French lawmakers to vote on divisive citizenship bill


              French President Francois Hollande, left, and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls leave the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius says he is to leave the government to be named at the head of the Constitutional Council, France’s top court making sure bills are compliant with the Constitution. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
French President Francois Hollande, left, and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls leave the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius says he is to leave the government to be named at the head of the Constitutional Council, France’s top court making sure bills are compliant with the Constitution. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PARIS (AP) - French lawmakers will vote on a divisive bill aimed at changing the constitution to introduce the possibility of revoking the citizenship of people convicted on terrorism charges in the wake of the Paris attacks last year.

The bill will be voted on later Wednesday in parliament's lower house. The vote is likely to reveal deep division among the Socialists, as many on the left expressed indignation at the move.

The government says the measure is of high symbolic value. The decision to revoke a person's French citizenship would be made by a judge and would apply to terrorism-related crimes.

The reform is still far from being adopted. It also needs to be voted on by the Senate and ultimately would require a three-fifths majority vote from lawmakers of both houses.

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