GENEVA—Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to ban factory farming in a referendum on whether the wealthy country’s strict animal welfare laws need to be tightened yet further.
The government’s VoteInfo App showed a provisional result of 62.86 percent of votes against the proposal, put to a referendum under the Swiss system of direct democracy, to make protecting the dignity of farm animals such as cattle, chickens, and pigs a constitutional requirement.
VoteInfo takes voting results data collated by the Federal Statistics Office.
“I’ve voted no,” said Geneva resident Fabrice Drouin.
“There are farmers who are doing intensive farming with their animals but they are respecting animal welfare and to feed the population, we have to do factory farming, at least a little, otherwise, we won’t be able to eat meat anymore.”…