Anti-immigration Party Wins Swiss Election in 'Slide to the Right'

Swiss People's Party SVP President Toni Brunner laughs
after a debate at the house of Parliament in Bern

THE TELEGRAPH: Anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP) wins biggest share of vote in parliamentary election on Sunday, prompting talk of a "Rechtsrutsch" - a "slide to the Right"

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

The Swiss Election, Blocher’s Victory, Not Reported in the British Press. Why Not?
None of the following newspapers (The Telegraph, TimesOnline, The Guardian, Daily Mail), nor BBC Europe, has found it necessary to inform the people, their readers, that Christoph Blocher, the Justice Minister and head of SVP, won the election yesterday in Switzerland. Incredible!

Many, of course, found the Swiss election to have overtones of racism; in reality, however, the Swiss were merely looking after themselves. And who can blame them for that?

©Mark Alexander

Christoph Blocher Victorious in Swiss Election
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