GENEVA  - Swiss voters approved a ban on new minarets being built, with the success of the far-right initiative causing dismay among the Alpine country's tiny Muslim community.

The referendum to ban the towers or turrets attached on mosques from where Muslims are traditionally called to prayer was approved by 57.5% of voters who cast ballots and in 22 out of the country's 26 cantons.

Cheers and fears

Far-right politicians across Europe celebrated the results, while the Swiss government sought to assure the Muslim minority that a ban on minarets was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture."

The far-right Swiss People's Party - Switzerland's biggest party - had forced a referendum after collecting a mandatory 100,000 signatures from eligible voters within 18 months.

They said that the minarets - of which Switzerland has just four and which are not allowed to broadcast the call to prayer - were not architectural features with religious characteristics, but symbolised a "political-religious claim to power, which challenges fundamental rights."

Having won a double majority on turnout of 53%, the initiative will now be inscribed in the country's constitution.

"The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted," said the government, which had firmly opposed the ban, in a statement.

Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the result "reflects fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies."

"These concerns have to be taken seriously... However, the Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies," she stressed.

Switzerland has had an uneasy relationship with its Muslim population, which makes up some 5% of its population of 7.5 million people. Islam is the second largest religion here after Christianity.

A mosque here was vandalised three times during the anti-minaret campaign, local media reported on Saturday.

Widmer-Schlumpf sought to reassure Muslims, saying: "It is not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture. Of that, the Federal Council gives its assurance." -  AFP