Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to cap the country’s population at 10mn people, delivering a surprise defeat to a rightwing initiative that had appeared neck and neck in opinion polls until just days before the vote.
Projections on Sunday showed the initiative losing by roughly 54 per cent to 46 per cent, a significantly stronger result for opponents than suggested by recent polls, which had indicated a tight race in the final days of the campaign.
The proposal, backed by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), would have made Switzerland the first country to impose a formal cap on its population. It sought to limit the number of residents to 10mn, from about 9.1mn today, and would have required the government to take measures to curb population growth once the population reached 9.5mn.