Swiss vote to ban minarets
Controversial: A campaign poster showing the Swiss flag covered in missile-like minarets (Reuters : Dario Bianchi )
Switzerland has voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a surprise result certain to embarrass the neutral government.
About 57.5 per cent of voters and all but four of the 26 cantons approved the proposal in the nationwide referendum, which was backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).
The government and parliament had claimed the initiative violated the Swiss constitution, freedom of religion and the country's cherished tradition of tolerance.
They also said a ban could "serve the interests of extremist circles".
The government, however, said it would respect the people's decision and construction of new minarets would no longer be permitted.
The Alpine country of almost 7 million people is home to more than 300,000 Muslims, mainly from Bosnia, Kosovo and Turkey.
"Muslims in Switzerland are able to practise their religion alone or in community with others and live according to their beliefs just as before," a government statement said.
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A group of politicians from the SVP, the country's biggest party, and the conservative Federal Democratic Union gathered enough signatures to force the referendum on the initiative.
Its campaign poster showed the Swiss flag covered in missile-like minarets and the portrait of a woman covered with a black chador and veil associated with strict Islam.
Four mosques of Switzerland's estimated 160 Muslim cultural and prayer centres have minarets. The call to prayer is banned in the country.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she was shocked and deeply regretted the vote, which had to be seen in the context of globalisation and economic crises.
"Fears and anxieties were played on," she said.
Swiss ambassadors in Muslim countries would work to explain that the vote was a result of Switzerland's democracy and its foreign policy of promoting dialogue would not change, she said.
Muslim community groups in Switzerland voiced dismay.
"The most painful thing for us is not the ban on minarets, but the symbol sent by this vote. Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community", said Farhad Afshar, president of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland.
The result is likely to strengthen the hand of the SVP, which has been accused of racism for its anti-immigration campaigns, including a poster showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag.