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Swiss projected to reject plan to expel foreign criminals Swiss reject plan to automatically expel foreign criminals
(about 3 hours later)
GENEVA — Projections based on returns from some polling stations Sunday indicate that Swiss voters have rejected a proposal by a nationalist party to automatically expel foreigners who commit even low-level crimes. GENEVA — Swiss voters have rejected a proposal by a nationalist party to automatically expel foreigners who commit even low-level crimes, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported hours after polls closed at noon Sunday.
The political research group gfs.bern predicted a majority of Swiss had voted against the plan put forward by the Swiss People’s Party, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported shortly after polls closed at noon Sunday. SRF cited political research group gfs.bern, which projected the measure would be rejected by 59 percent of voters based on partial results from some polling areas.
Switzerland has voted repeatedly in recent years to tighten the country’s immigration laws and deport foreigners found guilty of crimes. The outcome comes as a blow to the Swiss People’s Party that had campaigned for the plan, and a turnaround from opinion polls last year which had predicted it would be accepted.
But the People’s Party, which campaigns heavily against immigration, said a law passed following a 2010 referendum didn’t go far enough. It called for automatic expulsions for severe crimes like rape or murder, but also in cases of low-level crimes such as speeding or insulting police if they are committed twice within a ten-year span. Under its proposal, the law would have been changed to make expulsion part of the sentence for any foreigner, whether for severe crimes like murder or low-level crimes such as threatening officials or giving false testimony — if they are committed twice within a ten-year span.
Critics of the proposal said it was “inhuman” and would effectively create a two-tier justice system that treats Switzerland’s two million or so foreigners — about a quarter of the population — more harshly. Opponents said the measure would skirt the courts, by making expulsions an administrative formality and by stripping judges of their ability to weigh the merits of individual cases. A broad coalition of political parties and legal experts came out against the plan in recent months, arguing that it was “inhuman” and would effectively create a two-tier justice system that treats Switzerland’s two million or so foreigners — about a quarter of the population — more harshly.
The federal statistics office estimated that more than 10,000 people could be affected by expulsions if the initiative passes. The People’s Party, which campaigns heavily against immigration, had claimed that a law Parliament proposed following a 2010 referendum on the issue didn’t go far enough because it gave judges room to consider the impact that expulsion would have.
Some voters were reluctant to share their thoughts ahead of the referendum, while others openly expressed their anger about the proposal. Pascal Sciarini, A university of Geneva political scientist, said lawmakers will still be required to stiffen laws against foreigners who commit crimes following the results of the earlier referendum on the issue that has yet to be applied.
“It infuriates me,” said Ferenc Begyl, an 80-year-old artist, noting he himself arrived as a foreigner from Hungary back in the times “when Switzerland was welcoming.” “There will be a law that will be applied that will lead to more expulsions,” Sciarini said. There will be a hardening of rules that will be a result of the first initiative pushed by the SVP,” he said, referring to the initials of the People’s party in German.
“I think this initiative could do a lot of harm to Switzerland,” he said. “It doesn’t address the right problems because criminals come from elsewhere and pass through Switzerland.” The federal statistics office estimates that over 3,000 additional foreigners could be expelled based on the pending legislation.
Public debate over the initiative, called “for the effective expulsion of foreign criminals,” was unusually fierce by Swiss standards. Public debate over the extended plan was unusually fierce by Swiss standards, raising voter turnout.
The People’s Party’s campaign posters showed a white sheep atop a Swiss flag, kicking away a black sheep. Opponents of the proposal released an electronic advertisement at major train stations showing a tattered swastika next to a large “No” to the referendum and a list showing “2016 Switzerland” after 1933 Nazi Germany and 1948 in apartheid South Africa.The People’s Party’s campaign posters showed a white sheep atop a Swiss flag, kicking away a black sheep. Opponents of the proposal released an electronic advertisement at major train stations showing a tattered swastika next to a large “No” to the referendum and a list showing “2016 Switzerland” after 1933 Nazi Germany and 1948 in apartheid South Africa.
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Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.