Swiss voters reject passport changes

SWITZERLAND: Swiss voters rejected a proposal in a referendum yesterday to give individual communities the authority to award…

SWITZERLAND:Swiss voters rejected a proposal in a referendum yesterday to give individual communities the authority to award Swiss passports, which would have made it more difficult for foreigners to secure citizenship.

Just under 64 per cent dismissed an initiative by the Swiss People's Party (SVP) that the naturalisation of immigrants be decided by a popular vote in the commune where the immigrant lives, the Swiss government said.

This procedure was banned five years ago after a number of communities blocked passport applications and the supreme court judged the method discriminatory.

Only one of the 26 cantons supported the SVP, which is backed by billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher and has increased its power over the last 10 years by focusing immigration fears.

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"The right to naturalisation has been cemented with today's decision," the SVP said in a statement. "The negative by-products of the mass naturalisation of poorly integrated foreigners, violent crimes and social abuse, will rise," the party said.

More than a fifth of Switzerland's 7.5 million residents are foreigners, according to Federal Statistics Office 2006 data, a higher proportion than almost any other European country and due in part to the difficulty of becoming a naturalised citizen. Already it is hard to gain Swiss citizenship. Candidates must have lived in Switzerland for 12 years and pass tests on Swiss culture and language.

The SVP, which wanted to make it even harder for foreigners to gain citizenship, plastered the country with yellow and black hands grabbing at Swiss passports and sent out literature detailing various crimes committed by immigrants who had been granted Swiss citizenship in the run-up to the referendum.

"The rejection of the naturalisation initiative represents the definitive end of the lottery for decisions on naturalisation," the Social Democratic party said in a statement.

The SVP drew accusations of racism during last October's election campaign for its posters showing a black sheep being kicked off a Swiss flag by three white sheep.

- (Reuters)