Anti-Migration Party Gains Most Seats Swiss Elections

• 10.21.2015, 11:02
•  Europe,  World

(Stop the mass migration)

The anti-immigration Swiss People's Party won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday's national parliamentary elections, keeping pressure on Bern to introduce quotas on people moving from the European Union.

Immigration was the central topic for voters amid a rush of asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe.

The SVP is skeptical about Switzerland's many bilateral agreements with the EU, telling voters that the country is better off remaining outside the 28-nation bloc.

"The vote was clear," SVP leader Toni Brunner said, Huffington Post reports, "The people are worried about mass migration to Europe."

Although Switzerland has been far less affected by the refugee crisis than neighbors - Austria and Germany, migration featured heavily in the campaign and according to many analysts concerns about the crisis were the main factor behind the anti-immigration SVP’s gains.

Swiss vote on introducing quotas for EU migrants to Switzerland sparked criticism in the European Union, and hurt the relations between Bern and Brussels, so that many Swiss parties campaigned on the issue.  

''Now we have this situation with this initiative against mass immigration that has to be put in a law, but it is the government that will suggest a solution and I think it is rather a sign of the Swiss population that they want EU immigration more controlled,'' Georg Lutz, professor of political science at the University of Lausanne told Sputnik News.

However, Sunday's result cemented the SVP's position as the dominant force in Swiss politics.

Winning Switzerland's parliamentary election with 29.4% of votes, SVP received 11 extra seats - 65 of the total 200 seats in the lower house.