People in Switzerland are on course to reject a plan to automatically expel foreigners who commit minor crimes, early projections suggest. The proposal has been put forward by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party.
The vote comes amid growing unease at rising immigration and the problems which, the party says, come with it, BBC reported.
But opponents said the law would create a two-tier justice system unfairly targeting foreigners, who make up around 25% of Switzerland’s population.
Almost two million foreign passport holders live permanently and legally in Switzerland, but as gaining Swiss nationality is a complicated and expensive procedure, and is not conferred automatically at birth, these foreign nationals include many who have never lived outside of Switzerland.
The Swiss government says only two in every 100 foreigners living in Switzerland have been granted Swiss citizenship.
More than five million people were entitled to vote in the referendum; only Swiss nationals get to vote. A projection by the gfs.bern polling institute suggested that 59% of voters said “No” to the proposal. The official result is expected later on Sunday.
