Votes: No to highways, yes to health

While the counting has been completed in all cantons, the result is final. The Swiss people rejected by 52.7% the plan of the Federal Council and Parliament to widen the motorways.

The French-speaking cantons all refused their extension. The two concerned by the widening of the A1 to Nyon – Geneva and Vaud – swept away the proposal by 57% and 58.6% of the votes. The people of Valais, although keen on cars, refused at 54%, those from Neuchâtel at 62.5%, those from Jura at 62.6%, those from Friborg and Ticino at 56%.

In German-speaking Switzerland, the cantons of Zurich, Bern, Basel-Stadt, Glarus, Graubünden, Obwalden and Uri are also in the no camp. The canton which voted the most in favor of motorways was that of Schwyz with 59.1% of the votes.

For national councilor Roger Nordmann (PS/VD), quoted by “Le Temps”, this result is “a slap in the face for Albert Rösti and his Trumpization policy”. The president of the Greens, Lisa Mazzone, had a very good Sunday, and speaks of “a huge victory for the Greens! We have been committed to a transport policy for the population and its quality of life since our creation. Our in-depth work convinced the population who did not let themselves be fooled: they mobilized against a mobility policy of the past.”

The widening of motorways, dear to Federal Council Albert Rösti, is therefore going into the trash. Four of these projects concerned the A1 motorway which crosses Switzerland from southwest to northeast Switzerland over 410 kilometers. One of them concerned French-speaking Switzerland between Le Vengeron and Nyon, where the axis should go from 4 to 6 lanes over a distance of 19 kilometers.

Parliament and the Federal Council had allocated 5.3 billion francs to intervene and try to streamline traffic in strategic locations. The bourgeois parties, the Touring Club Suisse, autosuisse, the Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts (USAM) and economiesuisse supported this policy of expansion of national roads within an alliance.

The latter reacted bitterly this Sunday: “The failure to come out of the polls today brings nothing. These days, traffic jams on our national roads have already exceeded last year's peak. The resulting high costs continue to weigh on our SMEs and the population.

After the discontent of environmentalists against the motorways, it was the tenants who expressed their bad mood with two referendums launched against decisions to modify the right of lease by Parliament. The first concerned a modification of more restrictive subletting conditions for tenants, the result of which ultimately leaned to 51.6% no after a long suspense. The second, which aimed for relaxation in favor of the owner when he wants to terminate a lease for his needs, was refused by 53.8%.

For ASLOCA, the tenant defense association, this is an unexpected result: “Today's results represent a slap in the face for the real estate lobby, which continues to extend its hold on the housing market by maximizing its profits to the detriment of tenants.

The Swiss people ultimately gave a positive reception to the “monist” financing of health services, which was accepted by 53.3% of those in favor. On this subject, we see a significant Röstigraben with a no common to all the French-speaking cantons, while all the German-speaking cantons and Ticino voted yes.

Parliament has been talking about it for almost 15 years following a proposal from the Centre's national advisor, Ruth Humbel (C/AG). Last year, the Federal Chambers put an end to this issue by voting for the uniform financing of health benefits, a reform of the law on health insurance (LAMal), which corresponds to the acronym EFAS.

With this popular decision, from 2028, funding will be uniform for all types of services: outpatient, hospital and EMS. The cantons will always cover at least 26.9% of the costs and the health insurance companies a maximum of 73.1%.