A new Quebec election rule that requires all citizens to remove face veils if they want to vote could discourage some Muslim women from casting ballots on Monday, a Muslim woman says.

"If I was wearing a face veil I likely wouldn't go and vote on Monday," Sarah Elgazzar, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, told the Canadian Press. "I'd be scared."

Only a very small number of women in Quebec wear a face veil known as a the niqab, Elgazzar said, blaming the news media for creating a political controversy over clothing worn by Muslim women.

Quebec chief returning officer Marcel Blanchet announced on Friday that anyone who wears a face covering will have to remove it in order to vote because the face of the voter must be visible.

Blanchet said he reversed an earlier rule after he received threats and read reports that some people were planning to wear masks to the polls on Monday.

Elgazzar said the issue has been blown out of proportion.

"I find it sad that we're looking for the slightest controversy to exploit it and sensationalize it all at the expense of people who are probably very honest and hard working and ready to conform to the letter of the law," Elgazzar said.

Elgazzar said Muslim women who wear veils show their faces when they are required to do so, including when they to go to the bank, cross the border and deal with police.

"These women regularly uncover their faces to identify themselves, and they never asked for any kind of accommodation," she said. "This controversy kind of hunted them down and they didn't have anything to do with it."

Charest backs ruling

Liberal Leader Jean Charest said Saturday he supports the decision to require voters to show their faces. He said the change to the electoral law will reduce the chances of cheating.

"Everything will be done in order, and people will be identified," he said.

"And hopefully a lot of people will go out and vote. I don't see any collision, really. The issue is quite simple: We just want to make sure to identify the right person who is voting."

Earlier this week, Le Journal de Montreal, a tabloid in Montreal, wrote a story saying Muslim women could cast ballots Monday even if their faces were covered.

Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said the news media has manufactured a crisis.

Elmenyawi said the news media, through the reports about the old rule, helped to fuel hostility towards Muslims: "It's going to have a very long-term effect on our society here."
 

With files from the Canadian Press