Report deconstructs Swiss vote for minaret ban

Most Swiss who voted in a national referendum last autumn for a ban on the construction of minarets in Switzerland were not against Muslims, a new analysis of the vote concludes.

A report by released by the University of Bern on Monday found that of the 57.5 percent of those voting in favor of the ban, less than a third of them were critical of Muslims living in Switzerland.

The result is based on a VOX survey of 1,008 people - a representative sampling of the Swiss population - taken in the first two weeks after the November 29, 2009 referendum.

“Only 15 percent of people who voted yes (to the minaret ban) justified their choice by concrete criticism against Muslims living in Switzerland,” the report says.

“The verdict of the people cannot be explained only be xenophobia and resistance to globalization and loss of identity that follows from this for the Swiss.”

Indeed, many of the people who voted for the minaret ban had voted in an earlier referendum in favour of a “freedom of movement” labour agreement with an expanded European Union, Professor Hans Hirter, author of the report, told Swisster.

The survey showed that most people supporting the ban “were not against immigration and not against Muslims,” said Hirter, a member of the University of Bern's political science department.

Rather, they wanted to “send a message” or a “symbolic signal” against the expansion of Islamic culture and the societal model that it projects, he said.

Although Switzerland has a population of 400,000 Muslims, there are only two mosques in the country with minarets - in Geneva and in Zurich.

Neither of the minarets are used for calls to prayer.

Certainly, partisans of extreme-right wing groups voted heavily for the minaret ban, Hirter said.

And a campaign waged by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC) in favour of the prohibition - featuring billboard posters with minarets looking like missiles piercing the Swiss flag - was successful in getting out the right-wing vote, he said.

This was reflected by the higher than average participation in the referendum, with 53.4 percent of eligible voters casting ballots, Hirter noted.

But centre-right voters who supported the ban did not see it as “against human rights” or freedom of religion, he said.

“Many people said they thought it wasn’t necessary to have a minaret to pray.”

Also, many voters seemed to be unaware of the possible impact a ban on minarets might have for the country’s international relations, Hirter said.

“People didn’t think it would have any impact.”

In the wake of the minaret vote, some Arabic countries have called for boycotts of Switzerland, urging Muslims to pull their money out of Swiss banks.

In making the decision, the majority of Swiss voters went against the recommendation of the federal government, which opposed the ban.

However, Hirter said the campaign opposing the ban “wasn’t visible.”

Voters in the centre of the political spectrum were crucial to the outcome of the election given the polarization of left-wing partisans, who were predominantly against the popular initiative, and extreme right-wingers.

The survey showed that UDC supporters were almost unanimously in favour of the ban, while backers of the Socialist and Green parties were largely opposed.

The poll also found that those with a higher education voted in higher numbers against the initiative, as well as left-wing women.

Only a third of those with a university degree backed the ban.

Among other findings, the survey indicated that 60 percent of protestant and Catholic voters supported the initiative, "while non-religious voters rejected it."

And roughly one out of six voters justified the minaret ban on the grounds that Muslim countries discriminate against Christian churches.