Swiss voters prepare to decide on neutrality and food security

Swiss voters will settle two national initiatives on Sunday, 27 September, with both proposals trailing clearly in the final published polling. The ballots will test attitudes toward Switzerland’s role in a more unsettled international environment and toward the country’s ability to produce healthy food at home.

The second gfs.bern poll for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation put opposition to the neutrality initiative at 63%, compared with 34% support. The food security proposal performed similarly, with 64% opposed and 33% in favour. Both measures have lost ground since the first survey conducted in early August.

The votes carry significance beyond their likely result. Switzerland’s system of direct democracy gives citizens the final say on constitutional changes, while campaigns often expose differences between language regions, political parties, age groups and urban and rural communities.

The neutrality proposal comes from Pro Suisse and seeks to write the principle of permanent and armed neutrality into the constitution. The food initiative would encourage more plant based production to strengthen domestic self sufficiency. Voters must now decide whether either approach should become national policy.

The neutrality initiative would place “permanent and armed” neutrality directly in the Swiss constitution. Pro Suisse launched the proposal to reinforce a principle that has long shaped the country’s identity and foreign policy.

The proposal has found its strongest backing among Swiss People’s Party, or UDC/SVP, voters. About 77% of UDC/SVP supporters intended to vote yes in the second poll, although that figure fell by nine percentage points from the first survey. The party was the only major political force to support the initiative.

Voters aligned with other major parties largely followed their organisations’ opposition. Among Green Liberal voters, 96% intended to reject the measure. More than three quarters of supporters of the Greens, Social Democrats, Liberals and Centre also planned to vote no, according to the poll.

Independent voters shifted sharply during the campaign. A majority had supported the initiative one month earlier, but 59% now opposed it. Gfs.bern said a reversal would require both unusually strong mobilisation among UDC/SVP voters and a substantial change among other groups, with little evidence of either development.

The neutrality vote shows a clear linguistic divide in intensity, though opposition leads in every major language region. In German speaking Switzerland, 64% of respondents planned to vote no, seven points higher than in the first poll. French speaking Switzerland recorded 63% opposition, a rise of 14 points.

Italian speaking Switzerland remained the closest contest. Support stood at 48%, while 47% opposed the proposal. The narrow split contrasts with the wider margins recorded north and west of the Gotthard.

The opposition also cuts across social categories. The poll found majorities against the initiative among voters of different ages, income groups, educational backgrounds and residential areas. Even among people with lower levels of education, who had previously been more sympathetic, 54% intended to reject it.

Those figures point to a broad campaign setback rather than a single regional or demographic reaction. The initiative has not secured a majority outside its strongest partisan base, and support among that base has weakened. The final result will show whether late mobilisation can narrow the gap, particularly in cantons where neutrality remains closely tied to national identity.