Swiss voters reject raising women’s retirement age to 65

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters have decided against increasing the retirement age for women by a year to 65.

Swiss broadcaster SRF reported Sunday that voters rejected in a referendum a retirement reform package raising women’s retirement age to equal that of Swiss men, which is already at 65.

The Swiss package that was turned down also included proposals to raise the VAT to 8.3 percent to help support the country’s pension system and raising the amount of money taken from salaries for pensions.

Swiss voters often vote in referendums as part of their direct democracy political system.