Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to cap the country's population at 10 million people by 2050 by limiting immigration, according to projections released after Sunday's referendum, dealing a setback to the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).
Exit polls indicated that approximately 55% of people voted against the proposal, while around 45% voted in favour.
In rural regions such as Appenzell Innerrhoden in the north-east, where there are few foreigners, nearly 66% of people approved of the initiative. City dwellers, however, voted decisively against it.
The SVP, Switzerland’s largest political party, has for decades vehemently opposed immigration and the European Union, and has raised various proposals in referendums. Most of these have failed, though some - including a ban on minarets in 2009 and a ban on face coverings in 2021 - have been successful.
The right-wing party presented the referendum to limit the population as a sustainability initiative that would conserve resources and combat further urban sprawl, overcrowded buses and trains, and crime. However, it consistently made it clear that the focus was on limiting the number of foreigners in the country.
The proposed measure would have seen restrictions on asylum and family reunification apply once the population reached 9.5 million, which is likely to happen in the 2030s. Switzerland is currently home to around 9.1 million people.
If those measures proved insufficient, the Alpine country would have ended its freedom-of-movement agreement with the EU, which allows reciprocal rights to live and work across borders, even though Switzerland is not a member of the bloc.
If approved, Switzerland would have become the only country in the world to cap its population.
Monika Rühl, head of the business association Economiesuisse, welcomed the result. "We still need access to skilled workers," she said, pointing to the problem of population ageing if immigration is restricted. "We need uncomplicated access through the free movement of persons with the EU."
Stephanie Gartenmann, an SVP lawmaker in the Bern regional parliament, meanwhile sought to frame the 45% approval rate as a success. "This is a clear signal that we need to take action," she told the SRF broadcaster.
Gartenmann said the country needed to focus on "qualitative immigration" to "keep Switzerland just as it is: a place worth living in, with prosperity and a high quality of life."
Although the SVP has been the Swiss party with the most voters since 1999, the four largest parties have governed in a coalition at the national level for decades, keeping the right-wing party from implementing its policies.
Other parties and associations nonetheless agree that immigration is a concern for the public.
"We need to make greater use of domestic potential," said Yvonne Bürgin, a lawmaker from The Centre party. She said this includes improving the skills of the resident population to allow the economy to grow in depth, not in breadth.
This would increase per capita value, she argued, "so that less immigration is needed."
