Switzerland set to vote in referendum limiting immigration from reaching 10 million

Switzerland is ready to vote on measures to curb immigration in order to keep the population from reaching 10 million by 2050, after enough signatures were presented on Wednesday.

Citizens in Switzerland’s direct democracy system can initiate popular votes by collecting 100,000 valid signatures within 18 months.

On Wednesday, the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) submitted 114,600 signatures to the Federal Chancellery in Bern, which were collected in half the time.

Once petition signatures are verified, it generally takes months, or even years, before a vote takes place.

The permanent population at the end of 2022 was 8.82 million, up from 8.54 million at the end of 2018.

Foreigners make up a quarter of the population.

The initiative proposes to modify the Swiss constitution, stipulating that “the permanent resident population of Switzerland must not exceed 10 million people before the year 2050”.

The permanent resident population would include Swiss nationals living in the country and foreigners with either a residence permit valid for at least one year, or staying in the country for at least 12 months.

If it exceeds 9.5 million before 2050, the government and parliament “will take measures, in particular regarding asylum and family reunification, with a view to ensuring compliance”.

If these measures are not enough, Switzerland would ultimately have to terminate the agreement on the free movement of people with the EU.

Switzerland is not in the European Union but has been part of the EU’s Schengen open-borders area since 2008.

The move comes in the midst of negotiations for a rapprochement between Switzerland and the EU.

The SVP said the initiative was “the answer to immigration-related problems in Switzerland”, citing housing shortages, rising rents, traffic jams, overcrowded public transport, falling school standards, violence and crime, electricity shortages, stagnant per capita income, higher health insurance premiums and “increasing pressure on our beautiful countryside”.

It became a national force focused on opposition to three things: mass immigration, closer ties with the EU, and the abandonment of Swiss neutrality.

Its new leader, 43-year-old hill farmer Marcel Dettling, is considered on the harder wing of the party on immigration.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2022, net migration accounted for a 68,800 rise in the population. Natural change, births minus deaths accounted for a 7,900 increase.