The Spanish senate has passed a law that will ban Batasuna, the political party of the militant Basque separatist group ETA.
The bill, overwhelmingly approved by a 214 to 15 vote, is "a concrete tool to make illegal and dissolve those parties like Batasuna which belong to terrorist movements," Justice Minister Angel Acebes said.
Three weeks ago the bill, part of a campaign led by the conservative government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to ban parties deemed to be supporting terrorism, was backed overwhelmingly by the lower house of parliament, where Aznar's Popular Party enjoys an absolute majority.
No date was given for the bills's publication in the official gazette, a move which will bring it into law.
The law will allow Spain's supreme court to ban - at the request of the government or a minimum of 50 members of parliament - any political party whose activity aimed to "deteriorate or destroy the system of freedoms or eliminate the democratic system."
The bill takes direct aim at Batasuna, which won 10 percent of the vote in last year's regional elections in the Basque region of Spain.
Thousands of Batasuna sympathizers protesting against the law have taken to the streets over the past month in the northern cities of Bilbao and Pamplona.
Left-wing and academic critics have joined them in warning that the proposed legislation threatens to undermine political diversity and the freedom of expression.
ETA has carried out a violent campaign over the past 30 years for an independent Basque homeland.
AFP