ZURICH • A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland won a narrow victory in a binding referendum on Sunday instigated by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.
The measure to amend the Swiss Constitution passed by a 51.2 per cent to 48.8 per cent margin, provisional official results showed.
The proposal under the Swiss system of direct democracy does not mention Islam directly and also aims to stop violent street protesters from donning ski masks, yet local politicians and the media have dubbed it the burqa ban.
"In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms," said Mr Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a Member of Parliament for the Swiss People's Party.
Facial coverings are "a symbol for this extreme, political Islam that has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland".
Officials have two years to write legislation to put the ban into effect. There would be exceptions, though, including for places of worship and for security or health purposes.
Muslim groups have condemned the vote and said they would challenge it.
"Today's decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority," said the Central Council of Muslims in Switzerland.
It promised legal challenges to laws implementing the ban and a fund-raising drive to help women who are fined.
"Anchoring dress codes in the Constitution is not a liberation struggle for women but a step back into the past," said the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, adding that Swiss values of neutrality, tolerance and peacemaking had suffered in the debate.
Neighbouring France banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011, and Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria also have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.
Two Swiss cantons already have local bans on face coverings, although almost no one in Switzerland wears a burqa and only around 30 women wear the niqab, the University of Lucerne estimates.
The burqa is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often with just a mesh screen for its wearer to see through. The niqab refers to a veil for the face that leaves the area around the eyes clear, and is often worn with an accompanying headscarf.
Muslims make up 5 per cent of the Swiss population of 8.6 million people, most with roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.
The government had urged people to vote against a ban.
REUTERS
