Elections: Switzerland shifts further to the right
In Switzerland's parliamentary elections, the national-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) has consolidated its position as the leading political party and secured another nine seats in the National Council. The Greens and the Green Liberals were the biggest losers, dropping eleven seats between them. The SVP used warnings about migration as its main campaign topic. In Switzerland, the strongest parties have governed together since 1959.
Sealing itself off
The election winner has above all one answer to all the current upheavals, notes the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Switzerland correspondent Isabel Pfaff:
“Sealing the country off even more. Not only against immigrants, but also against the EU. Since the start of the war in Ukraine it has also been clear that the SVP would prefer to write Switzerland's internationally rather controversial neutrality into the constitution in its strictest form. The fact that the country is de facto protected by Nato thanks to its geographical location? Few people in the country seem to care. ... A majority of the Swiss have voted for a kind of blinkered policy: just close your eyes and carry on. It's questionable how long this will work.”
The Greens went too far
La Tribune de Genève explains the Green Party's poor showing:
“Since entering the National Council, the new generation of Greens has been determined to be rebellious. In the debates on pesticides, taxes on airline tickets, road construction projects, meat consumption the Greens didn't mince their words. ... The environmentalists have forgotten that their success was also due to all the moderate voters who wanted to give them a voice for the climate. An electorate that wants realistic solutions but can't stand climate activism, which the party refuses to denounce, and that doesn't care about the gender issues that the Greens aims to embody. The failure of the Greens is that of a party that has not yet made the choice between activism and pragmatism.”
Remarkably stable
Switzerland has once again demonstrated its stability, Corriere del Ticino writes in delight:
“The election results have confirmed the polls which, after the green wave four years ago, indicated a political shift to the right to the detriment of the green parties. ... This is unspectacular compared to the unexpected result of 2019, but it confirms the trend towards stability in the Swiss political system, which has been able to regain its equilibrium after an extraordinarily difficult legislative period marked by a pandemic, the outbreak of a war between states in Europe and a serious banking crisis that was overcome thanks to decisive state intervention.”