Minaret ban approved, projections show
The Swiss have approved a ban on the construction of minarets, according to incomplete results of voting on Sunday.
The gfs.bern polling institute said an estimated 58 per cent of voters had backed the initiative. A majority of cantons were also in support of a minaret ban.
Turnout was high at around 55 per cent.
The result, if confirmed, comes as a major surprise and a slap in the face of the government. Opinion polls ahead of the vote had predicted the ban would be rejected by 53 per cent of the electorate.
The proposal on banning minaret construction was championed by rightwing and ultra-conservative groups. The government and most political parties as well as churches and the business community came out strongly against it.
To be approved, it needed the backing of a majority of both voters and cantons.
The director of gfs.bern told Swiss French television that the issue by the end of the campaign was not minarets, but the position of Muslims in Switzerland.
"Proxy war"
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf had argued strongly against a ban on minaret construction.
"The initiative is a kind of 'proxy war'. Its supporters say they are against minarets. But they want to fight what they consider creeping Islamicisation and sharia law," she said ahead of the vote.
Opponents warned that approval of the proposal would fuel Islamic extremism and damage Switzerland's image abroad, particularly in the Muslim world.
Supporters of a ban argued minarets are a symbol of an Islamic claim to power.
"The Islamic religion is intolerant, but we do not want to limit freedom of religion, we want to outlaw the political symbol," said Ulrich Schlüer, a member of the rightwing Swiss People's party and one of the leading promoters of the anti-minaret initiative.
Supporters claimed there is public concern about the growing Muslim community in Switzerland, radical imams, the role of women, as well as head scarves and other dress codes.
Immigrants
The number of Muslim immigrants has increased to about 350,000 (up to 4.5 per cent of the Swiss population) since the 1990s. Most of them came from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey and are considered moderates.
There are an estimated 160 mosques and prayer rooms in Switzerland, mainly in disused factories and warehouses. Only four of them have a minaret, including the mosques in Geneva and Zurich.
In the wake of heated debates at a local level about requests to build more minarets, members of the People's Party and the Federal Democratic Union collected enough signatures to force a nationwide vote.
The campaign in the run-up to the vote was marked by a provocative poster campaign, which was criticised as racist by non-governmental organisations and international bodies.
"The supporters succeeded in forcing a broader debate about integration of Muslims in Swiss society," said political scientist Claude Longchamp of gfs.bern.
Whats this
Weapons export
A separate proposal by an alliance of peace groups and centre-left political parties to ban the export of weapons and other war materiel was rejected.
All cantons voted against the proposal, and partial results showed that it had the backing of just 32% of voters.
It is the third time in nearly 40 years that pacifists have sought to win a majority for their cause.
The pacifists, including the Group for a Switzerland without an Army, argued that arms exports are incompatible with Switzerland's foreign policy aims and traditional neutrality.
The government and most political parties had warned the initiative would cost thousands of jobs and weaken Switzerland's defence capabilities.
swissinfo.ch
Feedback
Place your feedback
Alex , Russian Federation, -
BRAVO!! Respect Switzerland!
nabil , United States, -
There are so many churches with bell towers throughout Muslim world even with in a countries who are fully Muslim like Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait... etc. Some research might help before people jump into wrong conclusion. If there are not too many new one that being built, that is do to the lack of Europeans Christian migration to the Muslim countries. When there are mass migration of Christians to Muslim counties then the comparison will be more logical. Some of these comments show the lack of awareness that many western have about Muslim world. There are some extreme religious counties like Saudi Arabia that banned building of church but that is the same case as the Vatican banning mosques. I think it amusing that how some people compare a "FREE, DEMOCRATIC, and CIVILIZED" country like Switzerland to a country that luck all kind of human right like Saudi Arabia. You should be embarrassed of this categorization with a medieval dictatorship country like Saudi Arabia. I just can't believe how well knowledgeable and moral society like Switzerland can fall to this right winged propaganda ideology of Muslims plan to invade and enforce their own religious belief and law on Europeans. Most of these emigrants have escaped hard circumstances either economically or politically and the last thing they want to is to engage in more conflict with the hosting countries. We keep forgetting that their are millions of Muslims who have fully integrated with western societies (only if they were aloud) but we always keep focusing on the minarets that want to hold on to there personal believes. What happen to personal choices. We can expect everyone who move to Europe to convert to Christianity so they can be socially accepted. If secularism is the base of western democracy then freedom of religion should be respected. If not, then how Europe is different then Saudi Arabia and Iran. Racism is major issue in Europe and it needed to be addressed logically. How do you expect people to integrate in to societies if they are not treated with equal rights. I can understand some people concern over persevering their cultures and heritage but banning is not the correct way of dealing with the issue. What happen to setting a building code? Build the minarets but in same architecture style as the surrounding that way it create a positive and harmonious integration between two side and with out offending or suppressing any one rights.
Sven , Germany, -
Respect for Switzerland! Rest of Europe should do the same - I Agree with Antoinette, UK and Bosski, Poland.
Antoinette , United Kingdom, -
BRAVO Switzerland! and that's what I call democracy!
More feedback
Social Bookmarks
Aviation fuel tax
Voters appeared to have accepted a modified tax on kerosene, with 65% in favour, according to incomplete results.
The government and parliament want to use most of the revenue from a fuel tax on domestic flights for aviation safety and environmental measures.
At the moment the money – SFr40 million ($40 million) annually - is spent on road projects.
Supporters said the country's 11 regional airports would benefit from the proposed change in the constitution.
Opponents argued international flights out of Switzerland should also be subject to the proposed tax reform.
Links
From shortwave to swissinfo.ch
A Blog about life in Switzerland.
Join our 40,000 fans on Facebook.
Current situation, weather, temperature
