Swiss voters have rejected a proposal by the rightwing Swiss Peoples’s Party that would have made it more difficult for foreigners to become naturalised citizens. The controversial proposal aimed to give local communities the power to decide by a popular vote which immigrants are granted a passport, with no right of appeal.

The People’s Party has long campaigned on an anti-immigration ticket. Foreigners make up 20 percent of the Swiss population and the latest referendum is the sixth time the SVP has launched a vote on the subject.

It’s good news for the multi-party government, which rejected the initiative it considered arbitrary and discriminatory. The Swiss electorate agreed.

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