Voters say no to Ecopop initiative that would have seen net immigration slashed from 80,000 to 16,000 a year

Swiss voters have roundly rejected an initiative to put a cap on immigration in the name of environmental concerns.

Final results showed 74.1% of voters said no in a referendum spearheaded by Ecopop, a group describing themselves as leftist ecologists, who claimed the country was being “buried under concrete” owing to the growing influx of foreigners.

The 5 million people eligible to vote also rebuffed two further proposals, one to force the central bank to increase its gold reserves and another to scrap a flat tax for rich expatriates.

“Switzerland screams a straightforward No, No, No!” the business daily Handelszeitung wrote.

If successful, the Ecopop initiative would have slashed net immigration to 0.2% of the population, reducing the numbers of foreigners coming to Switzerland every year from about 80,000 to 16,000.

Ecopop said the Alpine country’s resources were insufficient to support mass immigration, which it argued was damaging its landscape.

The group, which was formed 40 years ago by a group of academics, ecologists and feminists, also proposed using 10% of the country’s overseas aid budget for family planning projects in the developing world.

The anti-immigrant initiative, which united leftwing ecologists and far-right thinkers, drew huge criticism from around the world and led to an unprecedented counter-campaign by business leaders, the government and other mainstream parties who argued it would do considerable damage to the economy and would isolate Switzerland from the European Union.

Sunday’s/ vote came after a referendum in February in which the country voted in favour of reintroducing immigration quotas, which effectively means it opting out of a free-movement agreement with the EU.

As many as three-quarters turned down the so-called Gold initiative, which economists had warned could cause the gold price to soar if passed.

Some 59.2% of voters rejected the flat tax proposal said.

All three issues on the table were highly emotive and had triggered unusually passionate and often aggressive debate for a country where consensus has a long tradition.

The gold initiative was led by a small group of rightwing radicals, while the scrapping of the flat tax for rich expatriates was brought down by a small leftwing group.

Under Swiss law, any petition signed by 100,000 voters must go to a popular vote.

All the issues were seen to be indicative of a nationwide bout of soul-searching over the future of a country that has enjoyed huge economic success based on striking a balance between its independence and an internationalist outlook.

While the Swiss enjoy one of the highest living standards in the world and among the highest wages, there have been increasing complaints that the country is showing signs of strain, overcrowding, and excessive development of urban and rural areas.

• The standfirst of this article was amended on Sunday 30 November 2014 as it incorrectly stated that the Swiss Green parties spearheaded the initiative.