Swiss voters have rejected a controversial proposal to give individual communities the authority to award Swiss passports to immigrants, preliminary results indicated on Sunday. The first eight cantons or federal states to publish the results unanimously claimed voters had rejected a proposal by the Swiss PeopleÂ’s Party (SVP) that the naturalisation of immigrants be decided by a popular vote in the area where the immigrant lives. This procedure was banned five years ago after a number of communities repeatedly blocked passport applications. The SVP plastered the country with posters showing yellow and black hands grabbing at Swiss passports and sent out leaflets reporting various crimes allegedly committed by immigrants who had been granted Swiss citizenship in the run up to the referendum. The results of the remaining 18 cantons will be released on Sunday.