Seven lessons from the November 2024 Swiss referendums

With the defeat of a plan to boost the Swiss motorway network, the government has suffered its third major setback at the ballot box this year. A crisis of trust in authorities is being exploited to the full by the left. 1. The Swiss Abroad were surprisingly keen on motorway expansion Overall, the four issues put to the vote on November 24 were of somewhat limited interest to the Swiss population abroad. At most, the two reforms to tenancy law concerned people who still own property in Switzerland and rent it out, or tenants who want to sublet while abroad. The really surprising thing about the Swiss Abroad was their high backing for the proposed motorway expansion, according to an October survey: at that time, 60% of the diaspora were in favour – 10 percentage points more than the Swiss population overall. By the time of the second survey a few weeks later, intentions had declined overall, but the pattern was the same: support for the motorway projects among the Swiss Abroad was ...