Muslim women who wear veils covering their face will not have to take them off to vote in by-elections later this month in a French-speaking Canadian province where the issue of the traditional hijab has been heatedly contested. Instead, women who wear niqabs – which cover the entire face except for the eyes – or…
Belgians began voting on Sunday in an election expected to replace Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt with the premier of Flanders who wants more power for his Dutch-speaking region, where 60 percent of Belgians live.Early on Sunday, reflecting Belgium’s firm linguistic divide, it was expected that voters in the country’s francophone and Dutch-speaking communities will elect…
BRUSSELS – A French-language document is circulating in Brussels and on the internet calling on Muslims to boycott the elections on 10 June because they are “illegal,” Le Soir reports. The 12-page document is titled “Participer aux elections” (Taking part in the elections) and is being distributed among the Arab Muslim community in Brussels and…
On Tuesday, the French Counsel of the Muslims (CFCM) congratulated Nicolas Sarkozy on his election to the presidency and declared him the leader who knew to rally the interests of French Muslims through his national image. The CFCM, created in 2003 by Mr. Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, now has a membership estimated at…
Participating for the first time in debates linked to the presidential campaign, the representatives of French Muslims regrouped under the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) are worried. They would like to meet the candidates for the presidential election to express their worries about the politicized way in which the debate over French Islam…
