Word: switzerland
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Above the sound of clinking coffee cups in a Zurich café, Andrew Katumba, 36, a Socialist candidate for parliament in Switzerland's national elections on Sunday, is outlining what he sees as the country's most urgent problem. "Switzerland is one of the strongest democracies in Europe, and yet one in five people cannot vote," says Katumba, whose father fled Uganda to Switzerland during Idi Amin's reign of terror, when Andrew was 3. "We are not integrating foreigners...
...That brief exchange between strangers captured the gist of an election campaign that has roiled this prosperous country of 7.5 million in recent months. Though Switzerland's image remains one of idyllic mountains and peaceful chalets, the recent campaign has been loud and ugly...
...compared with its nearest rival, the Social Democratic Party, at 21.7%. Of the 2,021 voters polled by the organization for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, 39.9% said they intended to vote for one of two center-right parties, and 10% said they would vote for the Greens. Ultimately Switzerland is likely to remain governed by four major parties, even if the SVP emerges victorious on Sunday; the government comprises a seven-person Federal Council, with party representation in proportion to the election votes. The President's position rotates yearly among the parties...
...People's Party officials say they are not surprised by their strong lead. They say they are voicing what millions of voters believe: that Switzerland's large immigrant population of 1.5 million people - roughly 22% of the population - is causing social strains and a rise in crime. Ulrich Schlüer, a leading Swiss People's Party legislator and a newspaper editor, claims that no other country in Europe has such a high proportion of foreigners. He acknowledges that the party's support is weighted heavily towards German-speaking east and northern Switzerland, but says: "Everybody in Switzerland understands...
...quickly tired of the tales, complaining to his mother that Holmes "takes my mind from better things." So, in 1893, he sent the detective over the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland during a struggle with his underworld nemesis, Professor Moriarty. "Killed Holmes" was all Conan Doyle deigned to scribble in his notebook. The public was devastated, as was his mother, but it would take 10 years of pleading and pressure before he gave in and resurrected Holmes from his watery grave...