MADRID: Spain's Parliament rejected Tuesday a proposal to ban women wearing the face veil in public places, citing protection of personal freedoms.
The proposal to ban women from wearing a veil that only reveals the eyes was presented by the leading opposition Popular Party on the grounds that the outfit, also called burqa, violates the rights of women and undermines their dignity.
Following a debate that took place in the parliament's lower chamber, 162 MPs voted for the ban, 183 opposed it, and two abstained.
Following a debate that took place in the parliament's lower chamber, 162 MPs voted for the ban, 183 opposed it, and two abstained.
According to the Popular Party, the proposal was put forward "in defense of the dignity and equality of all women" and to make sure Muslim women are not being forced by their husbands to become fully veiled.
"It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain," said opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.
Some analysts argue that the main purpose of the proposal is strengthening the opposition amid the economic problems with which the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been plighted.
"This has been used politically in a search for electoral support," said Mansur Escudero, president of the Islamic Commission of Spain.
He added that the last time he had seen a fully veiled women in Spain was 10 years ago in the southern city of Marbella, where several wealthy Arabs own houses, and that this woman might have been a tourist.
"The only woman I knew who regularly wore a burqa had lived in the southern city of Cordoba and died about a decade ago."
None of the opposition spokesmen had been able to cite a place in Spain where women routinely wear face-covering veils.
