Citizens in canton Glarus have rejected a proposal to outlaw the wearing of a burka in public.
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swissinfo.ch with agencies/ug
Participants at the traditional open-air assembly in Glarus voted against the proposal launched by a member of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party in 2015. Twice as many people rejected the idea than those who supported it with a show of hands.
The local People’s Party is the biggest of nine political groups in Glarus, a mountain canton southeast of Zurich, but both the Glarus cantonal government and parliament had recommended that voters reject the proposal.
They argued that it was better to wait and see whether efforts to introduce a nationwide burka ban would be successful.
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Ancient form of assembly rejects burka ban
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Voters in the canton of Glarus on Sunday voted against a proposal to ban the burka in public places. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
Had Glarus voters approved the ban, it could have boosted the nationwide campaign to collect the necessary minimum of 100,000 signatures by next September for a vote on a burka ban across Switzerland.
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A revolution that slipped under the radar?
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Ten years ago, voters in Glarus decided to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 - a move that has produced some young and highly active politicians.
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Based on an expert study, the government decided that the current system of approximate estimations of the number of raised hands for votes at the annual assembly on the town square should be continued. “It does not make sense to interfere with a proven procedure as there is no need for a change,” the government…
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On Wednesday the Glarus parliament approved a proposal, supported only by members of the conservative right Swiss People’s Party. The cantonal government, which opposed the proposal, must now prepare a bill on banning face coverings. It will be put to the local open-air assembly, in which all citizens in the canton can take part. This…
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