BERN — Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a bid to write stricter neutrality into the constitution, preserving the government’s room to apply the doctrine flexibly — including maintaining sanctions against Russia, early results and projections showed.
The Neutrality Initiative drew only about 31% support, with roughly 69% voting against, according to early government tallies and GFS Bern projections for Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The proposal would have declared Switzerland’s neutrality “eternal and armed,” barred peacetime military-alliance cooperation and blocked sanctions not approved by the United Nations.
Supporters, led by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, argued that mirroring EU sanctions after Russia’s 2022 invasion breached neutrality — a view Moscow echoed. The government, parliament and all major parties except the SVP opposed the measure. In a separate ballot, voters also rejected a food self-sufficiency initiative.
Sources: SWI swissinfo / Bloomberg, SRF
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