboten. Das Stimmvolk hat eine entsprechende Volksinitiative angenommen. Die Zustimmung fiel überraschend hoch aus und beträgt 57,5 Prozent.
In der Schweiz wird der Bau von Minaretten verboten. Das Stimmvolk hat der Anti-Minarett-Initiative aus Kreisen der SVP und der EDU wider Erwarten zugestimmt, und zwar deutlich: 57 Prozent der Stimmenden sagten Ja. Bei der letzten Umfrage von Mitte November hatten sich lediglich 37 Prozent der Befragten für die Initiative ausgesprochen. Mit ihrer umstrittenen Kampagne gelang es den Befürwortern offenbar, in der letzten Phase des Abstimmungskampfes viele Unentschlossene für sich zu gewinnen. >>> sda | Sonntag, 29. November 2009
REUTERS ITALIA: GINEVRA - Gli elettori svizzeri hanno approvato oggi la proposta della destra di vietare la costruzione di nuovi minareti, in un risultato sorprendente destinato a creare imbarazzo al governo neutrale della Svizzera.
L'agenzia di stampa elvetica Ats e altri media hanno detto che nel referendum circa il 57,5% degli elettori e 22 dei 26 cantoni hanno detto sì alla proposta avanzata dal partito di destra Swiss People Party (Svp).
In Svizzera sia il parlamento che il governo hanno respinto la proposta dicendo che viola la costituzione del Paese, la libertà di religione e la nota tradizione di tolleranza svizzera. Secondo il governo elvetico una modifica della costituzione per proibire la costruzione dei minareti potrebbe "fare il gioco dei gruppi estremisti". >>> | domenica 29 novembre 2009
TAGES ANZEIGER: «Eine grosse Peinlichkeit»: Reaktionen auf das Minarett-Verbot >>> | Sonntag, 29. November 2009
TAGES ANZEIGER: Minarett-Verbot liefert Ghadhafi neue Argumente gegen die Schweiz: Das Verbot von Minaretten in der Schweiz hat die islamische Welt überrascht und schockiert. Der Volksentscheid könnte politisch instrumentalisiert werden, wie ein Experte meint. >>> vin/sda/ap | Sonntag, 29. November 2009
NZZ ONLINE: «Gegen Minarette, nicht gegen eine Glaubensgemeinschaft» : Der Bundesrat zum Ausgang der drei eidgenössischen Volksabstimmungen >>> wab. Bern | Sonntag, 29. November 2009
NZZ ONLINE: Applaus vom rechten Rand Europas: Rechtsgerichtete Parteien feiern Ja zur Anti-Minarett-Initiative >>> sda | Sonntag, 29. Novembre 2009
NZZ ONLINE: Spontane Demonstrationen in Bern und Zürich: Einige hundert Personen äussern Unmut gegen Anti-Minarett-Initiative >>> sda | Sonntag, 29. November 2009
LE TEMPS: Votation Minarets : Les Suisses refusent massivement les minarets >>> Le Temps avec ATS | Dimanche 29 Novembre 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Switzerland risks Muslim backlash after minarets vote: Switzerland risked a Muslim backlash on Sunday after its citizens voted overwhelmingly to ban minarets on mosques. >>> Alexandra Williams in Geneva | Sunday, November 29, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Swiss voters 'back ban on building of minarets' >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, October 22, 2007
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss populist Christoph Blocher helped his right-wing People's Party (SVP) to another election win on Sunday by lending his face to the cause.
"Support Blocher! Vote SVP!" read posters plastered around Switzerland in the run-up to the parliamentary election as the party used the 67-year-old's image to mobilize voters.
Focusing on a cabinet minister is rare in Swiss parliamentary election campaigns but the strategy appeared to pay off for the SVP as it scooped 29 percent of the vote.
"Blocher is the leading political figure in Switzerland but using him is still risky," said political analyst Georg Lutz from the University of Bern. "Blocher gets a lot of attention but he also polarizes voters."
Claims that Blocher, who is justice minister in the multi-party cabinet, was also the victim of a 'secret plot' to oust him added to the pre-election intrigue.
A self-made man and fan of Winston Churchill, Blocher is credited with having helped transform the SVP over the last 20 years from a party with mainly rural voters to a more mainstream, conservative-populist grouping.
Along the way, he has won support by campaigning against bogus benefit claimants, foreign criminals, dishonest asylum seekers and demands from Switzerland's EU neighbors. Blocher helps Swiss rightists to another win (more) By Tom Armitage
Mark Alexander
Sunday, October 21, 2007
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to right-wing Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher about his controversial Swiss People's Party, its allegedly xenophobic electoral campaign and the possible Swiss referendum on building minarets.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr Blocher, the entire election campaign (more...) has revolved around you. Everyone is only talking about you -- your supporters and your opponents alike. Swiss politics has never been focused on one person to such an extreme degree.
Christoph Blocher: I do not think that the fact I am taking center stage to such an extent in these elections is a good thing either, but my opponents are responsible for that. They have now been massively attacking my person for four years -- because of my policies. ’We Must Tell Muslims We Are a Christian Nation (more) (Interview with Swiss Justice Minister, Christoph Blocher)
THE GUARDIAN:
Swiss watch
BBC:
Swiss voting for new parliament
DIE WELT:
Erste Hochrechnungen: Rechte SVP gewinnt Schweizer Wahlen
LE FIGARO:
Suisse : la droite populiste sort renforcée des elections
LE MONDE:
La droite populiste conforte son leadership en Suisse
Mark Alexander
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