The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is expected to boost its position in this weekend’s election.
Polling by the Sotomo research institute shows the right-wing party is set to garner 28.1% of the vote – an increase of 2.5 percentage points over its previous standing.
The Social Democratic party is also set to make gains, coming in at 18.3%.
The Centre party (Mitte) is at 14.3%, and the Liberals at 14.1%.
The Greens are set to see the biggest losses, polling at 9.7% – a decline of 3.5 percentage points.
Fabian Molina, a member of the Swiss parliament from the Social Democratic party, told the Guardian today that he believes that the cost of living – and in particular the cost of health insurance – ended up being the most important issues for voters in the campaign.
“For middle class families, the rise of the health insurance prices is the major problem in their daily budget,” he said in a phone interview.
“The Swiss People’s party tried to push migration as a topic,” he said, adding that he thinks it “did not work out as well as in other campaigns.”
Climate change – which Molina said was “the main topic four years ago” – is still a big issue for voters but “was not very dominant in the campaign” this time around.
Green parties made big gains in Switzerland’s last election in 2019. But now, Molina said he expects voters will make a course correction.
“We will win back what we lost last time,” he said.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is expected to boost its position in this weekend’s election.
Polling by the Sotomo research institute shows the right-wing party is set to garner 28.1% of the vote – an increase of 2.5 percentage points over its previous standing.
The Social Democratic party is also set to make gains, coming in at 18.3%.
The Centre party (Mitte) is at 14.3%, and the Liberals at 14.1%.
The Greens are set to see the biggest losses, polling at 9.7% – a decline of 3.5 percentage points.
Good afternoon and welcome back to the Europe blog.
Today we will be looking at Switzerland’s upcoming federal elections, scheduled for Sunday.
Swiss voters will elect members for the 200-seat National Council and 46-seat Council of States.
Send your thoughts and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
