Switzerland voted for increased pension payments for the elderly in a referendum on Sunday, as concern over living costs trumped government doubts about its affordability, preliminary projections by public broadcaster SRF showed. An initial vote count published by SRF showed 58% of participants backed the extra pension, a 13th monthly payment per year, with just 42% against, pointing to a more emphatic victory than final polls had suggested. The measure, which was promoted by the Swiss Trade Union Federation and left-of-centre parties, requires backing from a majority of Switzerland’s 26 cantons to pass. The margin of victory meant that was likely secure, the broadcaster said. “This step is really a huge milestone from a union perspective,” Lukas Golder of polling firm gfs.bern told SRF. The government, business lobbies and parliament, which currently leans to the right, had rejected the proposal as financially unsound. Swiss voters have in the past been cautious about backing measures viewed as risky for business. The pension vote contrasts with referenda in recent decades in which Switzerland decisively rejected proposals that would have shortened the working week and given people more holidays.