Switzerland on Sunday endorsed a far-right push to automatically expel foreign residents convicted of certain crimes, to the dismay of critics who described it as a "dark day for human rights."
Some 52.9 percent of those who voted were in favour, while 47.1 percent were against, with the country's German-speaking majority largely backing the proposal. Only six out of 26 cantons rejected it.
The move came exactly a year after Switzerland shocked the world by agreeing to ban the construction of new minarets, which was another proposal backed by the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP).
As with their campaign against minarets, the SVP had launched an aggressive campaign to push forward their proposal for the expulsion of foreign criminals, saying that those guilty of certain crimes should be stripped of their right to remain in the country.
Its signature poster illustrates a white sheep kicking a black sheep out of the Swiss flag. Another poster depicts a gangster-like man with the slogan "Ivan S., rapist, and soon a Swiss?" "It's very simple: we think that people we welcome in Switzerland should respect the rules of this country," Fabrice Moscheni, president of the SVP in canton Vaud, told AFP.
"If they don't respect these rules, they should be going away and expelled from our territory," he said. "If you welcome somebody to your house, and he comes and destroys everything, I don't think you want him to come back."
Judges can already issue expulsion orders for foreign criminals, but the SVP's proposal goes further. It would require automatic expulsions for those found guilty of "rape, serious sexual offence, acts of violence such as robbery," drug trafficking, as well as "abuse of social aid." According to the Federal Office of Migration, some 350 to 400 people are expelled every year, but this figure would rise to 1,500 with the adoption of the initiative.