Al-Quds al-Arabi Polling advice to our readers

4 May 2010
Newspapers do not go to the polls to cast their vote but they do bear a moral responsibility to their readers to advise them when it is clear that certain parties harm their interests whilst others may serve them better.


Britain's large Muslim Arab community, numbering about one and a half million, is a significant voting bloc in Britain's parliamentary elections this Thursday.

These elections are very different to all recent general elections in that the outcome – and indeed the form of government that will emerge - is impossible to predict with any certainty. This is the first time that the two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, will not be able to claim a definitive victory for their party alone.

This is a marathon race between three, not two, contenders since Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg made such an impact on voters with his dazzling performances during three televised debates.

In the past it was always clear who would prevail: in 1979 the Conservative Party led by Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher won a majority after the 'Winter of Discontent' presided over by Labour paralyzed the country and its economy. In the 1997 the public had had enough of Tory 'sleaze' and welcomed Tony Blair's government with a landslide majority of almost two hundred seats.

Thursday's elections will be different; no single party looks set to gain an overall majority large enough to form a government which means a coalition of either Labour or the Conservative with the Liberal Democrats is inevitable.

The Liberal Democrats want to change the current electoral system and implement proportional representation by which seats in parliament are allocated according to each party's share of the overall vote. In other words, Britain becomes a single electoral constituency.

Most importantly, the party also wants Britain to become more committed to Europe and join the single currency (the Euro); it recommends an amnesty (with sensible provisos) for certain illegal immigrants, estimated at hundreds of thousands, and a more balanced foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.

Britain is standing at the threshold of change and her Arab and Muslim citizens can vote to help her over it.

We as voters must give much careful thought to whom we will support. We must select the parliamentary candidate who would best serve the issues dear to our hearts. Which candidate would take a stance against the intrusive pressure put on the entire Muslim population by the security forces because of the crimes of a few? Which would respect the integrity of the Islamic faith? Which would campaign for equality of employment opportunities and a just resolution of foreign issues such as the wars against the Muslim countries in Iraq and Afghanistan currently being waged under the pretext of fighting terrorism?

There are two ways to approach the ballot: the first is to support the local candidate who most closely articulates our own concerns, regardless of party; or we can chose to support the party, as a whole, which most closely represents our beliefs and preferences and is most likely to advocate our causes.

In some constituencies the margins between candidates will be so slight that our votes can make a real difference.

We know that in the past, the majority of Muslims and Arabs in Britain supported the Labour party, but in the wake of former leader Tony Blair's war crimes (and I do not use that term lightly) and the endorsement of those crimes by Gordon Brown – let us not forget more than a million civilians killed in Iraq, several millions displaced and tens of thousands dead in Afghanistan - we do not hesitate to say that this party no longer deserves our votes. We can contribute to the just punishment of shameful defeat.

This does not preclude voting for a local candidate of any party who has long served the community and is an honest person of proven integrity who will continue to voice your concerns.

The Liberal Democrats stood alone in their vigorous opposition to the invasion of Iraq and they condemned the Israeli aggression on Gaza in the strongest possible terms; they empathize with the humanitarian aspect of the majority of refugee cases in Britain and see the need to integrate them into our society within a reasonable legislative framework. Their emphasis on greater co-operation and integration with Europe is vital to offset the dominance of the US on Britain's future. The Liberal Democrats merit the support of this newspaper and its readers.