On Sunday, March 7, Switzerland held a referendum on three bills at the federal level. The results are reported by Swiss Info based on data from the Swiss public broadcaster SRG.
We are talking, in particular, about the ban on hiding the face in public places, about electronic personal identification in the network and about a free trade agreement with Indonesia.
It turned out that residents of Switzerland are in favor of a nationwide ban on wearing wardrobe items that hide the face, such as a scarf, balaclava and burqa. 52.7 percent of voters were in favor of this ban, according to Lukas Golder, head of the Research Institute for the Study of Public Opinion GFS.Bern. The margin of error was approximately 2 percent.
Anian Liebrand, a member of the Egerkingen City Committee, who proposed that such a ban be included in the constitution, is convinced that thanks to this initiative, “a long-overdue discussion has been launched in society”. According to him, many supported the above arguments. “The voting result is already a success regardless of the final final result,” he concluded. At the same time, it is noted that the left and extreme left forces are outraged by this decision.
At the same time, Stefan Manser-Egli, a spokesman for the left-wing lobbying organization Operation Libero, called the initiative's success “a dangerous infiltration of politics with propaganda symbols” replacing rational discourse.
Opposing the ban, Muslim Fathima Ifthikar, in turn, is “disappointed that the symbol-based tactics of the conservative Swiss People's Party SVP have again found popular support.”
In January, Switzerland proposed introducing a ban on bans due to coronavirus. Members of the Friends of the Constitution collected a large number of signatures to hold a referendum to deprive the Confederation of the right to impose isolation and other coronavirus restrictions.
