Populist right dominates Swiss elections

BERN, Switzerland: The right-wing populist Swiss People´s Party, which campaigned against mass migration and “woke madness”, comfortably topped Switzerland´s general election on Sunday, according to projections after the polls closed.

The SVP took 29 percent of the vote in elections to the lower house of parliament, improving its vote share by more than three percentage points, predicted market research group GFS Bern, which conducted the main polling throughout the election campaign.

Polling stations closed at noon (1000 GMT), the vast majority of Swiss voters having posted in their ballots over the past four weeks. The SVP came well ahead of the left-wing Social Democrats on 17 percent, while the centre-right party The Centre, and the right-wing party called FDP.The Liberals, were both on course to finish on around 15 percent -- with all three chasing parties largely flatlining.

Meanwhile the Greens could not replicate their dramatic gains at the last election in 2019 and slid back four percentage points to finish fifth on nine percent, according to the projection.

“It was too late to send it by post but given that it´s important, I told myself I would still come today,” voter Melanie Salamin told AFP at a polling station in the capital Bern. “It´s our chance and then we can´t complain, we mustn´t wail: we are asked for our opinion and so we give it.”

The wealthy European country of 8.8 million people voted for all 200 seats in the National Council lower house of parliament and all 46 in the Council of States upper chamber. GFS Bern was expected to release a seat projection at around 6:00 pm (1600 GMT). The SVP´s election campaign focused on its favourite theme: the fight against “mass immigration” and the prospect of the Swiss population reaching 10 million.