On a bright if somewhat crisp day after the parliamentary elections held every four years, it was very much a case of business-as-usual in Zurich.
This was despite a significant shift in the electoral landscape which saw major parties such as the rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the Radicals and the Greens in particular lose significant support to new centre parties, the Liberal Greens and the Conservative Democrats.
The general surprise expressed by most political commentators at the results – particularly the loss of eight seats in the House of Representatives by the People’s Party – was not repeated by many of the citizens of Zurich.
Heading into the city centre to talk to locals about their interpretation of the election results, this graffiti scrawled on a wall near the famous Hitl restaurant was an apt precursor to the response to come:
“Stop SVP Brainwash!”
Jacques, 50, a banker waiting for a tram at Paradeplatz, the symbolic heart of the Swiss banking industry, told swissinfo.ch the result was “as expected”.
“The new parties in the middle are getting a little bit stronger so it was not a surprise,” he said. “People are getting fed up with the old establishment parties who don’t change their political direction so people want to vote in the middle with new parties.”
Barbara, 47, a nurse, said she was happy that the centre parties had won more ground in the elections.
