While the majority of French Muslims traditionally have voted for leftist parties, at a recent UOIF conference there was talk of abstention. The main candidates–save for Marine Le Pen–met the leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Faith before the election’s first round, and the “Muslim vote” could have additional significance in the upcoming…
While 46% of practicing Catholics voted for François Fillon in the first round of elections, 37% of Muslims voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. These findings are according to an Ifop poll for the newspaper Pèlerin, published on April 24. Among Muslims, Emmanual Macron trailed Mélenchon with 24%, followed by Benoît Hamon with 17% and François Fillon with 10%. Additional results of…
Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, published a communiqué before the first round of the elections in which he called on the Muslim community to assume its “duty” to vote. “Our responsibility, as citizens of this country, commands us to take part in France’s future at a time when certain irresponsible persons attempt…
“The Grand Mosque of Paris and its National Federation (FGMP) calls on France’s Muslims to vote en masse for the candidate Emmanuel Macron who, regarding Republican values and the strict application of laïcité, personifies the route to hope and confidence in the spiritual forces and citizens of the nation” said Dalil Boubakeur, the mosque’s rector. Before the second round…
Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian who holds U.S. citizenship, was acquitted by a Cairo court on Sunday along with seven others who had worked with street children. Hijazi was released from jail on Tuesday, having been held for nearly three years. She was flown to Joint Base Andrews, the U.S. military airfield on the outskirts of…
