It’s a beautiful day, in the middle of the wettest winter that I can remember, and it’s an important voting day. I always say, with admiration, that Switzerland has a strong and supple democracy, one that gives great power to its people. Our system of direct democracy means that any referendum or initiative which gathers 100,000 signatures can force a ballot. One of the items, the most significant one, that we are voting on today is the initiative, which got 135,000 signatures, put forward by the extreme right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which would reintroduce immigration quotas, extending the quotas to EU nationals as well. This would blow up Switzerland’s carefully constructed set of bilateral agreements with the EU and gravely endanger Switzerland’s economic health. I can’t remember another vote in which government AND industry have so loudly banged the drums against a proposal. I have been at home in this country for 31 years, and I am deeply connected to my little village of Pura in this tiny canton of Ticino. But everyone I talk to says that Ticino is going to vote for this initiative. I received a telephone call this morning from a young guy that I know, who has been eligible to vote for 5 years. I was surprised to hear from him – it had been months since I had seen him, and it was 10:30 am on a Sunday. He was calling to ask, as he had never voted before and “since you always know how things work here”, where the voting place was and when it closed. Despite the fact that his mother is from Poland and I am American – and Swiss thanks to my marriage to a Swiss –  he told me that he HAS to vote on this initiative and he is voting for it. His reasoning is that Switzerland is becoming a country only for the rich and that in 10 years he won’t be able to even buy a house here, that he will have to buy a house in Italy in order to find something affordable.

SVP street billboard

This vote is important – and I am worried.