More than 60 percent of Swiss citizens approve a ban on full facial coverings, such as the Islamic burqa and niqab, in Switzerland, an opinion poll by the TX Group AG media company jointly with the 20 Minuten newspaper showed on Friday
ZURICH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) More than 60 percent of Swiss citizens approve a ban on full facial coverings, such as the Islamic burqa and niqab, in Switzerland, an opinion poll by the TX Group AG media company jointly with the 20 Minuten newspaper showed on Friday.
On Tuesday, the Swiss government recommended that the country's voters reject the popular initiative 'Yes to a ban on full facial coverings" in an upcoming referendum scheduled for March 7. Instead of a full ban, the government proposes to introduce a requirement for individuals to show their face if necessary for identification purposes.
"About six weeks before the vote, 63 percent of those eligible to vote support the popular initiative 'Yes to a ban on full facial coverings', ... 35 percent are against," the pollster reported.
According to the opinion poll, another 2 percent of citizens refused to state their opinion. It is noted that the initiative receives the most approval in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.
More than 15,000 people responded to the survey. The margin of error is 1.3 percentage points.
St Gallen and Ticino, two Swiss cantons, have already banned full facial coverings in earlier regional votes. Swiss voters earlier backed a proposal to ban the construction of new minarets in a 2009 referendum.
