← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Hilaire Belloc
Thread ID: 10605 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-10-19
2003-10-19 19:15 | User Profile
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3204412.stm[/url]
Swiss election count underway Early indications suggest the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) could gain ground in Switzerland's parliamentary elections.
Estimates by Swiss television, based on partial counts and exit polls, also indicated losses for the centre-right parties.
They also suggest strong levels of support for the Social Democrats (SDP) on the left.
Opinions polls before the election that showed the SVP, which opposes Swiss membership of the European Union, was likely to do best in the ballot, perhaps even becoming the largest party in parliament.
Anti-foreign propaganda
If the SVP does do well, it may demand a second seat in the seven-member cabinet - breaking the coalition which has governed Switzerland for almost 50 years.
"The SVP is winning voters in all cantons, about 1-8% more," election analyst Claude Longchamp told Swiss TV.
Switzerland's once strong economy is heading for a slump, unemployment is rising, and social benefits are being cut back.
But the election campaign has been dominated by the SVP's anti-foreigner propaganda, overshadowing concerns about the economy.
The party has doubled its share of the popular vote in the last 10 years. Once the smallest of Switzerland's four governing parties, it now looks set to be the largest.
Its campaign, including posters portraying asylum seekers as criminals, has been sharply criticised by anti-racism groups.
The United Nations refugee agency also said the party's propaganda contained some of the most anti-asylum advertisements ever seen in Europe.
But the tone of the campaign seems to have struck a chord with many Swiss people, with polls showing the party could get 25% of the vote.
The middle ground parties - the Christian Democrats and the Radicals - were being squeezed, while the SDP was trailing the SVP by around 2%.