BERN, Switzerland (AN) — Voters in Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure seeking to put the nation's laws ahead of international obligations. But a third of all who cast ballots sided with a right-wing populist belief in "self-determination" above all else.
The initiative failed by a wide margin of 66.2%—33.8%, in a setback for its sponsor, the Swiss People's Party. Swiss government-funded TV broadcaster SRF headlined that the initiative was "shipwrecked." Voter turnout was just 47.7%, but that was unusually high.