Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to write a stricter version of neutrality into the Federal Constitution. The provisional official final count put opposition at 70.15 per cent and support at 29.85 per cent; no canton approved the measure. Turnout was 47.06 per cent.
The initiative would have barred Switzerland from joining military alliances and sharply limited cooperation with them. It also sought to prevent the country from adopting sanctions against states at war unless the United Nations Security Council imposed them, and to narrow its participation in international security measures.
Switzerland already maintains a policy of armed neutrality, but the government and Parliament opposed putting the initiative’s more rigid rules into the Constitution. They argued that the existing approach leaves room to respond to changing security conditions, including through sanctions and practical cooperation with other states.
The vote rejects this proposed constitutional change; it does not itself alter the country’s current neutrality policy. The Federal Council has said the result does not call neutrality into question. The legal and policy debate now returns to the existing constitutional framework and the government’s discretion in applying it.
The Federal Statistical Office’s provisional official final count is posted in its national results dashboard. The Federal Council’s initiative page describes the proposal.
