A poster supporting the initiative 'Yes to a ban on covering the face' is displayed at the village Buochs, Switzerland. GENEVA: Swiss voters on Sunday narrowly backed a ban on full face coverings in public places -- a decision hailed by supporters as a bulwark against radical Islam but branded as discriminatory by opponents. Official results showed that 51.2 percent of voters, and a clear majority of federal Switzerland's cantons, supported the proposal. The so-called anti-burqa vote came after years of debate in Switzerland following similar bans in other European countries -- and in some Muslim-majority states -- despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets.