Claude Longchamp classifies the Juso defeat "This is severe and must give the left food for thought"
Both the inheritance tax and the Service Citoyen were clearly rejected by the Swiss electorate. Political scientist Claude Longchamp sorts out the results.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The inheritance tax and service citoyen initiatives have clearly failed at the ballot box.
- Political scientist Claude Longchamp sees the clear victory of the conservative parties as a result of a lack of unity on the left.
- Negative media coverage and the tense geopolitical environment made it even more difficult to gain approval for socio-political reforms.
The polls had already foreshadowed this, and Sunday's vote confirmed it: both the Juso inheritance tax initiative and the service-citizen initiative were clearly defeated at the ballot box. Only around a fifth of voters said yes to the Juso proposal, while the proportion of yes votes for the Citizens' Service was well below 20 percent.
"It's a good day for the conservatives and the economy," says political scientist Claude Longchamp in an interview with blue News. The SVP, FDP and the center won both votes - "and by a clear margin that is far above their share of the electorate".
This is also due to the fact that many voters in the red-green camp dropped out of the inheritance tax. The SP and Greens together have a voter share of 28% - well above the Yes share now achieved. "The fact that around a quarter put a 'no' in the ballot box is huge and must give both parties pause for thought," says Longchamp.
The political scientist also rates the result for the Juso as "bad". As a reminder, the left had recently celebrated several successes at the ballot box, for example with the introduction of the 13th AHV pension. Today's defeat now shows "that the class struggle has not broken out in Switzerland, while social policy issues such as the 13th AHV pension may well cost something".
Citizen service in the press hammer
The rejection of the service-citoyen initiative can be explained above all by the lack of support. On the pro side, the GLP stood alone with slight support from the EPP and Pirate Party. Longchamp: "If you are attacked from the right and the left at the same time, it's pretty hard to get out of the press hammer."
Just two years ago, polls had shown that the idea of a general civil service was definitely capable of winning a majority. Equality and the prevailing shortage of personnel in the army were two good arguments in favor of the proposal.
However, the implementation of the idea failed: "Women were afraid of having to do additional work for low pay and men were afraid that the current militia system would be weakened," says Longchamp.
Geopolitical climate as a factor
In addition, the media coverage did not play into the hands of either initiative, Longchamp says, referring to the recently published analysis by the Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (Fög): "For both initiatives, attention was limited. The media coverage of the Juso initiative in particular was also very negative."
According to Longchamp, the voting behavior could also have been influenced by geopolitical developments. "The fear of the Ukraine war spreading to the West, the customs conflict with the USA and the tight state budget are currently making it difficult for social reforms."
