Swiss voters shift to the right

The issue of immigration is boosting the conservative right Swiss People’s Party, while centrist parties are struggling: these are the main conclusions from the latest barometer ahead of parliamentary elections on October 18.  The People’s Party has gained two percentage points since the previous poll in June, according to the latest electoral barometer commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch’s parent company, published on Wednesday.  Switzerland’s largest political party thus finds itself with 28% of the vote. In the 2011 elections it ended up with 26.6%.  “The dominant issue at the moment, by a long way, is asylum, and the People’s Party is considered the most competent party when it comes to resolving this,” said political scientist Claude Longchamp, head of the leading GfS Bern research and polling institute which carried out the survey.  He said the latest developments, in particular the solidarity movement growing in Germany and ...