“NZZ”: Borderline campaign by opponents was successful
Published: Sunday, Nov 24th 2024, 20:10
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According to the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", the opponents of the highway expansion have prevailed with a clever, sometimes borderline campaign. This is a serious defeat for the Federal Council. Transport Minister Albert Rösti had played a clumsy role. But anyone who becomes overconfident, as the Greens did on Sunday, will sooner or later be rejected by the electorate.
"The opponents of the expansion were helped by the fact that mobilization was greater in urban areas. Above all, however, they ran a cleverly orchestrated campaign that elevated the six projects to a fundamental issue. This was borderline in places: opponents warned that St. Gallen would be overrun by cars with the expansion. This is now more likely to happen with the No vote if the Rosenberg Tunnel has to be renovated without a third tube. The supporters' campaign was weak. The slogan 'moving forward together' was reminiscent of a motivational seminar. (...) In rural cantons, it did not help that the SVP already seems to be in the voting campaign for its next immigration initiative. Certainly, the increase in population also plays a role in traffic growth. But this argument ignores the fact that the number of vehicles has grown much faster and that leisure traffic is becoming increasingly important. (...) However, the No vote will now set back the expansion of the highways by years. This is bad news for Switzerland as a business location, which remains dependent on good infrastructure."
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