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Article: Swiss voters say no to spending gold money on world's poor
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- September 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightProvided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Dateline: GENEVA
Swiss voters Sunday killed a government plan to use billions of dollars
worth of "excess" gold to help people in extreme need at home and
abroad. The chief opponent said the plan was tainted by foreign blackmail.
The government proposal to set up a "solidarity foundation" lost by
52-48 percent, or 1,057,327 votes against to 984,590 in favor, according
to final official returns. Some 44.1 percent of eligible voters participated.
"The unspeakable Solidarity Foundation cannot be created," said nationalist
politician Christoph Blocher. "The Swiss people cannot be blackmailed."
The plan was conceived in 1997 while ...