In the general election held on Sunday in Switzerland, forecasts revealed that the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP), which ran on a platform of "wake up the madness" and opposition to mass immigration, had taken a commanding lead.
Market research firm GFS Bern, which performed the major survey during the election campaign, anticipated that the SVP would win the lower house election with 29% of the vote, increasing its vote share by more than 3%.
The majority of Swiss voters cast their ballots over the course of the last four weeks, and polls closed at noon.
The center-right Center party and the right-wing FDP trailed the left-wing Social Democrats by a narrow margin (17%). To finish with around 15%, liberals are on track. These three parties all produced roughly comparable results.
The Greens, on the other hand, were unable to duplicate their remarkable victory in the previous election in 2019 and dropped 4 percent to come fifth with 9 percent, per the forecast.
All 200 seats in the lower house of the National Council, which has 8.8 million residents, and all 46 seats in the State Council's upper house, are up for election in this prosperous European nation.
Campaigning for office
The SVP's election campaign centered on two of its favorite topics: the struggle against "mass immigration" and the possibility of Switzerland reaching a population of 10 million people. She highlighted foreign criminals in the social media campaign, which featured bloody knives, hooded criminals, fists, battered faces, and terrified women.
Parity has also declared war on "cancellation culture" and what it terms "gender terror and awakened insanity." Switzerland is in a dire situation: there is a large influx of immigrants, and asylum seekers are a major problem. Thomas Aeschi, head of the SVP parliamentary group, told AFP that the security situation was no longer the same as it had been. "There are many people in Switzerland who fear that the situation will get worse."
The party, which has a strong anti-EU stance, vehemently supports Switzerland's historic military neutrality and feels that Bern erred by adopting EU sanctions on Russia for its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Aeschi stated that the Swiss People's Party "wants good relations with the European Union, but what we don't want is an agreement where Switzerland has to do what the EU says" .
Each National Council election since 1999 has been overseen by the SVP. Proportional representation is employed in the lower house, which represents the people.
The State Council's upper house is chosen by a majority vote, and it represents the nation's cantons. The Center and the FDP are dominant in it. The balance is rarely altered by liberals or elections.
The environment and expense of living
Although the Covid pandemic appears to have slowed the environmental movement down, climate change still poses a serious threat to Switzerland, whose alpine glaciers are melting at an astonishing rate. Despite having unemployment at approximately 2% and a very high GDP per capita, Switzerland is still one of the richest nations in the world, but rising inflation, living expenses, and health insurance costs have put a strain on people's finances. The Social Democrats intended to make significant progress on these concerns by advocating for changes that would index health insurance contributions to income.
Typically, roughly 45% of eligible voters participate in Swiss general elections.
On December 13, the 7 government members will be chosen by the 246 newly seated members of parliament. Little change is anticipated as the seats are currently distributed 2-2-2-1 among the four major parties. Consensus-based decision-making and shared accountability are used by the Federal Council Government. /BGNES
