If the vote, scheduled for June 14, is approved, the government will have to refuse entry to new arrivals, including asylum seekers and families of foreign residents, once the population reaches 9.5 million
Switzerland will hold a historic vote on a right-wing party’s proposal to restrict the country’s population to 10 million, at a time of strong disputes over immigration.
The proposal, put forward by the country’s largest political party, the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), requires the government to act before the population – currently at 9.1 million – reaches the proposed upper limit of 10 million.
If the vote, scheduled for June 14, is approved, the government will have to refuse entry to new arrivals, including asylum seekers and families of foreign residents, once the population reaches 9.5 million.
If the population reached 10 million, the government would be forced to terminate its free movement agreement with the European Union (EU), which is Switzerland’s largest trading partner.
Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, the country is integrated through more than 120 bilateral agreements, which guarantee access to the EU’s single market and free movement of people and trade in goods.
The SVP, which has finished first in every election since 1999, argues that Switzerland is experiencing a “population explosion” that is putting pressure on public services, straining infrastructure and inflating rent prices.
The party is the only one to support the population limit among members of the executive Federal Council — a seven-seat coalition that makes decisions by majority and voted against the initiative.
But a survey carried out last year by the Swiss company Leewas indicates that the proposal has broad support.
Switzerland’s referendum system allows proposals to be put to a public vote if they gather at least 100,000 signatures from qualified voters within 18 months.
In a post on his X account, the SVP urged the Swiss electorate to vote in favor of the motion, sharing an apparently AI-generated image of wealthy people toasting champagne on a throne atop a crowd of disgruntled workers. The caption read: “A small economic elite profits from excessive immigration – the majority of the Swiss population suffers.”
