«Limitation Initiative» – The SVP has lost its power of mobilization – News

In the end, the question was no longer: Can the SVP still win the vote? But only: How big will the defeat of the SVP be?

The so-called limitation initiative, a prestigious project of the party, never managed to inspire more than 40 percent of interested citizens since the beginning of the vote. The party itself probably recognized this from the start; There is no other explanation for the significantly lower number of advertisements and posters compared to previous SVP initiatives.

There are three reasons for the defeat of the great Popular Party:

• First: The issues of migration, foreigners and demarcation have clearly lost their splendor. This is shown in the concern barometer surveys, where relevant issues have not been among the top concerns for two good years. This can also be seen at the polls, where the SVP has been unable to succeed since the mass immigration initiative of 2014, neither in the enforcement or self-determination initiative nor in the resistance to facilitated naturalization.
• Second: the SVP has lost its power of mobilization. The SVP’s great success in voting was based on the fact that it was able to bring its supporters to the polls in droves – the legendary Buure Breakfast and provocative voting campaigns were not without impact. But many of the would-be SVP voters had already stayed home in last fall’s election. And also for today’s vote, SVP voters at the polls indicated the least intention to participate of all party supporters.
• Third: the opposition has learned from defeats. It was also possible to say no to the mass immigration initiative because the opponents were divided and divided. This time, the left and the bourgeois parties, businessmen and trade unions, under the leadership of Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter, united from the beginning in an opposition coalition without major cracks.

The result was a clear no to the initiative, and the SVP, which once seemed so powerful, was so successful in provoking and mobilizing, is learning about the hard work of the other parties. Sometimes you win, often you lose. Especially when the opponents agree.

Urs Leuthard

Head of the television department of the Bundeshaus SRF

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Urs Leuthard has been head of the Bundeshaus editorial team at SRF television since the summer of 2020. He has moderated the “Voting Study” since 2002 and analyzes elections and voting. Until 2008 he was moderator and editor-in-chief of the “Arena”, after which he moved to the “Rundschau”, before in 2012 he assumed the editorial direction of the “Tagesschau”. Since 2016, Urs Leuthard has been in charge of the development of the SRF Television newsroom.