In Swiss election, more moderate parties win votes
An election poster of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) for the Switzerland’s 2007 federal elections hangs in Basel. The party has come under heavy international criticism for leading a campaign that emphasizes sharp measures against immigrants.
The Swiss people voted for moderate candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections, rejecting the far-right Swiss People's Party's nationalistic anti-immigration campaign, reports CNN.
Sunday's general election reversed the trend for the Swiss People's Party, which has captured more and more of the vote in previous elections, winning up to 28.9 percent of 2007's vote after a campaign that blamed much of the country's crime on loose immigration policies, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
This year, the People's Party, or SVP in German, won only 25.9 percent of the votes, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The bigger winners this year were the more moderate Conservative Democrats and Liberal Greens, who campaigned on the platform of renewable energy and measures to support an economy hurt by a strong currency.
The results of Sunday's election were a surprise to everyone, reports Swiss Info. The SVP had expected to win 30 percent of the vote; instead the Liberal Greens won an additional nine seats and the Conservative Democrats won an additional four seats.
More from GlobalPost: Switzerland's extreme-right poised for historic win in Sunday's election
The leadup to the election drew much controversery, especially last week when the People's Party's goat mascots were stolen and returned to them covered in black paint, according to the blog Geneva Lunch.
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