"베일을 벗던가 아니면 투표하지말라" 퀘백선관위장 통보 퀘벡, 몬트리얼- 유례없는 치열한 접전을 벌이고 있는 퀘 백주의 총선을 3일 앞두고,퀘백주의 선거관리위원장 Marcel Blanchet씨가,어제 "종교때문에 얼굴의 베일을 들 어올려 신분을 확인케할 필요까지는 없다"라는 종전의 결 정을 뒤엎는 발언을 했다. 선거운동기간동안 소수민족의 권리 라는 쟁점으로 떠올 라, 살해위협, 주민들의 분노까지 낳게한, 그래서 퀘백당 수 Andre 의 계속된 비난을 받아왔던 이문제로, 그는 위원 장의 비상권한을 사용하여 결정을 번복하게된것이다. 위원장은 "여성유권자들의 베일(Niqab)착용을 반대하는 전 화와 E-메일이 셀수도없이 사무실에 폭주했다고 설명했 다. 선관위 직원들은 그후로 2명의 경호원을 밀착시켜 경 호를 해 왔다고 한다. 선관위장은 상상도 못할 위장을 하고 투표소에 들어와 선 거를 망쳐버릴 행동을 한다는 상상을 누구나 쉽게 할수 있 을것이다. "개인적으로는 허용을 하고 싶으나 누구나 똑 같이 신분확인을 위한 부득히한 조치다 그렇게 해서 월요 일에 실시되는 선거를 무사히 치러야할 사명감에서다"라 고 그는 설명을 이었다. 현재 퀘백주의 3개 주요정당의 지지율은, 퀘백당이 31%,자 유장이 30%,ADQ가 28%로 한치앞을 내다볼수 없을 정도로 박중세다. 어제밤 처음으로 현수상이며, 자유당수인 Jean Charest 북미대륙에서 유일하게 French어를 사용하 는 퀘백의 문화와 자아의 유지를 위해, 다수당의 집권이 절대적으로 필요하다고 강조하기도 했다. 이상은 닥아오는 월요일(3월26일)의 퀘백주 선거를 앞두 고 이슈로 떠오른 머슬림 여성의 베일 착용에 대한내용이 다. 현수상 Jean Charest씨는 퀘백주의 자유당수가 되기 전에는 연방보수당수를 하고 있다가 퀘백주로 이적하여 오 늘에 이른 정치인이다.(역자 주) Lift face veils or don't vote, Quebec tells Muslims TU THANH HA and INGRID PERITZ AND BERTRAND MAROTTE Globe and Mail Update TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUE., MONTREAL and SAINT-EUSTACHE, QUE. — With three days left in one of the most tightly contested elections in decades, Quebec's electoral officer yesterday reversed his decision to allow Muslim women to vote without having to lift their face veils to identify themselves. Chief Electoral Officer Marcel Blanchet invoked emergency powers to change his mind on one of the controversial minority-rights issues that have roiled the campaign and led to death threats, public outrage and repeated criticism by Parti Québécois Leader Andr é Boisclair. Mr. Blanchet said his office had been inundated with calls and emails about his decision to allow women to wear the niqab when they voted. His staff was worried and he was assigned two bodyguards. He feared some angry voters would turn out “in the craziest disguises you can imagine” and disrupt Monday's election. Mr. Blanchet said it was troubling that he had to reverse his position. “Personally, I would have preferred not to do it. But my concern is to ensure everything unfolds normally, and there won't be somebody crazy who will cause trouble on Monday.” Related to this article Quebec's chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet ponders a question during a news conference Oct. 24, 2006 in Quebec City. Blanchet has ruled that Muslim women must remove face veils in order to vote in Monday's provincial election. (CP PHOTO/Jacques Boissinot) Quebec's chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet ponders a question during a news conference Oct. 24, 2006 in Quebec City. Blanchet has ruled that Muslim women must remove face veils in order to vote in Monday's provincial election. (Jacques Boissinot/CP) The Globe and Mail The issue affects a small number of Muslim voters. However, it hit a raw nerve in a province that has been enmeshed for months in acrimonious talks over accommodating religious minorities. As Quebec's three main political leaders entered the final weekend of campaigning, the latest Strategic Counsel poll for The Globe and Mail and CTV News shows that the three main parties remain in a dead heat, with the PQ getting 31 per cent support, the Liberals 30 per cent and the Action Démocratique du Québec 28 per cent. Last night, Liberal Leader Jean Charest for the first time stressed the need for a majority government to protect Quebec's culture and identity and to defend itself in dealing with Ottawa. “We have always given ourselves a majority government, we need to speak with a strong voice. We are the only French-speaking people in North America and we must be heard,” Mr. Charest said while campaigning in Gaspé. Resentment about minorities has played a part in the rising popularity of the conservative ADQ, whose leader, Mario Dumont, has spoken against such accommodations. At the same time, Mr. Boisclair, an openly gay urbanite, was put on the defensive. “It seems our voice has been heard,” Mr. Boisclair said yesterday after learning of Mr. Blanchet's decision. The PQ Leader had spent the day hammering on the issue during a swing through small towns between Montreal and Quebec City, a fertile ground for the emerging ADQ. He said his party would pass legislation to require that a woman show her face to prove her identity before getting their ballot. “We won't negotiate on this. If we have to modify the Electoral Officer Act, we will modify it,” he said to loud applause. Mr. Boisclair, who is seen as someone who can't connect with small-town voters, received animated cheers each time he brought up the issue. Again and again, he said he stood for “plain common sense.” While campaigning in the Magdalen Islands, Liberal Leader Jean Charest supported the chief electoral officer's decision, saying it did not infringe on religious rights and remained an issue of proper identification of voters. Shama Naz, a 30-year-old Montrealer who wears a niqab, said the issue has been blown out of proportion. She said Muslim women routinely remove their face veils for security matters. She has done so for her Medicare card photo, and each time she crosses the border to visit her father in New York State. “It's common sense. Muslim women have no problem identifying themselves for security reasons,” she said. “If [elections officials] had spoken to me they would have known I wouldn't mind identifying myself at the ballot box.” While she would prefer to do so to a female elections worker, she would do so for a man as well, said Ms. Naz, an economics graduate. “People are usually scared of what they don't know,” she said of the uproar and yesterday's change in the law. “A lack of information is driving regulations like this.” In Montreal, meanwhile, Mr. Blanchet's office was in the middle of a storm. The LCN TV network reported that he had received death threats. Karine Lacoste, a spokeswoman for Mr. Blanchet, said he now has two bodyguards. Mr. Boisclair denied he had stoked the outrage with his criticisms. “It's the Chief Electoral Officer's decision that created this backlash,” he said. He boasted he was the only party leader to have stated clearly his opposition. “As soon as I heard about it, I thought the Chief Electoral Officer had gone too far.” Yesterday, Mr. Dumont ripped into Mr. Boisclair for his suddenly aggressive stand. “In a pseudo-show this morning, he was changing law. It's really pitiful,” he said. Mr. Boisclair was nowhere to be seen on the matter of reasonable accommodation when it surfaced as an issue, he said. “He wasn't standing up for the identity of Quebeckers.” With a report from Rhéal Séguin 하지