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| London Mosques Promoting Democracy |
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| Tuesday, 11 March 2008 | |
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Brick Lane Mosque and East London Mosque are leading the way and have received publicity material from the Electoral Commission to promote political participation amongst their congregations. The Electoral Commission has recognised community groups that are under registered and face particular barriers to engaging in democracy, and has awarded a total of £1.2 million this year to charity organisations that work with young people, people with disabilities and BME communities. The Mayor of London report on Muslims in London reports the “MCB aims to increase voter and participation by Muslim communities”. Although MCB boast many London mosques under their umbrella, only East London Mosque is so far known to have picked up on the MCB directives. The British Muslim Forum (BMF) with many affiliated London mosques had not declared any initiatives to increase civic & political participation at the point of writing. There have been some positive indications from other mosques and Muslim organisations of their intention to participate in the promotion of democracy within their congregation. MPACUK will be bringing you news on that as it develops... Action Alert! Get your mosque and Islamic Society promoting democracy and political representation. Contact them and explain the importance of voting and voter registration. There is free publicity material available from the Electoral Commission that mosques can use and anyone can order. The leaflets are available in different languages (Urdu, Bengali, Arabic, Somali etc.). Ask your mosques and Islamic Societies to announce it in the Friday sermons. Voter registration deadline – 16th of April 2008 (www.aboutmyvote.co.uk) Please send your feedback on their responses to MPACUK on info@mpacuk.org Useful Websites:
Register to vote – www.aboutmyvote.co.uk           |
An estimated 18% of London’s Muslims, approximately 60,000 people are not registered to vote, even though they should eligible to vote. Some London mosques have recognised this problem and are trying to address it through an election awareness and voter registration drive in the run up to the London Mayoral elections on May 1st.
