GENEVA: The Swiss will once again head to the polls this weekend to decide whether to dramatically slash immigration numbers, this time in the name of saving the environment in a proposal opponents have labelled xenophobic.
Initiatives aimed at reining in the number of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees to the wealthy Alpine nation have been abundant in recent years.
Most recently, voters in February narrowly approved reinstating quotas for immigration from the neighbouring European Union, throwing non-member Switzerland's relations with the bloc into turmoil.
But while saving Swiss jobs and culture are often cited as reasons to tighten the borders, Sunday's vote marks the first justifying its demand to cut immigrant numbers with their impact on the country's environment.
The so-called Ecopop initiative maintains the current influx of foreigners is swelling the country's population and cities and shrinking its idyllic landscapes and green spaces.
"Population growth is at historic levels in Switzerland," said Anita Messere, part of the Ecopop committee behind the initiative.
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