Swiss Right Wing Set to Gain Big in Ballot, Poll Shows

Bastian Benrath
·2 min read
4

(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party is set to solidify its position as largest parliamentary group in national elections later this month, as immigration fears become a top concern and Credit Suisse fallout bites pro-business politicians.

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The party, also known as the SVP could expect 28.1% of votes based on current intentions, according to the final poll for public broadcaster SRG SSR. It’s followed by the center-left Social Democrats at 18.3% and the traditionalist Center Alliance at 14.3%.

The Greens, the biggest gainers in the last vote in 2019, are set to fall below 10%. The SVP can expect its third-best result in history, according to the poll.

“The SVP’s expected gain of 2.5 percentage points and the Greens’ even more significant loss of 3.5 points represent a slide to the right,” SRG SSR said in accompanying remarks.

The SVP, which is campaigning for a constitutional amendment limiting Switzerland’s population to 10 million people, has profited from anti-immigrant sentiment among voters. 35% of voters now name migration as one of their top 3 concerns, up from 20% a year ago. Only the issue of high health-insurance costs is even more decisive for the electorate, according to the poll.

While both top parties have maintained their positions since the first poll last year, the Center Alliance has since then ousted center-right and pro-business Free Democrats — the party of Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter — from third place. Still, with the FDP, as it’s also known, polling at 14.1% the race remains tight.

The Free Democrats’ downturn can be seen as related to the the collapse of Credit Suisse and its emergency takeover by UBS Group AG in March, which Keller-Sutter oversaw. 58% of voters said they are angry about mismanagement and the high bonuses of Credit Suisse bankers.

If the Center Alliance overtakes FDP in the Oct. 22 elections, this could mean that the latter party loses one of its two seats in government. The Swiss government is not formed by coalition or outright majority, but is a cooperation between the country’s largest parties.

Usually, the seven government seats are distributed between the four largest parties, with the biggest three getting two seats each and the fourth getting one. While this is common practice, the final composition is determined in a vote by parliament. That ballot is scheduled for Dec. 13.

The poll, which was carried out by pollster Sotomo, saw a participation of 31,850 people between Sep. 22 and Oct. 5.

(Corrects Oct. 11 story to show this would be the third-best result for the SVP)

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