Swiss turn to right at election as immigration fears weigh
Source: Reuters
ZURICH, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Switzerland looked set to shift to the right in national elections on Sunday, as concerns about immigration trumped fears about climate change and melting glaciers, though the vote is unlikely to change the make-up of the Swiss government.
The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), Switzerland's biggest political party, increased its share of the vote to 29%, 3.4 percentage points higher than the last election in 2019, according to the final projection by Swiss broadcaster SRF.
The party campaigned on a platform of preventing the country's population - currently at 8.7 million people - exceeding 10 million.
"We have problems with immigration, illegal immigrants, and problems with the security of energy supply," said SVP leader Marco Chiesa. "We already have asylum chaos ... A population of 10 million people in Switzerland is a topic we really have to solve."
weatheriscool wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:26 pmSwiss turn to right at election as immigration fears weigh
Source: Reuters
ZURICH, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The party campaigned on a platform of preventing the country's population - currently at 8.7 million people - exceeding 10 million.
"We have problems with immigration, illegal immigrants, and problems with the security of energy supply," said SVP leader Marco Chiesa. "We already have asylum chaos ... A population of 10 million people in Switzerland is a topic we really have to solve."
Spain on Edge as Prime Minister Sánchez Strikes Deal on Catalan Amnesty and a Politician is Shot by Cain Burdeau
November 9, 2023
Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — Spain entered an alarming period of political anger on Thursday with a right-wing politician getting shot in the face on a Madrid street only hours after acting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced an amnesty deal for Catalan separatists, a major concession in his bid to stay in power.
Thursday's events plunged Spain into political turmoil with right-wing opposition politicians lashing out at Sánchez and calling on Spaniards to protest the amnesty offer for Catalan politicians and activists facing legal action in connection to a failed and illegal independence drive in 2017.
The day's political events took a sinister turn with the shooting of Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, a 78-year-old veteran politician who helped found Vox, a far-right ultra-nationalist party that's grown in popularity in recent years and whose leaders have led protests against the amnesty deal. He left Vox in 2014 after failing to retain a seat in the European Parliament.
Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face near his home in Madrid, Spanish media reported. Reports said a gunman wearing a helmet shot him in the street and then fled on a motorcycle driven by a second person. He was in stable condition, according to media reports. The suspects remained at large as of late Thursday and police had not linked the shooting to tensions over the amnesty deal. Spanish media reported that Vidal-Quadras told police he believed the attack was linked to his close ties to opponents of the Iranian regime.
The shooting took place amid news that Sánchez had secured a deal with Carles Puigdemont, a self-exiled Catalan politician and former Catalan president who led a campaign in 2017 to make Catalonia an independent state by holding an illegal referendum.
In Spain, Sánchez Secures Second Term Amid Protests Against Catalan Amnesty Deal by Cain Burdeau
November 16, 2023
Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — Amid protests over his ploy to stay in power through an alliance with Catalan and Basque secessionists, Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez secured a second term in office on Thursday after he obtained a slim majority in a parliamentary vote.
Sánchez got the support of 179 members of Spain's 350-seat powerful lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies, giving him a narrow majority. He is expected to be sworn in by Spain’s King Felipe VI on Friday.
The 51-year-old Sánchez and his center-left Socialists will form a minority government with Sumar, a left-wing party, and rely on the votes of Catalan and Basque independence parties to pass legislation.
In 2020, Sánchez formed Spain's first coalition government since the 1930s by joining forces with Unidas Podemos, a far-left party that fractured last year and morphed into Sumar.
After polls and regional elections showed Spain's right-wing forces on the rise, Sánchez gambled and called early elections for July.
Sánchez Recruits Two MEPs to Complete ‘Europeanised’ Government by Max Griera
November 20, 2023
Introduction:
(Euractiv) Green EU lawmaker Ernest Urtasún has joined Spain’s new government as the minister of culture and The Left’s MEP Sira Rego will be the new minister for youth and children, the new-old Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday (20 November).
After being sworn in on 17 November, following inconclusive elections in July and tough coalition-building talks, Sánchez presented the new cabinet on Monday, describing it as a government with a “high political profile” to ensure “a stable mandate”.
Sánchez has a tricky road ahead, relying on 15 left-wing parties – all within the macro-coalition Sumar – and four nationalist Catalan and Basque parties, facing a united opposition of centre-right PP (EPP) and far-right Vox (ECR) that will vote against any decision put forward by the government.
Reflecting such a complex governing coalition and unstable political landscape, Sánchez has carefully allocated the ministries – 17 for the socialists and five for Sumar.
“The new government will have a strong feminist accent, with four female vice-presidents and more female ministers than male ministers. It will also be a ‘continuist’ government in the economic area and also in the so-called State ministries(…) And it will prioritise dialogue and negotiation in a legislature that will be key to Spain’s social and territorial cohesion”, he said during a press conference in the PM’s residence.
