By Urs Geiser

Politicians and business leaders are concerned by uncertainty surrounding Sunday’s vote to reduce Switzerland’s ecological footprint by strict immigration limits and family planning measures.

Although opponents of the initiative held a 17% lead in an opinion poll three weeks ago, experts see an outside chance for the proposal to win a majority.

The Ecopop initiative, named after a group of ecologists, aims to limit immigration on a three-year average to 0.2% of net population growth – about 17,000 people annually in absolute numbers.

Currently the Swiss authorities record about 80,000 immigrants a year, mostly from European Union countries.

The Ecopop campaigners also want the government to spend at least 10% of the aid budget for voluntary family planning methods in developing countries, boosting a United Nations right for women to use birth control.

It is the second time in nine months that voters have decided on immigration curbs.

Lone battle

The Ecopop group has been fighting a lone battle, facing a broad alliance of political parties from left to right, the business community, trade unions, the churches and other pressure groups.

The No campaign has dismissed the initiative as a dead end, damaging for the country’s economy and absurd in its aim to make Switzerland a pioneer worldwide with at a radical move to cap population growth for the benefit of the limited resources on the planet.

Several government ministers have warned that acceptance of the initiative would further complicate planned negotiations with Brussels on implementing quotas, which run counter to the principle of the free movement of people, a tenet of the EU.

Jitters

Opponents of the initiative appear to have the jitters that many citizens could use the opportunity for a protest vote against the government.

Political scientist Claude Longchamp says there is a sizeable minority of voters beyond the grassroots of the People’s Party keen to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s immigration policy.

Longchamp, whose GfS Bern research and polling institute carried out the opinion polls on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch’s parent company, says the initiative has had a certain appeal but there is no real interest in a repeat of the February upset.

Issues at stake

The vote on population control, combined with family planning and immigration curbs, is one of three issues to be put to the vote on November 30.

A separate initiative by a leftwing alliance aims to abolish preferential fiscal treatment of wealthy foreigners in Switzerland.

A rightwing committee is looking to ban the sale of gold by the National Bank, set a 20% minimum amount of gold reserves and ensure it is stored in Switzerland only.

By Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch