Swiss voters set to reject tighter neutrality rules in referendum

Swiss voters appear to have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to impose stricter constitutional limits on the country’s longstanding neutrality. About 71 percent voted against the initiative in a referendum on Sunday, according to a projection by the polling institute GFS Bern for the Swiss public broadcaster SRG. The result would preserve the government’s ability to impose sanctions and cooperate with NATO , the transatlantic military alliance whose members include most of Switzerland ’s larger neighbours, rather than lock those choices into a narrower constitutional definition of neutrality. The initiative sought to define Swiss neutrality as “perpetual and armed”.