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Swiss voters endorse army conscription
Switzerland will remain one of the last countries in western Europe with mandatory military service after voters overwhelmingly rejected a pacifist initiative to scrap conscription. The vote is a resounding victory for the government.
Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said the defeat of the proposal by the pacifist Switzerland without an Army group (GSoA) to end conscription and introduce a professional army of volunteers was a vote of confidence in the current militia system.
“It is a yes to the army and to more security,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
He said he was now cautiously optimistic about a vote next year on the purchase of 22 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, given the 73 per cent majority in favour of conscription.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Swiss_voters_endorse_army_conscription.html?cid=36955534
Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said the defeat of the proposal by the pacifist Switzerland without an Army group (GSoA) to end conscription and introduce a professional army of volunteers was a vote of confidence in the current militia system.
“It is a yes to the army and to more security,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
He said he was now cautiously optimistic about a vote next year on the purchase of 22 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, given the 73 per cent majority in favour of conscription.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Swiss_voters_endorse_army_conscription.html?cid=36955534