Swiss voters to decide on population cap and civilian service reform

Two issues to be put to a federal vote on 14 June Keystone-SDA

Swiss voters will head to the polls on Sunday June 14 to decide on two national issues. They will be asked to vote on the right-wing Swiss People’s Party initiative “No to ten million Switzerland” as well as on a reform of civilian service, which has been brought to a referendum.

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The Swiss government confirmed the voting date on Wednesday.

The “No to ten million Switzerland” initiative seeks to cap the country’s permanent resident population at ten million by 2050. Under the proposal, the government and parliament would be required to act as soon as the population exceeds 9.5 million. Both the government and lawmakers have rejected the initiative, and no counter‑proposal has been put forward.

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+ Swiss population could hit 10.5 million by 2055

The second vote concerns a plan to tighten the rules for accessing civilian service. The reform, approved by Parliament, is intended to curb the number of recruits switching from the army to civilian service. The government wants to reduce annual admissions from around 6,600 to about 4,000.

The Young Greens and the civilian service association Civiva have collected around 57,000 signatures against the reform. They argue it amounts to a “dismantling of civilian service”.

Translated from French by AI/sp

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