ELECTION GUIDE
MAY 5th 2005
Innovative Minds (c) 2005
The General Elections in Britain are on May 5th 2005. With the success of our guide to the European Elections last year we have decided to produce a similar guide for this General Election.
Who to vote for?
The question that is asked is "who should Muslims vote for?". This being the first general election since the war many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, see the election as a referendum on the war.
The Labour government lied to the people in order to get support for an unpopular war, when this didn't work they simply ignored the wishes of the people - the largest demonstrations in this country's history ignored - and instead obeyed a foreign power - the US, and took this country to war on its behalf. Consequently many people feel its payback time and are refusing to vote Labour.
Whilst we understand this sentiment, it must be remembered that the other political parties were not totally blameless in this crime. In fact it was only with the support of the Conservative party that the government won the vote on the invasion of Iraq (out of the 412 MP's that voted for war, around 150 were Conservative MP's who, as commanded by their leader, voted for war, 18 Mar 2003, Commons vote on "Iraq-Declaration of war"). Interestingly more Labour MP's voted against the war than all the other anti-war MP's from the other parties put together (85 labour votes against the war out of a total 149 votes against the war).
It must also be remembered that war didn't start with Iraq, there was Afghanistan first, and only because there was little opposition to the bombing of Afghanistan in parliament that a second target, Iraq, was subsequently chosen. The Liberal Democrats didn't oppose the bombing of Afghanistan. The picture that emerges then is more complex than simply following party lines.
When deciding who to vote for, it must be remembered that none of the political parties are Islamic or claim to be Islamic, so whilst we may find commonality with them on some issues, we will also find many of their policies running counter to our beliefs. The idea isn't for Muslims to give their allegiance to these parties, but rather to use their votes to secure the best deal for Muslims.
So rather than give blanket support to any party, here we look at individual candidates and their track records on many issues of particular relevance to Muslims - not just the war. These include anti-terror legislation, islamophobia, Palestine, Hijab, Muslim schools, Halal meat, etc.
For MP's - past and present, their position on issues can be determined by examining parliamentary records. They reveal what an MP has voted for, what they have said in parliament, and what they have signed their names to (Early Day Motions - these are petitions MP's can support or ignore).
Candidate Questionnaire
It can be more difficult to assess candidates who have not previously been members of parliament as their position on issues is often not on record. So as part of the process we sent each candidate a questionnaire asking about their position on key issues. We also allowed them an opportunity to write a short message for the Muslim community. We specifically asked for personal opinions and not party responses unless it matched their personal convictions. Their responses to the questionnaires are still coming in.
With the elections just a week away we are launching the guide with information on just the key constituencies with large Muslim populations. We will be adding additional areas right up to election day so please do keep visiting.
We urge Muslims in the UK that if you agree with our findings please share them with your community - knowledge is power - so that they can make a more informed decision on election day.
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