Geneva: The Swiss on Sunday flatly rejected a call for dramatic immigration cuts in the name of saving the environment, along with bids to scrap tax breaks for rich foreigners and hike the country’s gold reserves.
Results from a majority of the country's 26 cantons showed voters spurning the so-called Ecopop initiative, which called for slashing immigration to reduce urban pressure on the Alpine nation’s idyllic landscape.
Initial results nationwide showed 73 per cent of voters said ‘no’ to Ecopop far above the 56 per cent seen in the latest opinion poll.
According to initial results, 61.6 per cent had also rejected the call to ditch tax breaks for wealthy foreign residents, and 76.8 per cent turned down the bid to force the country's central bank to boost its gold reserves to at least 20 per cent of its holdings.
While the final results were not yet in, the fact that a majority of cantons had clearly dismissed the three initiatives meant they were doomed.
Most voters in Switzerland cast their ballots by mail in advance, so counting votes can often be done quickly after polls close at noon on frequent voting days.
