A Swiss populist party rebounds and the Greens sink in the election. That's a big change from 2019
abcnews.go.comOfficial results in Switzerland election show that the anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party has rebounded from searing losses four years ago to cement and expand its hold as the largest faction after the parliamentary election
GENEVA — Switzerland's anti-immigration Swiss People's Party rebounded from searing losses four years ago to become the largest parliamentary faction after the election, official results showed, as two environmentally-minded parties lost ground despite record glacier melt in the Alpine country.
Pre-election polls suggested that Swiss voters had three main concerns: Rising fees for the obligatory, free market-based health insurance system; climate change, which has eroded Switzerland’s many glaciers; and worries about migrants and immigration.
The final tally late Sunday showed the people's party, known as SVP by its German-language acronym, gained nine seats compared to the last vote in 2019, and climbed to 62 seats overall in parliament's 200-member lower house. The Socialists, in second, added two seats to reach 41 in that chamber, known as the National Council.
It marked the latest sign of a rightward turn in Europe, after victories or electoral gains by conservative parties in places like Greece, Sweden and Italy over the last year, even if voters in Poland rejected their national conservative government last week.
A new political alliance calling itself The Center, born of the 2021 fusion of the center-right Christian Democrat and Bourgeois Democrat parties, made its parliamentary election debut and took third place — with 29 seats, eclipsing the free-market Liberal party, which lost a seat and now will have 27.
Environmentally minded factions were the biggest losers: The Greens shed five
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