The Swiss voters seemed to be divided but voted in favor of the proposal to ban the face coverings in Sunday’s referendum, the outcome of which sounded an alarm bell in the country as reported by tanea.gr.
51.2% of the participants voted in favor of the ban, which does not include the use of face mask due to the pandemic, compared to 48.8% who voted against it.
Given the binding nature of voting under the system of direct democracy in Switzerland, the ban on face coverings will now become a law.
About 5% of Switzerland’s population of 8.6 million people are Muslim, mainly originating from Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
According to research by the University of Lucerne, almost no Muslim woman in Switzerland wears a burqa. About 30% use niqab.
In Switzerland, but also in other European countries, such as France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Bulgaria, similar bans on face coverings have already been imposed.