See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy TARYN KAUR PEDLER, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 12:20 BST, 14 June 2026 | Updated: 21:04 BST, 14 June 2026
Switzerland has said no to capping its population at ten million, following a crunch vote on limiting migration into the European country.After a tight race, nearly 55 per cent of Swiss voters rejected the 'No to a Switzerland with 10 million!' initiative, put forward by the hard-Right Swiss People's Party (SVP).Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans welcomed the vote, telling a press conference that the Swiss people 'have sent a signal of stability, openness and reliability'.The rejected proposal pushed for measures to stop the wealthy Alpine nation's population - currently 9.1million - from going above ten million before 2050.'There has to be a limit,' retiree Gilles Hirt said at a polling station in Bern on Sunday morning, comparing the situation in Switzerland to a ship.'If it is designed for 150 people and you put 250 on board, it becomes too small. If you put 350 on board, it will sink,' he said.In a country where foreigners make up more than a quarter of the population, the proposal would have slammed the brakes on immigration.The SVP, Switzerland's largest party, insists drastic measures are needed, blaming 'mass immigration' for a whole host of problems, from housing shortages and rising rents to overcrowded trains and traffic jams. Representatives of the Swiss People's Party (SVP UDC) stand next to a banner reading in German: 'No 10 million Switzerland! sustainability initiative' after the handover of signatures required for a Swiss popular initiative to vote to limit population growth in Switzerland, in Bern on April 3, 2024 A woman holds a sign that reads, 'Muslim woman decolonise' during a protest hours after Swiss voters accepted an initiative so-called anti-burqa vote, to ban full facial coverings in public places in Bern on March 7, 2021'Switzerland is a small country that cannot be expanded,' VP parliamentarian Yvan Pahud said, before adding we 'do not want to welcome all of Europe'.But critics warned that, if passed, the initiative would cause 'chaos', possibly crippling swathes of the economy and Switzerland's relations with the European Union, its main trading partner.'The stakes are very high,' Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper before the vote, warning that it would provoke the equivalent of a Swiss 'Brexit'.The initiative faced broad opposition from the government, parliament and multiple sectors of the economy.'In a globalised world, it's just stupid to try and close borders and put a number on the people that can be in here,' teacher Josefina Luque said in Bern as she cast her vote against the initiative.'I don't think it's going to pass,' she said, but stressed the need 'to take some of the worries seriously' if Switzerland did not want to 'have the same initiative in five years'.The Swiss have also voted today on a bill passed by parliament to make civilian service less attractive and less accessible, at a time when the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions are pushing European countries to bolster army numbers.It was the political Left in the militarily neutral country that called the referendum. They argue the bill is dangerous and could ultimately lead to the alternative to military service being scrapped altogether.Opinion polls suggested the vote will be close.Switzerland has compulsory military service for men. They serve in a unique militia system in which army conscripts do at least four months' service before being called up repeatedly over a decade for weeks-long refresher sessions.People who conscientiously oppose military service have, since 1996, been permitted to perform civilian service instead.Since access to civilian service was simplified in 2009, the numbers choosing that option have steadily climbed - a trend the government warns has become 'problematic'.
