Can a country put a fixed limit on its population? That is the question Switzerland will be answering on Sunday when voters go the polls to decide on a proposal to cap their population at 10 million, a move that has exposed divisions about immigration in the Alpine nation.
The move is backed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which describes it as a “sustainability initiative” aimed at easing pressure on housing, public services and the environment.
Dubbing it a “chaos initiative”, the government, other political parties, business leaders and trade unions argue it will deprive hospitals and hotels of much needed staff, and damage hard-won relations with the European Union, leaving non-EU member Switzerland isolated in a very risky world.
Switzerland’s population has grown rapidly since 2002, when it stood at 7.3 million. Now it is 9.1 million, 27% of whom are Swiss residents who were born abroad.
Switzerland’s system of direct democracy means all major decisions are taken via the ballot box. Campaigners simply have to gather 100,000 signatures to ensure a nationwide vote.
Many voters are concerned by overcrowded trains, expensive apartments and rising health costs.
The latest opinion polls indicate this could be a very close vote.
They suggest voters are inching towards a no vote by a wafer thin margin, with 52% opposed – but polls remain divided, with 45% saying they are in favour of the proposal and a significant number of voters still undecided.
Helin Genis and Nils Fiechter have a good deal in common, but their diametrically opposed views on limiting the Swiss population are indicative of the polarised nature of this referendum.
Both are young local politicians from immigrant families. Fiechter is 29 and Genis is 31. Helin’s parents are originally from Turkey, while Nils’s mother is from Canada and he holds dual citizenship.
“We have lost control,” complains Fiechter, who represents the Swiss People’s Party in canton Bern’s parliament. “Unchecked immigration is leading to Switzerland no longer being Switzerland.”
He believes Switzerland’s problems, which he says include a “housing shortage, gridlocked traffic, overburdened schools and strained social services”, are a direct result of immigration.
Genis, who is a Social Democrat elected to Bern city council, dismisses these arguments as scapegoating.
She tells BBC News: “It is not migrants who determine rent levels. It is not migrants who raise health insurance premiums. Nor is it migrants who make political decisions on housing, infrastructure or social investment.” (BBC)
