“If Muslims vote intelligently, they can make a huge impact this general election,” says the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK), which has identified 82 local constituencies where Muslim population is larger than the majority held by incumbent MPs.
MPACUK, whose aim is "to empower Muslims to fulfil our Islamic duty to strive for justice", is backing Vote Smart 2010 campaign to challenge whether candidates are worthy of Muslim votes. This includes checking the records of incumbent MPs on whether voted for the Iraq war and anti-terrorism legislation and if they support Israel.
One of the successes of Operation Muslim Vote launched at the last elections in 2005, was the unseating "pro-war, pro-Israel" Labour MP Lorna Fitzsimons from her Rochdale constituency in northern England.
Apart from listing leading MPs involved in the various Friends of Israel group, MPACUK is focusing on the seat of Immigration Minister Phil Woolas in Oldham, north-west England and Labour MP Andrew Dismore in Hendon, London, who is considered an arch-Zionist.
It is also challenging the credentials of Khalid Mahmood, one of Labour’s four Muslim MPs, who has represented Birmingham Perry Barr since 2001 but who opposed an arms embargo being imposed against Israel.
Since its foundation in 2000 by a handful of activists, MPACUK has grown into a movement with branches across the country and boasts to have Britain’s biggest Muslim website.
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