GENEVA, Sept 26: Swiss voters on Sunday rejected controversial reforms making it easier for children and grandchildren of immigrants to gain citizenship in the country, official results showed.

The poll followed a campaign marked by virulent anti-foreigner advertising by right-wing opponents that triggered condemnation from the rest of the country's main political parties.

Claudio Micheloni of the Forum of Migrants Organisations blasted the outcome "was the result of a completely unacceptable campaign". "The campaign preyed on the most negative aspects of humanity," he told Swiss television.

Official results from 22 of the 23 full cantons also indicated a split between the country's main linguistic communities, with German-speaking eastern areas of Switzerland mostly rejecting the reform and francophone western regions clearly approving it.

The proposals failed to gain a majority wither across the country as a whole, or in at least 12 of the 23 cantons. Fifty-two percent of Swiss voters rejected draft legislation, which had been passed by the Swiss parliament, granting automatic citizenship to the grandchildren of immigrants.

Another government proposal easing citizenship procedures for the children of foreigners who have settled and been schooled in Switzerland was rejected by 57 percent of Swiss voters.

More moderate opponents also feared that local communities would lose some of their say in citizenship bids. A representative of immigrant communities said they had filed a legal complaint, along with trade unions, about campaigning by members of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

Leaflets and newspaper advertisements had warned of a massive growth in the Muslim population if the draft legislation had been approved. Opponents had also used posters depicting the hands of dark-skinned youngsters grabbing Swiss passports.

The SVP became the largest political party in the country at the general election last year with 27 percent of the vote, and is one of the four governing parties. The bulk of its support is in the majority German speaking part of the country. -AFP