Spanish parliament votes on law on civil war, dictatorship victims

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

MADRID (AFP) — Spain's parliament votes Wednesday on a draft law which would for the first time officially recognize the victims of the nation's 1936-39 civil war and the ensuing right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose grandfather was executed as Franco's Nationalist forces took control of northern Spain in 1936, made the controversial law a centerpiece of his first term in office.

The legislators are expected to vote on the Law of Historical Memory at around 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) and, after months of negotiations, the bill has the support of several smaller left-wing and nationalist parties, ensuring its passage ahead of a general election in March 2008.

Only the main opposition Popular...