France: Muslims fare poorly in local elections

Candidates of Arab and Muslim roots have fared poorly in the first round of France's municipal elections with only one being elected to a local office and few another standing a chance to follow in the second round.

Running on the Socialist slate, Samia Ghali won over the Eighth District of Marseille, France's second largest city.

She secured 52.30 percent of the votes tallied, becoming the first Muslim of France's 36,000 municipal chiefs.

Ghali was the vice president of the council of the Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, one of France's 26 regions.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), suffered big losses in Sunday's first round of municipal elections, conceding more ground to rival Socialists.

Socialists dethroned UMP candidates in some of their strongholds including the northwestern city of Rouen, southern Rodez and Lyon.

They look set to win a decisive re-election in Paris in a runoff on Sunday, March 16, while battling for a full control of Marseille.

Nationwide, leftwing parties won 47 percent of the vote compared with 45 percent for the right.

The vote results are seen as an early warning from disgruntled voters to President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose approval ratings have plummeted to all time low in recent polls.

For months, polls have found the public angry that he was more concerned with his flamboyant personal life and whirlwind marriage to a super model than helping struggling families make ends meet.

Slim Chances

The vast majority of candidates of Arab and Muslim background stand slim chances of being elected municipal chiefs in the second round.

Justice Minister Rachida Dati, of Moroccan origin, could make it in Sunday's run-off in the Seventh District of Paris.

She, however, faces a stiff challenge from her Socialist rival.

Candidates running on opposition slates, like Socialist Karim Bougoma and Razi Hamadi of the left-leaning Rassemblement Pour République, stand zero chance in the run-offs.

Bougoma and Hamadi secured only 26.11 and 17.63 of the votes respectively in the first round.

And despite promising electioneering before the polls, candidates of Muslim and Arab origin disappointingly fared poorly in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, home to the largest Muslim concentration in France.

The only remaining hopes for these candidates is to be among the half million municipal councilors.

France is home to some six to seven million Muslims.

Source: Islam Online (English)

See also: France: Muslim candidates in local elections, France: Mosques top issue in local elections