Voters in the Swiss city of Zurich have voted against restricting access to assisted suicide for foreigners.

Passivehelp for those wanting to end their lives is allowed in Switzerland,and the country permits non-Swiss residents to use those services.

Atpresent, more than 1,000 non-Swiss travel to the country each year toend their lives, with an estimated 200 of them going to Zurich.

InSwitzerland a person may be given "passive" assistance to suicide, suchas being supplied with a lethal dose of a drug, provided it is not donefor selfish motives or for gain.

Active assistance, including helping the person to take the drug or administering it, is forbidden.

Europecorrespondent Philip Williams reports that the move to restrict thelegally assisted suicides to residents of Zurich was backed by twoconservative parties.

But the motion was rejected by 218,602 votes to 60,186 or 78.4 percent.

Asecond motion calling for a national ban on assisted suicide was alsorejected by 234,956 votes against 43.165 or 84.5 percent.

"Theright to die is a private matter that does not concern the state andthe Church even less so," vice president of the assisted suicideassociation Exit, Bernhard Sutter, told AFP.

"It's a clear signfrom Zurich and corresponds with Switzerland's humanitarian traditionof coming to the aid of others," he said.

Our correspondent saysthe weekend vote is not expected to be the end of the debate as theSwiss parliament is expected to revise federal laws to ensure assistedsuicide services are used as a last resort for the terminally ill only.