By perusing a booklet full of the names and faces of people they’ve probably never met, the locals vote on who they feel should be granted a Swiss passport. “ You get a little booklet with pictures and short descriptions of candidates and you vote basically on whether their name ends in ICH or not,” comments Stefan Regaz. In Emmen, times are tough – its industrial base is shrinking and jobs are hard to find. Crime is on the up and foreigners, particularly those from the Balkan states are being blamed. The man fanning the flames of local anger is nationalist politician Urs Ischi - ”We do not have a foreign problem – we have a Balkan problem.” We meet Samir Kozarac a promising young footballer, hoping to play for the Zurich grasshoppers. He is well educated, speaks fluent German and is clearly committed to Switzerland. But he has to convince voters in a local referendum that being Bosnian does not make him a criminal. Despite Samir’s hopes, his application for Swiss citizenship is declined. Is this a local community standing up for itself or is bigotry taking over?

Produced by ABC Australia