Swiss nationalists seek anti-immigrant election boost

BERN, Switzerland — A nationalist party whose anti-immigrant campaign posters featuring white sheep kicking out a black sheep helped spark a riot is hoping for its best-ever showing in parliamentary elections today.

The predicted 27 percent of the vote would strengthen the party's billionaire leader, Christoph Blocher, in the formation of the next government.

But barring surprises, his Swiss People's Party will still share power with the three other major parties in this Alpine nation of 7.5 million people, one of Europe's most stable democracies.

And Blocher, now the justice minister, will likely remain in the governing seven-member Cabinet with a shot at taking a turn at president in the next four years even though his right-wing positions often strain the consensus of the Federal Council, which governs collectively without a prime minister.

Swiss presidents are chosen by parliament from among the seven Cabinet members to serve for one year, and the position rotates among the members.

"Support Blocher! Vote SPP!" say the party's latest posters, which in many cases replaced its image of three white sheep on a Swiss flag, kicking a black sheep off.

The original poster was widely criticized as being xenophobic or racist, but the party rejects those accusations, saying it is aimed at expelling only criminal foreigners, not law-abiding immigrants.

The poster was blamed for fueling the anger of about 500 youthful protesters whose barricade-burning, glass-breaking rampage forced the People's Party to move a pre-election rally from the Bundesplatz, the Federal Square in front of parliament.

The anarchistic "black bloc" demonstrators accused in the rampage have previously caused destruction in protests against the G-8, the World Economic Forum and other manifestations of globalization in Switzerland.

The Social Democrats, the second-largest party with a forecast of 21.7 percent of the vote, have responded with their own poster showing the three white sheep kicking out a goat with Blocher's face. "Butt out, SPP," the poster says.

Blocher, 67, has angered his colleagues with his aggressive campaigns against the United Nations and European Union as contrary to Swiss values of independence and neutrality. But critics say his opposition to foreigners runs counter to Switzerland's humanitarian tradition as founder of the Red Cross and refuge for the persecuted.

Under the leadership of the charismatic Blocher, who has a family fortune from chemicals and plastics, the People's Party has steadily gained support. From 1977 to 2003 it spread from the German-speaking heartland until it reached even into the more Europe-friendly areas in French-speaking western Switzerland.

The conservative party, which otherwise advocates lower taxes and less government, calls for openness to the world, but a campaign opposing "mass naturalization" of foreigners features a drawing of mostly brown hands grabbing for Swiss passports.

It is also supporting a petition that could lead to a referendum banning the construction of Muslims' minarets.