Some background infos on the SVP and Switzerland in general.
The SVP currently hold with 62 (of 200) most seats in the National Council (the lower chamber of the parliament) and is part of a four party government. It is also the strongest party in over a third of the nations cantons. The Party used to be positioned mostly in the center until Christoph Blocher
started to rise to influence and power in the party and moved it further and further to the right. While using blatant rhetoric and foreigners, immigrations cooperation with EU and other matters caused the party to gain more public support, Blocher lost is seat in the Parliament in 2007 despite being part of the federal council (This has happened less then 5 times in the history of Switzerland.)
Switzerland has with over 22% one of the largest percentage of foreigners in Europe, but this number is a little bit misleading. It is less caused by a larger number of Immigrants moving to Switzerland (though it is a popular target), but due very tight restrictions it is extremely hard for foreigners, even in third generation to obtain Swiss nationality. So while in most other countries large parts of the immigrants (and/or their descendants) would sooner or later acquire local citizenship in Switzerland this is much rarer, keeping the number up.
The rate of crime among foreigners has been a hot topic since at least the mid 90ths (spearheaded of course by the SVP). According to statistic of the Swiss police, immigrants from African nations like Angola or Algeria are 6 times more likely to commit crimes then a Swiss national. But then again according to the same statistic Swiss are almost twice as likely to commit a crime then Germans living in Switzerland. ..
The SVP currently hold with 62 (of 200) most seats in the National Council (the lower chamber of the parliament) and is part of a four party government. It is also the strongest party in over a third of the nations cantons. The Party used to be positioned mostly in the center until Christoph Blocher
started to rise to influence and power in the party and moved it further and further to the right. While using blatant rhetoric and foreigners, immigrations cooperation with EU and other matters caused the party to gain more public support, Blocher lost is seat in the Parliament in 2007 despite being part of the federal council (This has happened less then 5 times in the history of Switzerland.)
Switzerland has with over 22% one of the largest percentage of foreigners in Europe, but this number is a little bit misleading. It is less caused by a larger number of Immigrants moving to Switzerland (though it is a popular target), but due very tight restrictions it is extremely hard for foreigners, even in third generation to obtain Swiss nationality. So while in most other countries large parts of the immigrants (and/or their descendants) would sooner or later acquire local citizenship in Switzerland this is much rarer, keeping the number up.
The rate of crime among foreigners has been a hot topic since at least the mid 90ths (spearheaded of course by the SVP). According to statistic of the Swiss police, immigrants from African nations like Angola or Algeria are 6 times more likely to commit crimes then a Swiss national. But then again according to the same statistic Swiss are almost twice as likely to commit a crime then Germans living in Switzerland. ..
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