The no to motorway widenings won by 52.7% on Sunday in federal votes. Although polls predicted a close result, this outcome surprised both camps.
This content was published on
November 24, 2024 – 6:08 pm
The Swiss said 52.7% no to the authorities’ project aimed at relieving congestion on the road network. Around 45% of the electorate mobilized, a participation rate comparable to other votes this year.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the rejection is clear: Jura says no at 62.6%, Neuchâtel at 62.5%, Vaud at 58.6%, Geneva at 57%, Friborg at 56.3% and Valais at 54, 2%. Elsewhere in Switzerland, Saint-Gall, Zug, Schwyz, Aargau, Nidwalden, Basel-Country and Solothurn approve the road widenings, while Graubünden, Ticino, Lucerne, Glarus, Uri, Zurich and Basel-City refuse them.
The largest highway project in recent decades
The Swiss electorate was called upon to vote on the largest motorway project in recent decades. The Federal Council and Parliament called for the widening of six existing sections in strategic locations, mainly on the A1, the longest motorway in the country, in order to curb traffic jams which have reached records around metropolises in recent years .
With the refusal of this project, UDC federal councilor Albert Rösti suffered his first failure at the polls.
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Should the Swiss motorway network be expanded? The population will decide
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A referendum has been launched against the six-vote extension of the A1 motorway. The people will vote on November 24.
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Business circles, organizations representing automotive interests and right-wing parties – UDC and PLR – led the campaign in favor of the project, arguing the need to reduce bottlenecks and the strategic importance for Switzerland of having functional and reliable road infrastructure, in order to meet growing mobility needs.
According to surveys conducted by the gfs.bern institute before the vote, these arguments resonated most strongly with the male population, right-wing sympathizers, residing in small towns and with high incomes.
A surprise for both camps
On Sunday afternoon, the Ticino senator from the Center Fabio Regazzi, co-chairman of the committee in favor of the extension of the motorways, said he was surprised by the turn of the vote. Traffic jams are a problem for the economy, he told German-speaking radio SRF, “I find it difficult to understand why this has not been understood.”
Believing that such a vote would have been easily won a few years ago, he spoke of a “change” in society and a problem of mobilization: “We had difficulty,” he told SRF. Only a few cantons were concerned. In the other cantons, it was not as easy to convince people.”
>>> In Bern, the hot reactions of opponents and supporters to the extension of the motorways:
In a press release, the yes committee considered that the rejection “contributes nothing”, because the opponents have not demonstrated how to reduce the increasing traffic jams.
The referendum opposing the widening projects, entitled “Stop motorway madness”, was carried by a broad alliance led by the Transport and Environment Association (ATE) and the environmental organization active-trafiC, in name of environmental protection. Opponents of enlargement also insisted on the “exorbitant” cost of the project, estimated at some 5 billion francs, and the risk that increased motorway capacity would have a counterproductive effect in the long term, by contributing to further increase the traffic.
Arguments to which women, younger people, people affiliated with left-wing and environmentalist parties, as well as those with higher levels of education were more sensitive, according to surveys before the vote.
At the end of the vote on Sunday, the Vaudois Green MP David Raedler, representative of the referendum committee, said he was “positively surprised”, specifying that he saw in this no a “mature choice” of the population, to which “we cannot promise anything.”
The active-trafiC association applauded a “historic decision”, because for the first time, the population refused the widening of the highway. The association calls for an immediate moratorium on the construction of national roads. The pink-green camp, for its part, spoke of a turning point in transport policy.
Strong polarization
Support for highway widening had eroded over the course of the campaign. During the first poll carried out by gfs.bern for the SSR in mid-October, a small majority planned to vote yes to the project, but the situation was reversed in the following weeks. The second poll, published on November 13, gave a narrow lead to the no side (51%). Two percent of those questioned said they were undecided, so all predictions were plausible.
>> Read our decryption of the second SSR survey:
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The Swiss people could refuse to widen their highways
This content was published on
13 nov. 2024
A majority of Swiss people would refuse the extension of the motorway network, reveals the second SSR survey.
read more The Swiss people could refuse to widen their highways
Favorable voting intentions had particularly lost ground within the Swiss diaspora as the campaign progressed. 60% in favor of the project during the SSR’s first opinion survey, it only approved 50% in the second.
Notably, the opposition had gained ground in almost all categories of the electorate, including within the bourgeois parties. This negative development is exceptional for a project originating from the authorities, underlined gfs.bern, seeing it as an illustration of a loss of confidence in the government and Parliament.
>> Participate in our debate:
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What measures should be taken to relieve congestion on Swiss highways?
The people vote on November 24 on 6 highway widening projects. What do you think? Your opinion interests us.
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Why Switzerland, a country of rail, is still a country of motorways
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Does Switzerland need wider highways?
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