Switzerland Votes To Ban Face Coverings In Public Spaces

Switzerland bans face coverings in narrow vote

Carly Roman, Associate News Editor

Voters in Switzerland narrowly voted to adopt a measure banning facial coverings in public spaces.

More than 51% of Swiss voters voted to adopt the ban, which is estimated to affect only a handful of the nation's citizens.

The new guidance, adopted five years after the measure was first proposed, forbids niqabs and burqas, religious garb often worn by Muslim women, as well as the ski masks and bandannas often worn by protesters, in public spaces such as restaurants and public transportation, according to the Associated Press.Exemptions will be allowed for places of worship, and masks designed to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 may still be used.

Walter Wobmann, a politician from the conservative Swiss People’s Party and one of the measure's leading supporters, told a regional news outlet that the face coverings represent “a symbol of a completely different system of values ... extremely radical Islam” and the new proposal provided security against “hooligans.”

Left-leaning parties that opposed the ban posted signs reading, "Absurd. Useless. Islamophobic."

Lukas Golder, a Swiss political scientist, said the proposal's passage might signal a rightward political turn for the European nation.

"This situation was emerging and is probably the most interesting today," he said, according to a Google translation. "It means that conservative Switzerland could almost win a majority."

With the adoption of the new proposal, Switzerland joins France, Austria, Belgium, and Denmark, all of which have adopted "burqa bans" in the last decade.