Right wing People’s Party votes to curb number of foreigners
The right-wing People's Party voted in favour of an initiative to limit the number of foreigners to 18 per cent. The announcement on Saturday came as three of the four government parties made public their positions in advance of September 24's referenda.
The Swiss people will vote on a proposed tax on non-renewable energy and a move to limit the number of foreigners to 18 per cent.
At the party conference in Geneva, 151 People’s Party delegates voted for a “yes” vote to the people’s initiative to restrict immigration to 18 per cent, while 109 voted against.
The member of the House of Representatives, Hans-Ulrich Mathys, believed that result was a step in the right direction.
The initiative allows Switzerland “to stabilise its foreign population, like the government has been promising for decades,” Mathys said.
The People’s Party voted to reject the people’s initiative calling for a tax on non-renewable energy.
At their conference in canton Vaud, the Radical Party voted to reject the people’s initiative calling for a ceiling on the number of foreigners in Switzerland. One hundred and eighty six delegates voted for a no-vote while just seven votes were placed in support of the initiative.
The Radical Party voted to reject all three of the people’s initiatives to tax non-renewable energy.
The Christian Democrats, meanwhile, voted in favour of two of the three proposed taxes on non-renewable energy resources. They rejected the solar initiative but accepted the other two energy initiatives.
Following the advice of the governmnet, the Christian Democrats voted to reject any ceiling on immigration by 183 votes to one.
The People’s Party’s assembly in Geneva was overshadowed by several dozens of people demonstrating outside their meeting hall. They were bearing placards which called the party delegates “fascists”.
It is the first time in 10 years that the People’s Party has held their meeting in Geneva – a clear indication it wants to make inroads into French-speaking Switzerland. Its support there is small, and its leaders are anxious to show that the party’s reach extends beyond German Switzerland.
Party president, Ueli Maurer, said the People’s Party would fight until it gained a second cabinet seat. Under the “magic formula”, the party is the only one of the four government parties to hold a single cabinet seat.
Maurer said the party was the major political force in eight cantons which comprise 50 per cent of the population. The party is under-represented at government level, Maurer said, “and we will not stop fighting until we get a second seat.”
swissinfo with agencies
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