After Referendum Switzerland Bans Face Covering
Switzerland will ban the wearing in public of burqas, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women, and other full-face coverings, after a referendum showed a narrow majority in favour of it.
According to the final count on Sunday evening, 51.21 per cent of voters were in favour of the ban.
Only about half of Switzerland's population took part in the vote, with turnout at 51.4 per cent.
The ban received more votes in the more conservative of the 26 cantons in Switzerland, with more than 60 per cent voting in favour in the cantons of Ticino and Schwyz.
The result means the ban must now be incorporated into the constitution and will apply in restaurants, shops and in public.
Similar bans exist in Austria, the Netherlands and France.
While on paper the ban applies to covering one's face in general - which would apply to football hooligans, for example - it was put forward by a right-wing, anti-Islam group that's made no secret of its stance. In 2009, the same group, Egerkingen Committee, pushed through a ban on the building of new minarets through a referendum.
Opponents accuse the group of promoting anti-Islamic xenophobia and only wanting to stir up sentiment against Muslims, arguing that in a free society, such dress codes should not exist.
It's estimated that Muslims made up only 5.3 per cent of the Swiss population as of 2018. It is also estimated that there are only around 30 women who wear the niqab, or full-face veil, in Switzerland.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2014 that such bans do not violate a person's right to freedom of religion or expression.
Other issues voted on included a law regarding an electronic identity card, which is controversial because private companies are set to offer the card. That proposal was clearly rejected by the Swiss with 65.36 per cent voting against it.
A free-trade agreement with Indonesia that reduces tariffs on a certain amount of sustainably produced palm oil, on the other hand, was narrowly approved with 51.66 per cent of the vote.