Swiss voters on course to approve ‘burqa ban’ - Al Jazeera English

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With results in from 22 of federal Switzerland’s 26 cantons, 54 percent of voters were in favour of outlawing facial coverings.

A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland appears to be heading for a narrow victory in a binding referendum viewed as a test of attitudes towards Muslims.

With results in from 22 of federal Switzerland’s 26 cantons, 54 percent of voters were in favour of outlawing the burqa and the niqab. The final results are due later on Sunday.

The proposal under the Swiss system of direct democracy does not mention Islam directly and also aims to stop violent street protesters from wearing masks, yet local politicians, media and campaigners have dubbed it the “burqa ban”.

“In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms,” Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of Parliament for the Swiss People’s Party, said before the vote.

He called facial covering “a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland”.

The proposal predates the COVID-19 pandemic – which has required all adults to wear masks in many settings to prevent the spread of infection – and gathered the necessary support in 2017 to trigger a referendum.

The proposal compounded Switzerland’s tense relationship with Islam after citizens voted in 2009 to ban the building of any new minarets. Two cantons already have local bans on face coverings.

If the ban passes it would mean nobody could cover their face completely in public – whether in shops or the open countryside. But there would be exceptions, including for places of worship.

France banned the wearing of a full-face veil in public in 2011 and Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

A town official sorts through envelopes containing votes at their arrival at the counting centre the day of a Swiss vote on banning face coverings in a referendum in Lausanne, Switzerland [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]

Practically no one in Switzerland wears a burqa – a full-body veil that covers the face as well – and only about 30 women wear the niqab – a veil worn by some Muslim women which, in addition to a headscarf, covers the lower half of the face – according to estimates by the University of Lucerne. Muslims make up 5 percent of the Swiss population of 8.6 million people, most with roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Swiss Muslims have said right-wing parties were using the vote to demonise them and rally supporters.

Amnesty International has called the face veil ban “a dangerous policy that violates women’s rights, including freedom of expression and religion”.

Separately, two other votes were also held on Sunday, one was on the free trade agreement struck between Switzerland and Indonesia, and the other on a government plan to introduce a federally recognised electronic identity that could be used for ordering goods and services online.

Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, any topic can be put to a national vote as long as it gathers 100,000 signatures. Rounds of votes take place every three months.

This photograph taken in Geneva shows two campaign posters, one in favour of a ‘burqa ban’, left, reading in French: ‘Stop Radical Islamism!’ and the other against a free trade agreement with Indonesia reading in French: ‘Stop palm oil! No to the free trade agreement with Indonesia’ [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]

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Swiss voters on course to approve ‘burqa ban’ - Al Jazeera English
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