Exit poll shows Swiss right-wing party bouncing back in parliamentary election as Greens lose ground
Exit polls conducted for Switzerland’s public broadcaster show the country’s... Swiss voters are casting final ballots to choose their next legislature in the upcoming federal elections in Delemont, Switzerland, on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, which will determine the future composition of the Alpine country’s executive branch: The Federal Council. Polls indicate a rebound for right-wing populist and Socialist parties, while Greens are expected to lose ground compared to the last such election four years ago. The election will determine which of the two houses of parliament will hold the role of the Federal Council, filling the 200-seat lower house, the National Council, and the 46-seat Council of States. The Swiss People's Party currently holds the most seats in parliament, with over one-quarter of seats in the lower house and the Socialists at 39.5%. However, the Greens lost more than 4 percentage points to fall under 10%.
Published : 2 years ago by in Politics World
A man casts his ballot during Swiss federal elections in Delemont, Switzerland, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. Swiss voters are casting final ballots to choose their next legislature. Polls point to a rebound Sunday for right-wing populist and Socialist parties, while Greens are expected to lose ground compared to the last such election four years ago. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP) FILE - Volunteers empty the ballot boxes at a polling station in Zurich, Switzerland, on Oct. 20 2019. On Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 Swiss voters elect the two houses of parliament, an exercise every four years that will ultimately shape the future composition of the Alpine country’s executive branch: The Federal Council. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP, File) FILE - Swiss Federal President Alain Berset, front, attends an extraordinary session of the Federal Assembly in Bern, Switzerland, on April 11, 2023. On Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 Swiss voters elect the two houses of parliament, an exercise every four years that will ultimately shape the future composition of the Alpine country’s executive branch: The Federal Council. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP, File) FILE - Members of the parliament sit in the National Council hall during the Federal council elections, in Bern, Switzerland, on December 11, 2019. On Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 Swiss voters elect the two houses of parliament, an exercise every four years that will ultimately shape the future composition of the Alpine country’s executive branch: The Federal Council. (Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP, File) FILE - Swiss Defense Minister Viola Amherd delivers a speech during a meeting with Austrian Defense Minister Mario Kunasek and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in Vienna, Austria, on Jan. 18, 2019. On Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 Swiss voters elect the two houses of parliament, an exercise every four years that will ultimately shape the future composition of the Alpine country’s executive branch: The Federal Council.
GENEVA (AP) — Exit polls conducted for Switzerland's public broadcaster showed the country's right-wing populist party was set to further strengthen its position as the largest faction in parliament in a legislative election Sunday that saw the leading Green party lose ground.
Broadcaster SSR said the right-wing Swiss People's Party was on track to collect 29% of the vote in the national balloting, an increase of nearly 3.5% compared to the last such vote four years ago. The Socialists edged up nearly a 0.5 percentage point, while the Greens lost more than 4 percentage points to fall under 10%, according to the exit poll.
The election to fill the 200-seat lower house, the National Council, and the 46-seat Council of States, the upper house, will set the tone for the rich Alpine country as it adapts its self-image as a “neutral” country outside the European Union — but nearly surrounded by it — and grapples with issues like climate change, rising health care costs and migration.
After the election held in Poland last week, the Swiss vote showed another slice of the European electorate thinking about how to balance the appeal of right-wing populist politics and the need to spend money and resources to fight global warming at a time of rising inflation that has pinched many pocketbooks — even in well-to-do Switzerland.
Pre-election polls had suggested the Swiss People's Party would make up ground it lost in 2019, when the Greens fared well amid rising concerns at the time about the impact of climate change.
Already, the Swiss People's Party has the most seats in parliament, with more than one-quarter of seats in the lower house, followed by the Socialists at 39.
A new political alliance calling itself The Center, born of the 2021 fusion of the center-right Christian Democrat and Bourgeois Democrat parties, made its parliamentary election debut Sunday. It appeared set to eclipse the free-market Liberal party in voter support, according the exit poll conducted by the gfs.bern agency.
“I can understand that when there are other problems, people say to themselves that the planet comes second," Chatelenat said. "But in fact, I don’t believe it. I believe that if there's no planet, ultimately, those issues come second. So for me, that’s the priority for these elections.”
Topics: Polls