About half of Switzerland's residents are considering voting for a controversial ballot measure that would cap the nation's population at 10 million people.
According to a Tamedia opinion poll, which surveyed more than 16,000 Swiss residents, 52% support a referendum proposal to curb immigration and control the size of the population. Meanwhile, 46% of those surveyed oppose the measure. The newspaper that published the poll did note that referendum proposals often lose steam as the actual voting day approaches.
The proposal is being backed by the nation's right-wing Swiss People's Party, known as the SVP, which claims that it's needed to deal with "uncontrolled immigration" and its impacts on infrastructure and housing.
If passed, the proposal would limit permanent residents in the country to 10 million before 2050, and also withdraw from its freedom of movement deal with the EU. It would also be the first limit of its kind for a government to have officially enacted into law.
Switzerland currently has a population of around 9 million people, which has grown from 7.1 million people since 2000; the population growth over these last 26 years has primarily come through immigration, per Time.
The current Swiss government opposes the initiative, which will be voted on June 14, arguing that it would negatively impact the economy by harming the Swiss labor market and weaken ties with the EU.
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Both chambers of the Swiss parliament formally expressed their opposition to the proposal, while the Federal Council (essentially the nation's federal cabinet) also voiced its opposition, stating, "To permanently restrict immigration, Switzerland would have to take measures that would be detrimental to its prosperity and incompatible with Switzerland's international obligations."
Switzerland's largest business lobby, Economiesuisse, has also declared its opposition to the ballot measure in a blog post called "Chaos initiative: A threat to Switzerland's prosperity and stability."
The group's chief economist, Dr. Rudolf Minsch, wrote, "A rigid population cap would lead to great uncertainty, as it would exacerbate labour shortages and put additional pressure on our pension provision."
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