The majority of voters in Switzerland voted in favor of a ban on the wearing of clothing and hats that hide the face.


According to preliminary estimates of the television and radio corporation SFR and the publication Tagesanzeiger, more than 51 percent of the country's residents do not want to see covered faces on the streets of their cities.

The majority of the 26 cantons of the Swiss Confederation voted in favor of the ban. The likelihood of a change in the results of the referendum after the final count of votes is possible, most likely, only "theoretically", stated sociologists from the GFS agency.

The initiative to ban the burqa belongs to the deputies of the national-conservative People's Party of Switzerland. The only exception will be mass religious events.

In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms, Mr.  Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of parliament for the Swiss People’s Party, had said before the vote.

Facial covering is a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland, he concluded.

After the approval of the results of the referendum, the prescription on the types of clothing in public places will appear in the constitution of the Swiss Confederation.

As of 2018, the share of Muslims among all residents of Switzerland was about 450 thousand, or 5.3 per cent.

The Swiss law already prohibits forcing women to hide their faces.