Volkswacht Bodensee - Populist right tops Swiss elections

The SVP took 29 percent of the vote in elections to the lower house of parliament, improving its vote share by more than three percentage points, predicted market research group GFS Bern, which conducted the main polling throughout the election campaign.

Polling stations closed at noon (1000 GMT), the vast majority of Swiss voters having posted in their ballots over the past four weeks.

The SVP came well ahead of the left-wing Social Democrats on 17 percent, while the centre-right party The Centre, and the right-wing party called FDP.The Liberals, were both on course to finish on around 15 percent -- with all three chasing parties largely flatlining.

Meanwhile the Greens could not replicate their dramatic gains at the last election in 2019 and slid back four percentage points to finish fifth on nine percent, according to the projection.

"It was too late to send it by post but given that it's important, I told myself I would still come today," voter Melanie Salamin told AFP at a polling station in the capital Bern.

"It's our chance and then we can't complain, we mustn't wail: we are asked for our opinion and so we give it."

The wealthy European country of 8.8 million people voted for all 200 seats in the National Council lower house of parliament and all 46 in the Council of States upper chamber.

GFS Bern was expected to release a seat projection at around 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).

- SVP riding high -

The SVP's election campaign focused on its favourite theme: the fight against "mass immigration" and the prospect of the Swiss population reaching 10 million.

Its "New normal?" social media adverts, spotlighting criminal cases perpetrated by foreigners, plunged into a world of bloodied knives, hooded criminals, fists, bruised faces and frightened women.

It also launched a war on "cancel culture" and what it calls "gender terror and woke madness".

"The situation in Switzerland is serious: we have mass immigration, we have big problems with people seeking asylum. The security situation is no longer the same as before," Thomas Aeschi, head of the SVP parliamentary group, told AFP.

"There are many people in Switzerland who fear the situation will get worse."

The SVP -- which is strongly anti-EU -- fiercely defends Switzerland's long-standing military neutrality and feels Bern pushed the principle too far by matching EU sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Aeschi said the SVP "wants good relations with the European Union but what we don't want is an agreement where Switzerland must do what the EU says".

The SVP has topped every National Council election since 1999. The lower house, which represents the people, uses proportional representation.

The Council of States upper house, which represents the cantons that make up Switzerland, is elected by majority vote. It is dominated by The Centre and FDP.The Liberals and elections rarely change the balance.

The chamber's first two seats went to The Centre -- one candidate elected unopposed and one elected earlier by "Landsgemeinde": a show of hands in the main square still used in the Appenzell Innerrhoden canton.

- Climate and living costs -

Though climate change remains a major issue in Switzerland -- where Alpine glaciers are retreating at an exceptional rate -- the environmentalist movement seems to have lost momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even though Switzerland is still one of the world's richest countries -- with unemployment running at around two percent and a very high GDP per capita -- the cost of living has hit hard, with inflation and surging health insurance costs hitting people's pockets.

The Social Democrats hoped to make major gains on these issues, having called for reforms that would index health insurance contributions to income.

Turnout at Swiss general elections is typically around 45 percent.

Muriel Meister went to her local polling station in Bern in person.

"I told myself that it sets a good example for the children and that it was more tangible than sending an envelope in the mail," she told AFP.

The 246 newly elected parliamentarians will choose the seven members of the government on December 13.

The seats are shared out 2-2-2-1 among the four main parties and few changes are expected.

The Federal Council government takes its decisions by consensus and collective responsibility.

C.Stoecklin--VB