Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal seeking to impose stricter constitutional limits on the country’s long-standing policy of neutrality.
About 70 percent of voters voted against the initiative in Sunday’s nationwide referendum, according to final results released by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office.
The proposal, supported by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and the Pro Switzerland campaign group, sought to define Swiss neutrality as “perpetual and armed.”
Under the proposed rules, Switzerland would have been prohibited from joining or cooperating with military and defence alliances unless the country was attacked or faced an imminent attack. It would also have restricted the government’s ability to impose sanctions on countries involved in wars unless those sanctions were approved by the United Nations Security Council.
Supporters of the initiative argued that Switzerland’s participation in European Union sanctions against Russia and increased security cooperation with NATO had weakened its traditional neutral position.
However, the Swiss government, parliament and most major political parties opposed the proposal, arguing that the stricter rules would reduce the country’s ability to respond to international crises.
The debate over Swiss neutrality intensified following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after Switzerland largely adopted EU sanctions against Moscow.
Switzerland has been internationally recognised as a neutral country since 1815, with neutrality forming part of its federal constitutional framework since 1848.
The referendum therefore focused less on whether Switzerland should remain neutral and more on how much freedom the government should retain in interpreting and applying neutrality amid changing security conditions in Europe.
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