Government ‘has developed a good sense’ of which issues work with voters

Four very different referendum proposals – and above all the SBC licence fee initiative: what lessons can be drawn from the results? Political scientist and pollster Martina Mousson from gfs.bern explains what was remarkable about Sunday's votes. Swissinfo: Did anything surprise you today? Martina Mousson: The most exciting thing at the beginning was how the race on individual taxation would turn out. That was anything but clear when the polls closed. However, the return of the Radical-Liberal Party to the polls was a real surprise. After a long dry spell, the party's slogans were once again exactly in line with those of the electorate. Previously this was almost a given, but then the party lost this voting instinct to the Liberal Greens. Today, it can be said that liberal-progressive Switzerland has triumphed over conservative Switzerland. Swissinfo: And the clear no to the SBC initiative was to be expected? M.M.: It was foreseeable in our interpretation of the polls. The decision ...