The results of a referendum on whether to limit the proportion of foreign residents in Switzerland to 18 percent were expected at 2:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) Sunday, as most Swiss have voted postally over the last three weeks.
The polling stations were to close at 1000 GMT and the referendum will be decided by a simple majority.
Supporters of the proposed move say it is simply a question of checking the growth of the country's foreign population, which currently accounts for 1.3 million of the seven million inhabitants or 19.3 percent of the population.
But the proposal is unlikely to be approved as those lined up against it include the coalition government, made up of Switzerland's four main political parties, which together took 80 percent of the votes cast at the last legislative elections.
Five previous attempts over the last 30 years to write into the Swiss constitution some kind of fixed quota for foreigners have failed at the ballot box.
The Swiss foreign ministry has also said that limiting immigration quotas would violate Switzerland's existing international agreements, including those with the European Union.
And Swiss industry representatives have pointed to the damage it could do both to the economy and the country's international standing.
One in four jobs in Switzerland are held by a non-Swiss, so an 18-percent ceiling would have grave consequences for the country's economy, which is facing stiff competition abroad, the proposal's opponents argue.
Economics Minister Pascal Couchepin has argued that key businesses such as food giant Nestle, electric equipment maker ABB and key industries would be hit by immigration limits.
"A Switzerland without foreigners is a Switzerland without Nestle, without ABB, without a chemicals industry at Basle," said Couchepin.
The man behind the referendum is Peter Mueller, who like Couchepin is a member of the conservative Radical Democratic Party. His party, part of the ruling coalition, has disassociated itself from Mueller's position.
The last opinion poll on voters' intentions -- carried out in late August -- suggested voters would reject the proposal by 50 percent to 29 percent, but that turnout would be low.
The proposed 18-percent limit would include asylum-seekers, refugees from war zones and those coming to Switzerland for humanitarian reasons who stay for more than a year, as well as holders of residence permits.
Scientists, executives, students and artists would be excluded.
The initiative dates back to 1994 when Switzerland's foreign population was 17.6 percent, but it has taken five years to get to the ballot stage after the collection of the required 100,000 signatures with the support of a parliamentary deputy from the conservative radical party.
In Europe, only Liechtenstein and Luxemburg -- at 34 percent -- have a higher percentage of foreigners than Switzerland.
In Austria and Belgium, foreigners make up nine percent of the population; in Germany it is 8.9 percent; in France 6.3 percent and in Spain 1.3 percent, according to Swiss government figures.
But Switzerland -- not a member of the European Union -- is also regarded as having some of the toughest rules on naturalization: just 1.5 percent of foreigners gain a Swiss passport each year.
In Western Europe the yearly average is 3.5 percent, the Swiss government said.
The vote comes amid a growing number of incidents involving right-wing extremists, including last month's march by neo-Nazis to mark the anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess.
Swiss voters are also being asked to decide on whether or not to approve a tax on energy of 0.5 Swiss centimes per kilowatt per hour for the next 25 years, in order to support renewable energy sources such as solar power -- GENEVA(AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
