ZURICH ¨C Swiss voters were forecast to reject a referendum proposal that foreign law-breakers be deported, according to initial projections from an exit poll by Swiss broadcaster SRF on Sunday.
A yes vote could have further complicated Swiss relations with the European Union, Switzerland¡¯s biggest trading partner, as it tries to reconcile a 2014 referendum backing quotas on EU workers with Brussels.
¡°The trend has clearly gone in the no direction,¡± Claude Longchamp of the research and polling institute said of the vote on Swiss television. ¡°We are definitely seeing less than 45 percent of the vote in favor.¡±
Of four referendums Sunday, the immigration vote was the main issue.
The proposal from the anti-immigration Swiss People¡¯s Party (SVP) would have subjected any foreign resident to automatic deportation if convicted of a crime from murder to speeding.
Under the SVP¡¯s draft law, foreigners would have been automatically deported after completing their sentences for serious crimes like murder, rape and armed robbery, or for two lesser offenses committed within a 10-year span such as speeding or burglary.
In the other referendums, voters were seen supporting the construction of a second tunnel through the Gotthard mountain range, a main north-south transit route.
Voters were also projected to reject a proposal to ban trading in agricultural derivatives.
There was no clear trend in a vote on whether to abolish a tax disadvantage for married couples and civil partnerships, SRF said.
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