If the Swiss were to go to the polls on Sunday, 81 percent of voters would vote as in the 2015 federal election, the barometer released Thursday revealed. Migration however, remains the number one concern.
When asked about the problems they consider to be most urgent, the respondents put the subject of migration in first place (21 percent).
This is followed by health issues (including sickness funds) at 20 percent social security (17 percent) and the environment (13 percent). Only 8 percent of those surveyed were very worried about the labor market situation.
The news may have influenced the responses of voters polled, notes Sotomo. The survey was conducted between September 28 and October 2, shortly after the announcement of the increase in health insurance premiums in 2018, the rejection of the 2020 retirement plan, events related to health, social security and climate.
Switzerland is the champion of political stability. While their neighbours – including the French – have seen political implosions of establishment parties this year, the vast majority of Helvetians indicated that they would remain faithful to the choice they had made in the 2015 federal election if they were to return to the polls.
Most voters polled by Sotomo said they would vote today for the same party they opted for two years ago. Among the voters polled, 37 percent say they are “very satisfied” with the decision taken at the time, 47 percent “rather satisfied”, while only 11 percent expressed slight regret and 4 percent regret it entirely.
As a result of the current voting intentions: the progress or loss of ground of the various parties are modest, reported the electoral barometer.
The poll makes bad reading for Europhiles, as further European Integration ranked bottom of the Swiss list of concerns, with only 2 percent of voters citing it as a top priority for them. And only 1 percent of those asked said their top issue was not included in the list.
With two years to go until the next General Election, 8 in 10 Swiss voters say they would vote the same way as they did in 2015, which is considerable for a mid-term poll.
In December 2016, the Swiss Parliament passed an anti-immigration bill (the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals) to curb immigration while keeping privileged access to the EU’s single market.
In February 2014, a clear majority of the Swiss electorate voted in a referendum to cap EU immigration, following the popular initiative ‘Stop Mass Immigration’ launched by the national conservative Swiss People’s Party.
The initiative proposed to introduce a new provision into the Swiss Federal Constitution to impose limits on migration into Switzerland, to re-introduce quotas for foreigners and privilege Swiss nationals over foreigners in the labour market. The referendum also called for the renegotiation of the EU-Swiss Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons with the EU (AFMP).
The EU rejected the move saying “free movement of persons is a fundamental pillar of EU Policy and that the internal market and its four freedoms are indivisible” at the General Affairs Council meeting, on 16 December 2014.
The EU criticised the planned amendment to the Swiss Federal Constitution to restrict free movement and warned that it would automatically exclude Switzerland from the single market. In addition, this could have negative implications for many other bilateral agreements in place between the EU and Switzerland, which are all linked by a so-called “guillotine clause” whereby if one is violated, they all collapse.
In the hope of finding a compromise that would appease an angry Brussels, the Swiss Parliament passed an immigration law which avoids outright quotas on EU immigrants, which the referendum had demanded, but instead prioritises Swiss job seekers over EU citizens.
On the same day, the Swiss Federal Council ratified the Protocol providing for Croatia’s accession to the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons with the EU.
As a result of this ratification, Switzerland was again fully eligible to participate in the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation funding programme and able to resume its negotiations with the EU concerning its participation in the Erasmus+ programme, which had been suspended as a penalty for its restrictions on freedom of movement.