Ecopop: environmental concerns largely ignored
The minority of voters who supported the Ecopop initiative did so for political rather than environmental reasons, according to an analysis of the vote, published on Wednesday.
The proposal to reduce Switzerland’s ecological footprint by introducing strict immigration rules and family planning measures was rejected by 74.1% of voters on November 30.
The initiative was perceived by voters primarily as a means to curb immigration, ahead of curbing or stopping population growth. A small group of yes voters had wanted to consolidate support for the mass immigration vote, which had been approved by 50.3% of voters almost nine months previously, and maintain pressure on the cabinet.
The analysis by the GfS Bern research and polling institute discovered that every second person who had voted yes for the mass immigration initiative on February 9 had voted no for Ecopop. Only supporters of the conservative right Swiss People’s Party backed Ecopop.
At the time, the Ecopop group blamed the solid defeat on a fear campaign run by business leaders and the government. It also argued that the opponents had 30 times more funds than supporters of the initiative.
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