According to a report from the Central European news outlet Remix News, the proposed referendum comes as Europe "increasingly faces environmental catastrophe, a housing crisis, and huge strains on public resources due to soaring immigration levels."
The referendum would stipulate that Switzerland's population not exceed 10 million until 2050, after which point the cap can be slightly raised to accommodate new organic births, not mass immigration.
The population of the country, which borders Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Liechtenstein, is already at 8.698 million, according to the World Bank.
"Our country is cracking in every corner. We are going through the debacles of recent years. If we don't intervene, we will be overtaken by events," said Marcel Dettling, campaign manager for the SVP, which is Switzerland's most popular political party.
"Today, there is very strong economic migration. Whoever has set foot in Switzerland will never leave the country. Migrants from Africa have welfare rates of 34 percent," Dettling added.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Switzerland has the third highest rate of foreign-born citizens. As of 2012, foreign-born individuals accounted for 26 percent of the total population, with 24 percent of those having arrived in the last 5 years.
SVP National Councilor Thomas Matter said he must sound a "red alert" over the increasing population, adding that "this is the last moment when we can still change something for Switzerland."
"The migration figures are hair-raising. In 2022, Switzerland will have 200,000 more inhabitants, the population of the canton of Basel-City," he said.
Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city, according to the nation's Federal Statistics Bureau.
In 2014, a similar measure was proposed, "Against Mass Immigration" however it became "toothless" after Swiss parliament had its way with the piece of legislation, reported Remix's John Cody.
The SVP is set to meet on January 6 and 7 in the Swiss state of Thurgau, where the "Initiative for Sustainability" plan will be discussed.
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